How and why do you dry hop? Options

[chadm75]

I've seen a lot on this board recently about dry-hopping in a secondary. How and why would one do this?

[WinkyDowBrewing]

Dry hopping is the term used to adding hops, whether whole leaf or pellet (more often whole leaf) to a secondary fermenter...the how is simple. Throw hops in the secondary fermenter either lose or in a hop bag if you want to keep the fermenter cleaner.

Why?

When you boil hops you do a few things. 1) you isomerize the hop acids which can result in more bittering units to be created 2) you also create steam from the boil which pushes off the aromas the hops create.

Why is this important?

Some beer styles should have a nice hop aroma and if you boil the hops the aroma is pushed out with the steam and also by putting the hops directly in the secondary your temperature is low enough not isomerize any of the alpha acids which will result in no additional bittering units.

Pretty much sums it up. Try some IPAs and Pale ales and get a good whiff of the smell...thats dry hopping (usually)

[CoastieSteve]

I'd also suggest holding off on the types of brews you dry hop with until you're brewing beer that you like and can consistently reproduce. Dry hopping, when you don't remove or settle out all the hops, can result in solid parts floating around in your finished product since they can be difficult to settle out (IMHO). When that happens, you (or those drinking your brew) may find these floaties too disturbing to enjoy the drink, even if they are perfectly OK to imbibe.


BTW,
GO BLUE!

This post has been edited by CoastieSteve: Oct 31 2008, 07:48 PM

[Mike2753]

I've seen a lot on this board recently about dry-hopping in a secondary. How and why would one do this?

Go to the store and get a few good IPA's ....Sierra Nevada makes a lot of dry-hopped beers like their Pale Ale, Celebration Ale, etc. Smell the aroma when you pour the beer...taste the hop flavor as you drink.

If you like what you smell and taste, brew a pale ale and try dry-hopping. Get a good recipe and go for it!

Prost!

[zymot]

I have dry hopped in the past.

I will probably again dry hop in the future.

What I get from dry hopping is a fresh cut grass kind of aroma that fades over time. There is a sweet spot where I get what I like - non-grassy hop aromas. The pre-sweet spot period, I do not enjoy the beer as much. The after the sweet spot, I ask why do I bother.

I prefer very late boil hop additions.

I am a minority opinion on this board with regards to this subject. Many will respond and say how great dry hopping is, they do it all the time.

If you like hop aroma, you should try it and see if it is for you. You won't ruin a beer dry hopping it.

zymot

[frogman]

I love the aroma you get from dry hopping, to me it can't be beat.

Now here is a question for everyone, not to far off topic. The other day I was bottling my APA that I dry hopped with some nice cascade hops, and man did it smell good. Anyway I couldn't help but think I was wasting the hops and that maybe they might still have some life in them.

I guess my question is can you or has anyone ever reused hops that they have dry hopped with for another beer they were brewing? Maybe as a late addition say 10 min in the boil. I was going to try this in my winter warmer I was brewing that day, but of course it came to me as I was dumping the little gems into the garbage can.

[Sampler]

I guess my question is can you or has anyone ever reused hops that they have dry hopped with for another beer they were brewing? Maybe as a late addition say 10 min in the boil. I was going to try this in my winter warmer I was brewing that day, but of course it came to me as I was dumping the little gems into the garbage can.

No I have not... but I assume that you could reuse the hop in your boil. The problem comes in with the fact that there are some variables which I don't think you would be able to predict or measure. What would your actuall AA be? How to use and when? What is you expection the out come and is the efforts to do this worth it?

For some reason I'm stuck on thinking that if you were to reuse the dry hops that you may be better off using them for bittering (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/crazy.gif)

I sure you will get some interesting feedback on this subject... one way to find out is to try it (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/smile.gif)

[WinkyDowBrewing]

I have not resued my hops either and agree with Sampler. Won't hurt to try it out, I guess my general approach would be to simply dump them only because of 2 possible out comes...you either calculate that you will get more IBU out of the used hops than you really get and have a bland beer, or you figure they will have a ver ylow amount of IBU and so you boost a different hop addition, which doesn't give you any idea of the contribution the used ones provided.

[ChefLamont]

There was an article in one of the homebrewing mags recently about reusing dry hops as bittering hops. From what I recall reading, it has been done successfully, but there is still some work to be done on the calculating and exact process. I will have to look that up again now.

[al_bob]

I love dry hopping. I'm getting really good results after a few years of brewing, now. I brew mostly IPA's and it's appropriate, if not mandatory for that style.

Things I've found that have helped me are going only about 5 days or so instead of 2 weeks. After that, I think the grassiness starts creeping in. Now, that can still be okay, and adds complexity to certain beers.

Pick a good aroma hop that fits the style you're brewing. I like the higher alpha hops like Columbus, Chinook, Centennial, Simcoe, etc. (for IPA's, again..)

Also, try and use the freshest hops you can get for dry hopping. Old hops will not give the same effect. I also prefer whole hops over pellet.

I have also begun crushing my whole hops up real good with my hands. I find this to really let the lupulin out and gets right into the beer.

Use enough. I put 2 oz of Centennial in my last 5 gal. batch of IPA for 5 days. I can't quit smelling it! I think I'm getting thirsty talking about it.

Just my 2 pennies.

Good luck.

[darterboy]

The Brew Strong show on the Brewing Network did a whole 1-hour plus episode on dry-hopping last night. It should be available in the archives for download soon (not yet as of this morning 11-2-08). Lots of good info.

http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/Brew-Strong

[zymological]

It seems like no one answered the "how" question here. How should the hops be prepared before being added to the secondary fermenter?

[korndog]

It seems like no one answered the "how" question here. How should the hops be prepared before being added to the secondary fermenter?

Dump them in or put them in sanitized bags or tea balls. Pellets will settle to the bottom after a few days and leaf hops will stay in suspension near the top. If you use bags, you can weight them with sanitized non-reactive weights like marbles, etc.

[al_bob]

It seems like no one answered the "how" question here. How should the hops be prepared before being added to the secondary fermenter?

I get a big bowl and weigh out an ounce or two, and then crush them up with my hands. Then I stuff them into the carboy. No easy way to do that. Just a little at a time. Then when I go to transfer, I tie a part of a nylon stocking on the end of the siphon hose to catch any debris coming into the keg. Mmmm, mmmm, good.

[zymological]

So no sanitation of the hops required here?

This post has been edited by zymological: Nov 15 2008, 09:28 AM