Should I Dry Hop?

[natelindner]

Hi,

I'm brewing a 1 gallon american amber ale with a recipe I designed myself. I'm new to brewing so I wanted to see what the community thought of dry hopping an amber. my hop schedule was as follows:

60 min: 0.15 oz cascade
15 min: 0.13 oz cascade
5 min: 0.2 oz cascade

This according to calculations should be around 29.5 IBU's which is a little on the low end for ambers. Since my beer won't be very bitter for an amber, I'm wondering if it would be wrong to dry hop and add more hop flavor if the beer isnt ultra-hoppy anyway. And if I did dry hop, how much would I add? 0.1 oz? 0.2 oz?

 

[martiniw2olives]

I don't think dry hopping will add any bitterness, it is used for aroma. I am no expert, but that is my understanding.

 

[TopherM]

Dry hopping adds aroma, not flavor.

If you want to add aroma, go for it. Dry hopping doesn't add appreciable IBUs, just aroma. If you do dryhop, use 0.5-1.0 oz.

 

[chickypad]

Dry hopping adds aroma, not flavor.

although, since much of what we perceive as taste really comes from our sense of smell...

 

[billl]

Dry hopping won't change the IBU. If you want a more bitter beer, you'll just have to brew another one.

Dry hopping will significantly increase hop aroma. That in turn increases the perception of hop flavor.

Taste it and see if you think it needs a little something extra.