Dry Hopping Guidelines...?

[TimXJR1300]

I've had a go at a SMASH CITRA IPA which has been a resounding success, I cranked the grain up by 50% and got a 7.6% beer.... which is probably why it was successful thinking about it.

However, what I want to do next is get a hold of dry hopping.
Most of the recipes I have looked at on this site dry hop for 3 - 4 days which is fine but its the volume of hops that is the question here.
I know the answer is "it depends on your preferred taste" but I was wondering if there are any guidelines.
The recipes seem to use a dry hop load roughly equivalent to the whole boil+aroma hop load.... is this a good starting point?

 

[jMac]

The recipes seem to use a dry hop load roughly equivalent to the whole boil+aroma hop load.... is this a good starting point?

May be not a bad starting point, although not knowing your recipe it’s hard to know. For American style pales and IPAs, I’d say you’d be looking at 3-5g dry hop per litre and for British equivalents, 1-3g/l. But that’s really just my preferences.

 

[matt76]

I'll make two or three comments, all of which come at least partly from "The New IPA" by Scott Janish:

Dry hop amounts - Scott interviews a number of commercial brewers and they say they're going for a dry hop of typically 2-3lb/bbl. Now 1lb/bbl works out as 2.86g/L or 28.6g in 10L, so very similar to what @mclaughlinj has already suggested. By coincidence I was already adding about 60g dry hop to my 10L-ish batches of AIPA which for me at least is pretty much on the money taste-wise. But yes, to some degree it's down to personal taste and probably also rather more modest for British styles.

Dry hop process - The science (summarised here but you can skip ahead to Key Findings) points to shorter, colder dry hops being more effective at maximising hop flavour and aroma. In addition Denny Conn has been extolling the virtues of this approach recently on Experimental Brewing. I've tried it, basically cold crashing first and then adding the dry hops for no more than 48 hours (I tend to do 24-36 hours). In my experience it's certainly no less effective than 3-5 days at room temp/fermentation temp and if nothing else cuts a few days off the time from grain to glass. I need to do it a few more times to say for sure if I think it's significantly more effective but like I say, it's certainly no worse.

Oxygen exposure - According to the science Janish references, to maximise hop aroma and flavour you need to minimise oxygen exposure if you can. Many will say they're quite happy ripping the lid off the FV and chucking their dry hop in - and to be fair I used to do it this way as it's convenient and it worked out fine. Now I tend to add the hop pellets through the airlock hole to at least try and preserve the CO2 in the headspace of the FV. That said I kinda spoil it by then batch priming in an open bottling bucket! I would say if you can take simple steps to minimise oxygen exposure then why not try, but probably don't lose sleep over it.

 

[Braufather]

interesting what matt says about temperature- most advice ive come across recommends to do it at room temp/fermentation temp for two or three days. isn't there supposed to be grassy flavours assoicated with dry hopping at colder temps. brewdog seems to be somewhere in the middle suggesting 12C.

3-6g per hop per litre seems to be in general agreement though.

 

[matt76]

interesting what matt says about temperature- most advice ive come across recommends to do it at room temp/fermentation temp for two or three days. isn't there supposed to be grassy flavours assoicated with dry hopping at colder temps. brewdog seems to be somewhere in the middle suggesting 12C.

3-6g per hop per litre seems to be in general agreement though.

I wonder if that advice to dry hop 2-3 days at room/fermentation temp is because that's the way it's always been done???

You'd have to read Janish's book to check (or it might be on his blog) but IIRC the grassy flavours actually come from over-extraction (of polyphenols???) and/or prolonged contact time with the vegetal matter in the hops - sorry, it is genuinely a good book but quite heavy going especially if you're reading it as bedtime reading! (Actually you could just buy it and read the Key Findings at the end of each chapter)

For sure I am far from God's gift to brewing (very far actually! ) but I am happy to try new approaches, especially when guided by serious scientific study. I certainly don't advise against doing it that way, it's worked fine for me in the past. It's just a question of can I do it better.

By the way, for anyone who is interested in this stuff, Drew Beechum of Experimental Brewing has recently done a 2 part interview with Scott Janish on the EB podcast (look for Brew Files Ep.90 & 91, Scott's Hops"). Well worth a listen.

(And so is Brew Files Ep.88 "Julian's IPAs")

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I've a few questions about dry hopping
1. Pellets or Leaf hops?
2. Loose or in a spider/bag?
3. Primary or Secondary FV?
4. When cold crashing or at ambient temperature?
5. Are the days quoted from the start of fermentation or duration in the FV?