Dry hopping

[The Baron]

I put a 2 inch glass marbles in a bag, if you leave the drawstring dangling out of the fv it can draw the beer up and drip drip drip though so put the drawstring in a glass

Use fishing line it does not wick and it helps the seal on the FV as it is much finer

 

[jayk34]

I prefer to use whole hops rather than pellets. If the dry hop addition is small I just throw them in loose. If the addition is large I still thrown them in loose but I use a sterilised slotted spoon to gently push them under the surface or they form a thick raft above the beer.

The thing with dry hopping is that there’s no right way and all ways seem to do the job about the same regardless. We all have our own preferences for duration too but there’s little difference between 2 days and 2 weeks.

What does make a difference is oxygen. I normally add one dry hop addition but I tried adding a proportion of the hops every day instead. Disaster - the constant opening of the fermenter allowing oxygen in resulted in oxidised beer. It was quite hoppy, but ruined.

With regards to oxidation when dry hopping, has anyone tried dry hopping at yeast pitch ?

Listened to a brulosphy podcast where they completed a test on dry hopping at yeast pitch versus standard method and couldn't detect the difference in blind tasting

 

[The Baron]

It is said to scrub the hop flavours out with the production of CO2 which initially is quite vigorous.
The trouble with Brulosphy is they are not really done scientifically most times not to say they do not get things in the right ball park sometimes

 

[St00]

I'll bet the commercial breweries if they dry hop pour them in and then take the beer out later. I can't see them bagging and weighting hops.
But I think they do put other adjuncts in bags such as coffee, cacoa nibs.
That said I use bags with swelling space and pellets moved in and out with magnets. You can give them a good swish round with the magnet as well which helps to mix the hops.

I've seen commercial breweries bag their dry hops (Quantum in Stockport, before Jay joined Cloudwater), but I've also seen then just chuck them in. Given the quick turn around of hazy pales and NEIPAs a lot of modern brewers add them while the yeast is a few points off of FG and some even dip hop now.

I use the same method as @the baron, but if I'm making a west coast or east coast IPA in my Fermzilla I pressurize my collection jar with Co2 and blast them up from the bottom, because I enjoy it and I can cold crash them via the glycol chiller.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

With regards to oxidation when dry hopping, has anyone tried dry hopping at yeast pitch ?

Listened to a brulosphy podcast where they completed a test on dry hopping at yeast pitch versus standard method and couldn't detect the difference in blind tasting

If you add one or two dry hop additions you should be fine, particularly if one of those is added early.

In my experiment I dry-hopped every day for several days but didn’t start until after high krausen and that was damaging, I guess because CO2 production from fermentation wasn’t able to displace the air (oxygen) I’d been letting in by that point.

 

[The Baron]

If you do standard fermentation i.e oldy style no pressure the best time to dry hop is just after the most vigorous fermentation is dying down say 4/5 days with a standard yeast but earlier with say Kviek as you still have a good blanket of CO2 over the beer but it is still producing CO2 but not as much but enough to force out any air after opening the lid

 

[Festival Man]

I have a mangrove jack juicy ipa brewing and i am at the dry hopping stage, i have put the hops in a muslin bag instead of placing on the top.
it just seems to be sitting on the top of the brew in a big lump rather than spread all over the top of the brew.
Is this still an effective way of dry hopping or should i just take the hops out of the bag and put them back in on top of the brew, this is the first time i have used the muslin bag for dry hopping

Hi, Use a few sterilized marbles.

 

[Festival Man]

After the first 5 days in the primary fermenter, then dry hop in your primary fermenter for 5 days. No need to involve a racking. Start bottling when you have reached your required FG. Just take the bag of hop pellet trub out when you are clearing up afterwards.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

Hi, Use a few sterilized marbles.

Sterilised stainless steel teaspoons are much more available.

 

[moto748]

I dry-hopped my first attempt at a US style IPA a while back, by bunging both muslin bags of pellets, and also loose hops, into demi-johns 2 or 3 days prior to bottling. It seems, from what I've read, a riskier procedure (more chance of infections/oxidisation issues?), but I tried one last night for the first time, and was very pleased by the results.

Of course it helps that with that class of beer, you can say, oh, it's supposed to be cloudy!

 

[hoppyscotty]

I've used glass marbles in bags before now. I prefer to put them in something because I don't like the hops to be in there more than 3 - 4 days because of the risk (or so I've read) of the hops imparting grassy flavours if they sit in the beer any longer than that. So if I cannot package 3 - 4 days after adding the hops, I can remove them and leave the beer for a bit longer before packaging if necessary. If I was sure I could dry hop then package 3 - 4 days after then I'd probably throw in and cold crash after they've infused...though not sure of the grassy logic in the context of a few days of cold crashing after allowing 3 - 4 days for them to steep.

 

[Festival Man]

I've used glass marbles in bags before now. I prefer to put them in something because I don't like the hops to be in there more than 3 - 4 days because of the risk (or so I've read) of the hops imparting grassy flavours if they sit in the beer any longer than that. So if I cannot package 3 - 4 days after adding the hops, I can remove them and leave the beer for a bit longer before packaging if necessary. If I was sure I could dry hop then package 3 - 4 days after then I'd probably throw in and cold crash after they've infused...though not sure of the grassy logic in the context of a few days of cold crashing after allowing 3 - 4 days for them to steep.

You are perfectly correct in your method hoppyscotty. marbles in . with the bag tied to be removed after the 5 days. If you go longer than 5, then 'grassy' can start.

 

[hoppyscotty]

Also read last night when researching a beer I'm brewing this weekend to raise the temp once you dry hop. The schedule was primary fermentation at 18 degrees C then dry hop as fermentation is nearing completion and ramp up to about 21 degrees. Wonder if slightly higher temp is better for extraction from the hops?

 

[The Baron]

I think you will find that the grassy tones from dry hopping is not as cut and dried as it has been suggested. Many brewers in this forum have dry hopped for much longer periods and will tell you that they have had not issues with it so it seems to be not a urban myth but not something to generally worry about.
Having said that I do not dry hop for more than 5 days anyway so I will never find out

 

[AXW123]

My son just came into the kitchen and asked incredulously why I was boiling a large pebble and cutting up a pair of tights. Dry hopping I said. He rolled his eyes and walked out without saying a word.

 

[Ezza]

I've never noticed grassiness when I've left hops in for far longer than 5 days.