When to hop......

[sdt7618]

so I have a New Zealand pilsner kit bubbling away, However I swapped the yeast out for s-23. I intend to lager it for at least 6 weeks before going into a cornie for the the summer( hoping its a good one)

Question is how to dry hop. Don't want to lose the hop effect if I dry hop before it's finished fermenting like the instruction advise a will be another 6 weeks or so before drinking.

Thought is to rack off the yeast, lager and hop after 4 weeks at 2 degrees, give it a week, another to clear again and the pop into the keg and force carb. Should be clear and still gave the hop profile.


Or is there a better way??

 

[Wouter]

4 weeks to dry hop?

 

[sdt7618]

No hop for a week after 4 weeks lagering, dry hop for a week and then lager for another week which should also clear it again, so 4 week lagering, 1 week with hops 1 week without. 6 weeks total.

My fear is that the dry hop won't work at 2 degrees. Should I bring it up?

 

[terrym]

This will be one of the @Bigcol49 '10 homebrewers, 11 opinions' issues.
My view is it's a kit that you are dealing with here, so any value added by lagering in bulk is probably going to be minimal.
So if it were me I would just rack off, dry hop, package, carb up then condition/lager in the fridge.
Whatever you do this might be useful
A Newbies Guide to Dry Hopping Your Beer - The HomeBrew Forum
And I have just dry hopped a lager with Motueka (a NZ hop) and it's turned out really good. Recommended.
What you are going to find is that any contribution from the dry hop will diminish with time so you need to factor that in.

 

[sdt7618]

This will be one of the @Bigcol49 '10 homebrewers, 11 opinions' issues.
My view is it's a kit that you are dealing with here, so any value added by lagering in bulk is probably going to be minimal.
So if it were me I would just rack off, dry hop, package, carb up then condition/lager in the fridge.
Whatever you do this might be useful
A Newbies Guide to Dry Hopping Your Beer - The HomeBrew Forum
And I have just dry hopped a lager with Motueka (a NZ hop) and it's turned out really good. Recommended.
What you are going to find is that any contribution from the dry hop will diminish with time so you need to factor that in.

Thanks,

That is really why I was think to do it at the end and keep the hop flavour. I have done about 6 lagers now and all have been extremely clear and crisp using 6 weeks, though I suppose shorter might be just as effective.

 

[Poochops]

I think I did this kit, I just let it go for 2 weeks then dry hopped for a week. It was like IPA for about 4+ months, well hoppy, but once it calmed down a lot it was lovely. Still got about 15 bottles in the garage it's a really nice Pilsner style now.