Why do they call it "dryhopping"

[JONNYROTTEN]

I was disusing beer brewing with someone and he asked what the difference is between dry hops and wet hops. I explained about fresh cones ETC. Then he said "so your telling me I can dry hop with wet hops" It quickly turned into a who's on first conversation and few good laughs. Then he asked "why do they call it dry hopping if you can use wet hops"
I had no good answer So I figured I ask. Where does the term come from?

 

[mongoose33]

Interesting question, it drove me to google. Amazing what you can get if you just pose a question to google like "Where does the term dry hopping come from?"

Here's a link to a discussion I found:

https://homebrew.stackexchange.com/questions/14526/dry-hop-etymology

The people in the discussion indicate no clear reason why, though there is some speculation that "dry" has to do with pellets as compared to "wet" hop cones, or "dry" as an antonym to "sweet."

Personally (this is me with no evidence other than...well, me) I think this last one makes some sense. At the start, wort is sweet, and doesn't have a "dry" finish. After fermentation, the beer has dried out in finish, so hopping would be done when the beer is "dry." But this is just me trying to make sense of it, I'm no authority on etymology or dry hopping.

Here's another:

https://www.hopculture.com/what-is-dry-hopping-craft-beer-brewing/

The article indicates "The term dry hopping comes from the fact that the hops are placed dry into the fermented ale. Though they do get wet in the process, they are not boiled in the wort, so the name stuck."

This makes less sense to me. The hops used during the boil are placed dry into the boil, so I don't see the difference.

*******************

Jonny, the above (go to google) was not meant as criticism. It's a beer group, good topic for discussion. Whereas a single query to google might satisfy one's curiosity, no one else benefits from it. Posting here means lots of people get to learn about it, and if they don't want to click the link for the thread, they don't have to.

I've found myself using google more and more lately to look things up. Electronic dictionary, don't you know. Ran across some words I'd never seen before. Such as sockdolager. Look it up.

 

[Kharnynb]

Was wondering the same.

Maybe because you do it when the beer is "dry"?

 

[Weezy]

The fact that the term is 100 years old and there's no easily found reference to the person who coined the term suggests to me that it was simply coined as a matter convenience by some brewer at the time; slang that was well received in the day. The fact that we might not fully grasp what is meant by 'dry' just just adds to the idea that it likely had a clearer connotation at a very different time.

 

[ericbw]

I imagine the term "wet hops" is a take off of dry hopping. They're fresh, not actually wet. Like dried figs vs fresh figs. Not wet figs.

 

[Scturo]

I imagine the term "wet hops" is a take off of dry hopping. They're fresh, not actually wet. Like dried figs vs fresh figs. Not wet figs.

This, I guess if they started calling it "Fresh" hopping, it wouldn't be as confusing to people.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Yeah, aren't hop cones usually dehydrated prior to packaging too though, even when used as leaf rather than being pelletized?

So whether you're using pellet or leaf, you're dry-hopping with dry hops.

Only if you have access to fresh hops are they ever used "wet". And those are always seasonally-produced beers because the hops need to be used immediately after harvest.

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

Then he asked "why do they call it dry hopping if you can use wet hops"

I had no good answer So I figured I ask. Where does the term come from?

If you want to get really technical once you throw the hops in they are no longer dry.

Wet hops just mean straight off the plant and into the beer.

 

[eadavis80]

Yeah, aren't hop cones usually dehydrated prior to packaging too though, even when used as leaf rather than being pelletized?

So whether you're using pellet or leaf, you're dry-hopping with dry hops.

Only if you have access to fresh hops are they ever used "wet". And those are always seasonally-produced beers because the hops need to be used immediately after harvest.

Yeah - I agree. I think the only time you could "dry hop" with WET hops is if you had brewed a beer a few weeks prior to picking your hops and then on "DRY HOPPING" day you had picked the hops from your vines and added them to the beer that had been brewed 2-3 weeks prior to the dry hopping.

 

[ericbw]

This, I guess if they started calling it "Fresh" hopping, it wouldn't be as confusing to people.

And yet it would be just as gross, no matter what you call it. I'm not a fan of the (few) wet hopped/fresh hopped beers I have had. I think that just like herbs, there is a difference in dried and fresh.

 

[Mainer]

Wait, wait, wait. Isn't it just dry hop as opposed to boiled hops? Dry hopping refers to hopping in primary or secondary rather than during the boil, cold-side hopping as opposed to hot-side hopping. Like, maybe it would be more technically appropriate to call them "hot hopped" and "cold hopped," right? It doesn't really matter what kind of hops you use.

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

Wait, wait, wait. Isn't it just dry hop as opposed to boiled hops? Dry hopping refers to hopping in primary or secondary rather than during the boil, cold-side hopping as opposed to hot-side hopping. Like, maybe it would be more technically appropriate to call them "hot hopped" and "cold hopped," right? It doesn't really matter what kind of hops you use.

Of course it does. I think most of us are just messing with you. [emoji28][emoji28][emoji28]

 

[Mainer]

Of course it does. I think most of us are just messing with you. [emoji28][emoji28][emoji28]

Oh, okay. For a minute there I thought everything I thought I knew about beer was a lie. I thought I was inside the Matrix.

I felt like saying, "You guys, that's not how any of this works." But so many people were playing along I was legitimately questioning myself. Well pranked.

 

[yourlastchance89]

I would think the term, like many other terms in brewing, is derived from an older English dialect that is no longer in popular use. For instance "pitching" yeast, why not pouring, dumping, sprinkling, etc. Or why hot liquor tank over hot water reservoir, who the hell actually calls water liquor. Brewing beer is a very old process, and I believe some of the terms have just stuck through the centuries. It's like reading Shakespeare, some of the terms spoken in his time have completely different meanings now, or are no longer in use

 

[TheAleRunner]

And yet it would be just as gross, no matter what you call it. I'm not a fan of the (few) wet hopped/fresh hopped beers I have had. I think that just like herbs, there is a difference in dried and fresh.

And yet this is my favorite time of year, because I absolutely love, love, love wet hopped and fresh hopped beers.