Dry Hopping after Fermentaion

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Chris_S

Chris_S

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I have a Youngs American IPA due for dry hopping, but I am going away for 10 days and don’t want to leave the hops in until I return. Can I leave it until I get back?

Also, how critical is temp control after fermentation has finished. I use a Ferminator for control but would prefer to not leave it running for an extra 10 days if not required.
 
Personally I'd drop the temp of you can to reduce the infection risk but you should be OK. I've left beers in my fermentation chamber (the down stairs shower cubical) for up to a month with Jo issues. Also while I try to dry hop for 3 to 5 days max, i have left it for well over 2 weeks before bottling or kegging and I didn't have any grassy or unpleasant flavours. This is dry hopping at about 18 to 20c usually 1 to 2 weeks after fermentation starts.

I 'feel' that I start to lose the lovely hoppy aroma after about 5 days, but that is a guess.
 
The common dry hop length is two weeks. (see rest of thread) E.g. John Palmer's How to Brew:

The best way to utilize dry hopping is to put the hops in a secondary fermenter, after the beer has been racked away from the trub and can sit a couple of weeks before bottling, allowing the volatile oils to diffuse into the beer.

So, I think you'll be fine with 10 days.
 
Last edited:
brubro said:
The common dry hop length is two weeks. E.g. John Palmer's How to Brew:

The best way to utilize dry hopping is to put the hops in a secondajoritying, allowing the volatile oils to diffuse into the beer.

So, I think you'll be fine with 10 days.
Click to expand...
I totally disagree with that most brewers do not dry hop for that length of time as a rule and I would say the majority do not use second FV's much as it is a risk of oxidation.
I do agree that dry hopping longer than the norm which 5 days on average does not cause grassiness though
 
the baron said:
I totally disagree with that most brewers do not dry hop for that length of time as a rule and I would say the majority do not use second FV's much as it is a risk of oxidation.
I do agree that dry hopping longer than the norm which 5 days on average does not cause grassiness though
Click to expand...

Well, I have seen a few people using less than two weeks over the years, but I assumed that, like me, they were just cutting it short (with good results). There's also an exbeeriment that compares short to long dry hopping and they found a noticeable difference between the two.
In any case, coming back to the topic's question, even if John Palmer's recommendation is unusually long, it still shows that 10 days (< 2 weeks) is not an issue. So, it seems we agree that there is no issue there.
 
Yes I agree on the Grassiness not being a problem but I personally would not leave 100grams in a dry hop for 2 weeks plus, I am not saying it would not cause grassiness but could extract other flavours not required with too long a exposure dependant on the particular hop variety.
John Palmer expert as he is has got that wrong re the length of dry hopping and I think I will get plenty of forum brewers who will back that up.
Dry hopping is usually 3 days to 7 days for most brewers
 
the baron said:
Yes I agree on the Grassiness not being a problem but I personally would not leave 100grams in a dry hop for 2 weeks plus, I am not saying it would not cause grassiness but could extract other flavours not required with too long a exposure dependant on the particular hop variety.
John Palmer expert as he is has got that wrong re the length of dry hopping and I think I will get plenty of forum brewers who will back that up.
Dry hopping is usually 3 days to 7 days for most brewers
Click to expand...

Nobody's suggesting to leave hops in there for 2 weeks plus. I would also posit that 'wrong' is perhaps not the appropriate term. He might have got it on the high side and new information has made brewers move to shorter dry hopping periods (as with other practices that used to be common a decade ago and are no longer), including myself.
 
So that is a old John Palmer quote and whether you agree with the term "wrong" it is nowadays and it does not help the newer brewers.
Better more upto date information is available on this forum as it changes and evolves all the time
 
the baron said:
So that is a old John Palmer quote and whether you agree with the term "wrong" it is nowadays and it does not help the newer brewers.
Better more upto date information is available on this forum as it changes and evolves all the time
Click to expand...

Absolutely. And I thank you for correcting my post on that.
 
I did not mean to come across as Know it all but there is so much information that is put out there that is not helping newer and some older brewers,
The Forum is about brewers experiences and discussions to aid better brewing and learning of the craft.
If you want to get deep into the science of brewing, water treatment, enzymes and the like John Palmer would beat me hands down but in the real world of homebrewing I do the dry hopping every other week and so do many members and we have found different results to the old quote you used but keep on reading the books and question anything you are not sure of and other brewers will chip in with their thoughts. Its a good placeathumb..
 

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