Favourite British hop for dry hopping

Malt Muncher · Jun 16, 2019

I'm making an English style IPA in a while and want to use all British hops. I'm wondering which hops people have had some success with for dry hopping?

I've had a lot of grassy flavours when dry hopping with British hops before, so hoping to avoid that this time around...

marshbrewer · Jun 16, 2019

I like to dry hop with East Kent Golding's. I associate grassy taste with Fuggles.

Malt Muncher · Jun 16, 2019

jjsh said:
I like to dry hop with East Kent Golding's. I associate grassy taste with Fuggles.

I've used EKG before but still got the grassy taste, I could have added too much though. How much do you normally use?

I like fuggles as a kettle hop, but haven't had great success with dry hopping with it. I hear it can be good if you leave it for a few months.

marshbrewer · Jun 16, 2019

I use pellets, and have added up to 25g in a 20L batch

Malt Muncher · Jun 16, 2019

jjsh said:
I use pellets, and have added up to 25g in a 20L batch

That could explain it. When I look back I used 45g in the last IPA I made using EKG which I guess is too much

marshbrewer · Jun 16, 2019

Just as a qualifying comment - I drink mostly British styles when out, always have, so perhaps I'm just used to the taste! acheers.

Malt Muncher · Jun 16, 2019

jjsh said:
Just as a qualifying comment - I drink mostly British styles when out, always have, so perhaps I'm just used to the taste!

They're hard to find over here. If I want to drink them, I need to make them first lol

marshbrewer · Jun 16, 2019

Bramling Cross is worth a go, I did a nice IPA with it once, although I mainly use it in darker ales.

Malt Muncher · Jun 16, 2019

jjsh said:
Bramling Cross is worth a go, I did a nice IPA with it once, although I mainly use it in darker ales.

How much did you use for dry hopping your IPA? Better than EKG?

marshbrewer · Jun 16, 2019

Malt Muncher said:
How much did you use for dry hopping your IPA? Better than EKG?

Different to EKG - blackcurrant rather than EKG lemon. Some people find it a bit catty or twiggy. My records show 25g leaf hop in a 23L brew.

An Ankoù · Jun 16, 2019

I was soft enough to let Jo from Stocks Farm talk me into buying 500g of Pilgrim. I haven't tried them out yet, but I'm hoping they're going to lead to that very best of best bitters, which is my Holy Grail at the moment. I'm not sure I'd want to make an English IPA like an American IPA though. The "grassiness" is a big problem when you start putting loads of dry hops in and I even get it if I'm not careful with Cascade.

Malt Muncher · Jun 16, 2019

2

jjsh said:
Different to EKG - blackcurrant rather than EKG lemon. Some people find it a bit catty or twiggy. My records show 25g leaf hop in a 23L brew.

25g seems to be the magic number!

Malt Muncher · Jun 16, 2019

An Ankoù said:
I was soft enough to let Jo from Stocks Farm talk me into buying 500g of Pilgrim. I haven't tried them out yet, but I'm hoping they're going to lead to that very best of best bitters, which is my Holy Grail at the moment. I'm not sure I'd want to make an English IPA like an American IPA though. The "grassiness" is a big problem when you start putting loads of dry hops in and I even get it if I'm not careful with Cascade.

Yeah, I've learned that you can't treat British hops the same way as their American cousins. I'm now thinking that "less is more", but still trying to figure out what that number is to allow some of the great hop flavour but avoid the grass. Seems like 25g is a good number to go with.

I made a golden ale using pilgrim once which turned out great, but I did need to leave it to condition for a couple of months before I really enjoyed it. That peach flavour you get is great!

marshbrewer · Jun 16, 2019

Malt Muncher said:
2

25g seems to be the magic number!

I've had a quick scan through my records, and when doing English styles and dry hopping, in mostly 20L batches, my dry hopping rates are between 8 and 25g, almost always pellets. Nearly all of those use EKG. I have to admit to loving the combination of Fuggles / EKG as late kettle hops, and EKG for dry hops. Bittering is whatever I have in, usually challenger.

MrRook · Jun 16, 2019

Malt Muncher said:
I'm making an English style IPA in a while and want to use all British hops. I'm wondering which hops people have had some success with for dry hopping?

I've had a lot of grassy flavours when dry hopping with British hops before, so hoping to avoid that this time around...

How long did you leave the hops in the f v?

Malt Muncher · Jun 16, 2019

jjsh said:
I've had a quick scan through my records, and when doing English styles and dry hopping, in mostly 20L batches, my dry hopping rates are between 8 and 25g, almost always pellets. Nearly all of those use EKG. I have to admit to loving the combination of Fuggles / EKG as late kettle hops, and EKG for dry hops. Bittering is whatever I have in, usually challenger.

That's great info, thanks for that. I think I'll go with 25g this time round as it's a fairly high OG brew (although I'm not sure how relevant that is for dry hopping :?:

) and maybe drop it next time around if I still get grass.

I love fuggles as a late kettle hop! I made a lovely bitter using fuggles / endeavour as late kettle hops and challenger as the bittering hop a while ago

Malt Muncher · Jun 16, 2019

MrRook said:
How long did you leave the hops in the f v?

Usually 3 to 5 days. I guess I'm just throwing too much in, which is why I'm getting the grass

Malt Muncher · Jun 17, 2019

Anyone ever used first gold for dry hopping? I've got a bunch lying around and wondering if they'd work well

cheshirehomebrew · Jun 17, 2019

Grassy notes are supposed to appear if you dry hop for too long, around 10 days or so, I switched to a 5 day dry hop, replacing the hops for another 5 days

Works for me

Malt Muncher · Jun 18, 2019

cheshirehomebrew said:
Grassy notes are supposed to appear if you dry hop for too long, around 10 days or so, I switched to a 5 day dry hop, replacing the hops for another 5 days

Works for me

I usually leave them in for 5 days max. Any idea what causes the grass flavour when leaving hops in for longer? Oxidation of the hop cones, or something else?

How are you replacing the hops? Are you using leaf or pellet hops?

Favourite British hop for dry hopping

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