Dry hopping experiment - good or bad idea?

[Random Badger]

I made a Bulldog Brews Premium IPA kit. The fermentation went well (based on hydrometer readings the ABV is 5.8%) and the beer looks good in the bottle, however it lacks taste and is a frankly underwhelming experience. In fact the best way to drink it seems to be to treat it like a lager and have it cold with some spicy food.

It appears to be a kit that cries out for a bit of pimping, which has me thinking about experimenting with some of the bottles as follows:

1) Chill bottle
2) Open bottle and add some dry hops
3) Close bottle and shake it up
4) Leave for (say) three days
5) Pour beer into a glass through a sieve to filter out the hop pieces
5) Compare bottles and taste the difference

This is more about understanding the impact of dry hopping than trying to save or improve this particular batch of beer. Is there any reason why doing this won't give me a reasonable indication of what the hops will do when added to the fermenter for three days before bottling?

 

[The Baron]

you could get a bottle of those hop oil drops and add them with a pipette to the glass as you pour. It will pep it up a bit but the oils I used did not taste as much like the hops as I thought but do a good job of pimping it up

 

[Random Badger]

you could get a bottle of those hop oil drops and add them with a pipette to the glass as you pour. It will pep it up a bit but the oils I used did not taste as much like the hops as I thought but do a good job of pimping it up

True, although as I mentioned this is more about testing some hops rather than trying to improve this particular beer. Will using a pinch of hops to dry hop a 500ml bottle of beer give me some approximation of what will happen if I use a larger quantity to dry hop in the fermenter?

 

[An Ankoù]

I made a Bulldog Brews Premium IPA kit. The fermentation went well (based on hydrometer readings the ABV is 5.8%) and the beer looks good in the bottle, however it lacks taste and is a frankly underwhelming experience. In fact the best way to drink it seems to be to treat it like a lager and have it cold with some spicy food.

It appears to be a kit that cries out for a bit of pimping, which has me thinking about experimenting with some of the bottles as follows:

1) Chill bottle
2) Open bottle and add some dry hops
3) Close bottle and shake it up
4) Leave for (say) three days
5) Pour beer into a glass through a sieve to filter out the hop pieces
5) Compare bottles and taste the difference

This is more about understanding the impact of dry hopping than trying to save or improve this particular batch of beer. Is there any reason why doing this won't give me a reasonable indication of what the hops will do when added to the fermenter for three days before bottling?

How long has it been in the bottle?

 

[Random Badger]

How long has it been in the bottle?

About 6 weeks.

 

[An Ankoù]

About 6 weeks.

Hmm. I shouldn't have thought it needed longer than that to condition properly.

 

[Ale House Rock]

Did you use the hop teabag as durected with Bulldog kits? I always open these and put the pellets straight in to get more hoppy flavour.

 

[Random Badger]

Did you use the hop teabag as durected with Bulldog kits? I always open these and put the pellets straight in to get more hoppy flavour.

This kit doesn't come with hop pellets, just a pouch of malt extract and packet yeast.

http://www.bulldogbrews.co.uk/products/standard-beer-kits/bulldog-ipa-kit.html
I obviously need to work on my communication skills, as everyone seems to be ignoring my actual question and the heading of this topic to instead focus on improving the kit.

 

[Ale House Rock]

I saw the 'premium' word and then jumped to the wrong conclusion! My intentions were good but my suggestion was not.

 

[DocAnna]

I made a Bulldog Brews Premium IPA kit. The fermentation went well (based on hydrometer readings the ABV is 5.8%) and the beer looks good in the bottle, however it lacks taste and is a frankly underwhelming experience. In fact the best way to drink it seems to be to treat it like a lager and have it cold with some spicy food.

It appears to be a kit that cries out for a bit of pimping, which has me thinking about experimenting with some of the bottles as follows:

1) Chill bottle
2) Open bottle and add some dry hops
3) Close bottle and shake it up
4) Leave for (say) three days
5) Pour beer into a glass through a sieve to filter out the hop pieces
5) Compare bottles and taste the difference

This is more about understanding the impact of dry hopping than trying to save or improve this particular batch of beer. Is there any reason why doing this won't give me a reasonable indication of what the hops will do when added to the fermenter for three days before bottling?

Have you considered a hop extract - some are marketed with this in mind - rather than bother uncapping and recaping beers - why not just add at the time of drinking?
https://www.crossmyloofbrew.co.uk/online-store/Dry-Hop-Extract-p241775576
Anna

 

[Hoppyland]

You might try some leaf hops with hot water in a cafetiere, to make a strong hop tea, then adding a dash of that to your beer on pouring. That way you could evaluate the effect of different varieties as "dry hops" with the same basic brew.
I guess that it's not likely to be exactly the same as if you dry hopped, but I think it would be in the same ball park

 

[Northern_Brewer]

This is more about understanding the impact of dry hopping than trying to save or improve this particular batch of beer. Is there any reason why doing this won't give me a reasonable indication of what the hops will do when added to the fermenter for three days before bottling?

No reason that comes to mind - this kind of experiment often gets recommended with bland macro lager. Do keep it cold to keep the fizz in, and be aware that you only need a couple of pellets in a bottle, and you probably don't need more than 24h, but 72h won't hurt.

 

[Random Badger]

So I had a go!

Chilled 3 bottles and added:

1) First Gold
2) First Gold & Summit
3) Summit

Left it for 24 hours and compared a wine glass of each, then left it for another 24 hours and sampled again. Picture of second session:

Overall quite unimpressed with the First Gold in this experiment, which surprised me as I understood it to be popular for dry hopping. However it just seemed to make the beer a bit more bitter without adding much in the line of taste or aroma.

The Summit hops added much more taste and aroma and didn't seem as bitter (maybe the taste just covered the extra bitterness?) which is odd as they are supposed to have a much higher alpha acid content than the First Gold (no hops were boiled in this test).

As might be expected the bottle containing both hops did taste like a blend of the other two bottles.

 

[Random Badger]

The other thing I tried was putting some hops in a glass of water and leaving it. After a day the Summit hops smelled nice but I'm not keen on the smell of the glass containing First Gold. I don't think I've ever knowingly tried them before so, it's hard to say whether there is something up with this batch (I can hardly complain as they were given away!) or maybe it's just me and I simply don't like this particular hop for some reason?

DocAnna I did have one thought - is there any possibility that the bags were mixed up in the repacking frenzy and I'm maligning the wrong hop variety?

 

[DocAnna]

Definitely the right way round. The boxes were out of the fridge for a couple of days before I got the new fridge to put them in but they were sealed and in a cool dark place. Feeling oddly defensive about this, and a bit sad that the First Gold aren't as expected, sorry.

Anna

 

[matt76]

@Random Badger only just seen this so a bit late to be of much use. But I always think a bit of kitchen experimentation is a really good thing - what you learn from your own experience is always going to be 100 times more vivid than anything you read or hear.

this kind of experiment often gets recommended with bland macro lager.

Indeed - in the various things I've read and listened to by Scott Janish et al I've certainly heard of dry hopping research being done by adding dry hops to macro lager.

1) Chill bottle
2) Open bottle and add some dry hops
3) Close bottle and shake it up
4) Leave for (say) three days
5) Pour beer into a glass through a sieve to filter out the hop pieces
5) Compare bottles and taste the difference

A few thoughts on your method.

#3 close bottle and shake it is a concern - this seems a good way to introduce oxygen, which, even if it doesn't cause the beer to oxidise could damage precisely the delicate hop compounds you're after. When you dry hop you don't agitate the FV so I think no agitation is necessary. If they are plastic bottles (as they appear to be in you pic) then I'd squeeze them to purge the headspace of gas.

#4 On this tiny scale I'd have thought 24hrs tops is sufficient for extraction and quite possibly even less. The other thing is temperature - what temperature did you leave the bottles at? Cold dry hopping is a thing, and said to result in faster & better extraction. I've tried cold dry hopping but in hindsight did it too cold and got poor results - I think I did it at 0degC (certainly it was <4degC). I checked afterwards with Scott Janish who told me via Twitter not to go lower than 50degF or 10degC. Or you could just stick with keeping them at room temp for a day or two!

 

[Random Badger]

Definitely the right way round. The boxes were out of the fridge for a couple of days before I got the new fridge to put them in but they were sealed and in a cool dark place. Feeling oddly defensive about this, and a bit sad that the First Gold aren't as expected, sorry.

Anna

Hi Anna. You put in the work and I got them for free, so nothing at all for you to feel defensive about. It's possible that it's just my personal taste, or maybe the hops are a little on the tired side. I think I will hold off on using the First Gold in a beer for now.

 

[Random Badger]

@Random Badger only just seen this so a bit late to be of much use. But I always think a bit of kitchen experimentation is a really good thing - what you learn from your own experience is always going to be 100 times more vivid than anything you read or hear.


Indeed - in the various things I've read and listened to by Scott Janish et al I've certainly heard of dry hopping research being done by adding dry hops to macro lager.



A few thoughts on your method.

#3 close bottle and shake it is a concern - this seems a good way to introduce oxygen, which, even if it doesn't cause the beer to oxidise could damage precisely the delicate hop compounds you're after. When you dry hop you don't agitate the FV so I think no agitation is necessary. If they are plastic bottles (as they appear to be in you pic) then I'd squeeze them to purge the headspace of gas.

#4 On this tiny scale I'd have thought 24hrs tops is sufficient for extraction and quite possibly even less. The other thing is temperature - what temperature did you leave the bottles at? Cold dry hopping is a thing, and said to result in faster & better extraction. I've tried cold dry hopping but in hindsight did it too cold and got poor results - I think I did it at 0degC (certainly it was <4degC). I checked afterwards with Scott Janish who told me via Twitter not to go lower than 50degF or 10degC. Or you could just stick with keeping them at room temp for a day or two!

Should I not have vigorously shaken the bottles like a Formula 1 winner?

I actually poked the hops into the beer with a clean teaspoon, squeezed out the excess air and gave the bottle a gentle swirl so as not to disturb the yeast. Left it for 24 hours in a cupboard then put them in the fridge. After cooling for a bit tasted them and then left them in the fridge for another 24 hours before second tasting.

 

[moto748]

I've had a bit of a go at this dry-hopping lark with a batch of 3C IPA. I bunged a muslin bag with a few pellets of hops, and also some Cascade leaf, into each demi-john at the point where fermentation was slowing but not quite complete. I left them in there for 3 days, and bottled the beer today. Getting the hops and the muslin bags out of the demi-johns afterwards was a little bit of a challenge , but not quite as bad as I feared it might be. The beer tasted and smelt OK at bottling, albeit fairly cloudy, so I guess time will tell.

 

[Pennine]

I am going to try this method out with hops as I go. Will probably just get a pack of cheap lager to make the flavour and aroma stick out and then I can easily sample a real one side by side.