Dry hopping and hop creep

[chthon]

To explain hop creep in short, hops also contain alpha- and beta-amylases, the same enzymes which are responsible for turning starches and dextrins into fermentable sugars.
When dry hopping, the rest sugars and dextrins in the wort, which could not be fermented by the yeast, are then also turned into fermentable sugars and your FG will end lower than expected.
Now, if one always uses the same yeast and dry hops at the same time, and the dry hop is applied at the tail of the fermentation, this would not really be noticeable, because this would consistently lead to a lower apparent attenuation. But knowing this, the recipe would be updated to take this into account.
If dry hopping would be removed from a recipe, this would lead to the suspicion of a stalled fermentation, because there would a higher FG.
So, has anyone noticed this in their own brews?

I had the issue a couple of months ago, where I had to postpone bottling a week because the fermentation had started again. But I hadn't noticed that, because I had blocked the airlock with a cork to prevent air sucking in through the airlock while putting the fermenter in a colder room.

 

[matt76]

I know you posted the question a few days ago... I've been mulling it over

Short answer is no I don't account for hop creep, but..... I'm reading Scott Janish's IPA book at the moment and he has something to say on the subject about small amounts of these enzymes in hops. It suddenly dawned on me this could well be the reason my hoppy beers always seem to be very well carbonated with big foamy heads. Note though that I don't always dry hop - however I wonder if 5min or flameout hops for example would be sufficient to carry enough enzymes over (would need to double check the book again about this).

By the way it's an interesting book - quite heavy going, but if you stick with it it turns out there's a lot more going on with hops during brewing and fermentation than simply extracting flavours.

 

[Sadfield]

I tend to dry hop when there's still some active fermentation, or more recently, when I pitch the yeast. So don't bother to account for creep.

 

[foxy]

Not really a matter of concern for home brewers, as for starting fermentation again that is just CO2 still vacating the fermenter that happens even when not dry hopping, yeast dependent.

 

[Pennine]

i take it seriously these days, seems more important in the summer with warmer temps.

i have been trying to cold crash before dry hopping as recommended by scott. but i dont always and think i might go back to warm dry hopping and shorter lengths.

i do however always put bottles in cold storage after a maximum of two weeks carbonation time. its cheap insurance prevent hop creep to me and i have space in my kegerator. this practice also seems like it prevents the effects of oxidation many are having, which i dont experience.

 

[cushyno]

I rarely dry hop. More relevant is that I never knew about hop creep before so didn't consider it. Just one more data point for you even if it's not very helpful.