What is the right Temperature to Dry Hop at?

[Nwalesmith]

Does it matter what temp I dry hop at? I normally cold crash after fermentation then Dry Hop. Wondering if I am missing anything...comments welcome!

 

[worksnorth]

I dry hop at the same temp that it ferments at. Maybe in the primary after fermentation is complete, maybe in the secondary. Depends on what I'm trying to achieve.
I cold crash right before I keg it or after i keg it. Probably doing that wrong myself.

 

[whitehause]

I dry hop a bit warmer than my ferment temp(about 70 for dry hop). I don't know if it's "right", but it's what I do. I figure we are trying to extract oils, and oil doesn't extract well at colder temps. I also use pellet hops which break up and leave a lot of surface area. There again, I don't know if it's right, just my process and I've had good results.

 

[Ben58]

A friend of mine who is a brewmaster, says to dry hop around 68 to 70 degrees, as to utilize the hop oils more effeciently.

 

[helibrewer]

A friend of mine who is a brewmaster, says to dry hop around 68 to 70 degrees, as to utilize the hop oils more effeciently.

That's what I do and cold crash after to help with clarification from any hop residue

 

[Nwalesmith]

Do you guys worry about contamination at all when adding the hops?

 

[TyTanium]

A lot of guys dry hop cold too - most often right in the keg. Just takes a bit longer at the cooler temps. Flavor can be somewhat different; not bad, just different.

Re: contamination...not really. I spray my hands & hop bag with sanitizer and try to be quick about it, but I don't do anything to the hops themselves. They're pretty self-sufficient in that regard.

 

[whitehause]

Do you guys worry about contamination at all when adding the hops?

Hops were originally added to help as a preservative, plus your adding to beer, not wort, so the alcohol present will stop most bad things.

 

[Nwalesmith]

Good point white. Did not think about that.