Finished reading the IPA (by Mitch Steel) book. I’m going to have to start dry hopping apparently. Just like thughes told me when I first started.
I like to drink my IPAs fresh. If I dry hop, am I going to have to leave it to age for a few weeks before drinking?
From the sounds of what Bob says, I won’t be able to drink the beer fresh any more
BobBrews wrote: ...So what did I discover? The beer that had the hops added to the boil at the 15,10,5,0 minutes mark was drinkable right out of the fermenter. The second beer with all dry hops was vary harsh out of the fermenter. A very large difference. So much so that I was worried that I had stuffed up the experiment! After two weeks mellowing I tried them again and the difference was less extreme and I knew that I didn't stuff up the experiment. Whew!
This beer needs a month (at least) to sit before drinking. The time is up and the verdict is in! The dry hopped beer that was so harsh out of the fermenter was the better tasting of the two! The late hopped beer was very good but the hop character was negligible. The dry hopped beer still retains the hop flavor at the end. I like the dry hopped beer better but both are great beers.
I was thinking of throwing Cascade plugs and/or Styrian Goldings pugs (if I can get them) into the fermentor half way through my 10 day single stage ferment.
Any comments would be appreciated.
....I just found something on here
http://www.byo.com/malt/item/568-dry-ho ... reat-aroma
Perhaps contained leaf hops in the keg is the answer to my concerns.
If you use pellets, you’ll notice that the hop aroma and flavor in the beer can be overpowering at first. Because the lupulin glands are burst, all the oil goes into the beer at once. Just be patient and it will mellow out. On the other hand since the beer is usually cold, the hop oils are released very slowly from whole hops when they’re in the keg. This acts like a time release effect and keeps the aroma level reasonably constant over time.