Dry hopping procedures

I am trying to settle into one consistant dry hopping regimen.
Can anyone everyone recommend their favorite?
I am talking,when,where( fermentor,keg),clearing methods etc.
I would say that clearing is my biggest issue,it seems to be adding weeks to my turnaround,even when using pellets in a sack.
I know BobBrews has a lot of practice in this and I am sure others will be able to chime in with some coherent advice!

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This BeerSmith podcast with John Palmer from a few weeks ago is worth a listen to Lylo. It takes a good ten minutes or so to get into the interesting tidbits but there is lots of practical, interesting stuff buried in amongst the science etc.

The dry hop recommendation from memory was to do exactly what Todd said - throw them in just after active fermentation ceases (I think this means after high krausen falls ) and then not to leave them sitting around for too long (say 7 days).

The crash-chillng Todd mentioned is great for clearing if you have the fridge resources. If I didn't have those resources, wante to avoid using a secondary and was going to dry hop regularly maybe a filter would be something I would consider?

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Hey guys,

I have the definitive answers to all your questions. Damn! Just had another "Senior Moment" and forgot what I was about to say? Easy come Easy go! As long as I am here I will say this! I brewed two identical beers in August this year. I had the same pH and hit the temps exactly the same! (I never hit it right on but two consecutive days, WOW)! I used hops from the same batch's and grain was split from a common source.

One beer was bittered and then hops were added at the last 15, 10, 5 and 0 minutes! The second beer brewed the next day had the bittering hops added and -No other hops-. After three weeks I added to the second beer identical hops all as dry hops. I dumped 4 ounces (113.4 grams) of dry hops to the second beer. I waited ten days and kegged (minus a few bottles for BBR) I now have two tappers with the same beer except for the hopping schedule.

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. They clocked in about 1.90 for original gravity but I forgot to take a reading before kegging!

So Monday I will ship off the bottles to BBR (Basic Brewing Radio) as yeast samples because it's illegal to mail beer? This week at my beer meeting I will have the drunks (sorry, club members) check it out and give there opinions. I really hate to share any of this beer but science says I must!

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BobBrews wrote:They clocked in about 1.90 for original gravity

Wow You better send some to NASA as well as BBR Bob thats rocket fuel...

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One question i have with people that dry hop (which is something i do too) is; what do you do with the hops after removal?
I use a hop-sock for dry hopping, so its easy to remove them afterwards.
**Alert** this is just an anecdotal assumption i have**. I just feel that there is still potential in these dry hops as they have never seen any heat.

Therefore; does anybody utilise them afterwards or do they just see the bin?

For anybody that is interested; what i do is pull the hop sock, decant a litre or 2 of the (already fermented) beer into a pan bring to the boil and dump the dry hops in. Flame off, seal & leave for about 10 mins to infuse.
I then pour the beer & hop mix back into the vessel (strained obviously), and then batch prime & bottle (i don't keg).

I suspect i may lose some alcohol off the 2L of boiled beer, but that doesn't concern me too much. What i do notice are hop oils that would have been lost.
I cant really say whether this offers any advantages, its just that i hate the idea of waste if something can be utilised in other ways.
Logic says you could do this to save on the amount of hops required, as you will be getting the benefit of the dry hop schedule plus some (albeit small) flavour & aroma.
I don't have any contamination concerns, as the beer is already fermented, and the 2L is boiled, capped, and covered with bug killing hops
Anyway, long ramble, apologies, any comments?

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Mally,

I am a little confused with your method. Dry hops are added to the fermentation vessel after the fermentation is over (two weeks?). The dry hops sit in the fermented beer and are not collected as they are mixed in with the yeast (contamination chances). Dry hops are not reused. You seem to be mixing late hops with dry hops? When you boil a hop (pellets or whole) the heat and boiling action drive off ALL the aroma oils to the air. They are gone and wasted as aroma hops. What they do is give bitterness to the wort to balance out the sweetness of the malt. A beer that is cloying or overly sweet is not refreshing.

Late hopping is adding hops to the boil in the last 15,10,5 or 0 minutes. Supposedly the aroma oils to some extent are not fully driven off with the boils viggous scrubbing action. These hops are not boiled over 15 minutes and do not give bitterness to the beer, just aroma! These late hops my be added to the boil in a hop sack so as to pull them out of the boil when cooling or transferred to a no-chill container? You could use these hops as bittering hops I guess if collected properly? They have no aroma oils left but they have not been fully heated and retain the bittering capabilities.

The three types of hop additions are Bittering (full boil) Late hopping (last few minutes for aroma) and Dry hopping (adding to already fermented beer) You have off shoots in hopping like first wort hopping (FWH) Where you add the bittering hops as you pull the BIAB bag and then raise the wort to a boil. Adding hop tea where you extract a aroma hops in a french press and add the resulting hop tea to the beer at bottling. With hop tea I do save the cold (non boiled) extracted hops in my freezer to be used as bittering hops in subsequent brews. Sometimes the waste is not in money but in time and effort? The hard part is deciding which is more precious to you?

I probably misread your post and wasted your time reading something you already knew? But just in case someone stumbles on to this it might help them.

Here is a link to my family web site about extracting hop tea as hop vodka http://www.stempski.com/hop_vodka.php

Here is a podcast I did on BBR about Hop Vodka http://ec.libsyn.com/p/c/e/d/ced10842b7 ... id=4326025

BBR Basic Brewing Radio shows http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=radio

I will be doing a podcast about comparing dry hopping and late hopping on BBR Nov-Dec time frame stay tuned!

Edit: I guess I did misread your original post? Oh well, typing is exercise? Time for a beer!

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Hi Bob, no problem.

Based on what i do though; which is basically reheat the dry hops. Do you see any negative or positive to it?

As i say, to me it is anecdotal, but it gives me the perception that i am (re)utilising something that would normally be thrown away

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I hate to get in a pissing fight with an old GB fan buuuttt here goes.
Any hops can be used for the purposes Bob mentioned,bittering,flavor/flavour,aroma.Many brewers are now using high alpha hops such as citra and magnum for flavouring and aroma.
I had a really good IPA last weekend at http://www.jasperbrewingco.ca/ that had been dry hopped with Citra.
The thing with the high alpha hops is that when they are used as a bittering hop you will not have to use nearly the volume to achieve your target IBU.
This is especially important if you are doing hop bursting at around the 20 min mark.High A/A will save you alot of money.

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Lylo,

Agreed. I thought I said that?

I can use almost any hop for bittering but some are high alpha and require small amounts. Some are low alpha and require twice the amount to equal the same high alpha?

At least I tried to say that! Yes high alpha amounts can be halved to save on hops. If a low alpha is used you may have to double it? I was at a beer contest a couple of years ago. The brewery had a 50 lb. (22.68 Kilos) sack of Styrian Goldings Alpha Acids: 3-6 % It is a fuggle directive. They were giving away as much as you wanted! They even had plastic bags for you! I received at least 5 lbs.(2.3 Kilos). This is a free low alpha which I use for bittering sometimes I triple the bittering dosage! If I use Apollo hops? Typical alpha: 18-21%. A US-grown super high alpha hop. Very strong bittering capabilities and intense, pungent citrus peel aroma. I may halve the amount because of the high alpha. I am a hop-head so I normally use enough enough hops to peel off the epidermis skin!

Good luck! I am off to adjust my Cheesestradamus picks! For those of us who can!
Edit

Drat! I was only joking but I see you tweaked your picks already! That spoils my joke! Damn you Lylo! Damn you all to hell!

First sack Don Barclay??? What are you doing?
What evil are you hatching! I will be watching for your change, and copying it!!!

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Sorry Bob,I just wanted to make it clear to mally that any hops can be used for the three different purposes. ie: high alpha are not just for bittering and low are not just for flavor and aroma.
No fair copying my picks!!
I have a feeling that you may be entered under an untold number of aliases and you are only fessing up to your BIAB name.

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Just to stay on topic.
Hops,FWH,late hops,IBU
There now for the the real comment.
Thanks for keeping the site alive Bob,you and your silly game have revived my interest in NFL football.
I hope we don't get moderated.

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Cheers guys,

I do understand the types of hop & their relative utilis(z)ation, but thanks for spending the time on my question anyway.

I guess another way of asking the original question would be;
if i dry hop (i will use a real life example as i have just bottled my pilsneresque lager) with saaz leaf hops (say 2oz/50g) in my secondary for 2 weeks in a hopsack.
when i pull the hops out in order to batch prime & bottle, will all of the aroma and flavour have been used? even though prior to this the hops have been stored cold/frozen and then plunged into 4 degrees (40 f) fermented beer?

My original (and anecdotal) thoughts are maybe not, and there is potential to extract more flavour and aroma from them. BTW i am only interested in flavour and aroma now, as i will have accounted for bitterness (during boil), and flavour & aroma too to some extent(dry hopping).

I have started rambling again (sorry), I always start out with the intent of being concise but this is what happens

BTW Bob, thanks for the international consideration I have tried to stick to this too. So you do get points for that! I would never consider you as a rambling old fart either, in fact i would consider you the "king of hops", how does that sound? BTW can i count on you for a few extra cheesetradamus points now?

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Thanks for the feedback everyone;

I am still not convinced though

If anybody is willing to humo(u)r me, the next time they do a DRY hop. Could they throw the used hops in a litre of boiling water, turn of the heat and check after 10/20 mins?
When i do this with my leaf hops, i can see the hop oils in the boiled liquid (fermented beer). Now this is what wouldn't have gone in the beer.
So is the answer that these hop oils (if they do exist) are no good? Or am i seeing oils that were already in the beer, or am i using a dirty frying pan??

It would be great if anybody could verify this (or shoot down in flames). At least then my mind would be at rest that i am not throwing something away that could have been useful.

BTW - i have no idea whether pellets would do the same as i have never used them, this is all based on whole leaf.

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I thought this was now a football thread . Anyway, I see you are talking hops again. Bugger ...

Mally, I think Kostas might have some input for you here. He's in Greece and everything costs a fortune there for brewing so he does re-use his hops but I can't remember how. I'll email him now and see if he can chime in. Mind you his girlfriend is home for a few days so he may not have time to answer for a few days.

Cheers,
PP

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My opinion on dry hopping if anyone is interested, is to the keg, especially if using pellets. Gives it a fresh hop burst I've never been able to recreate any other way. With fresh hop flowers it can be a little full on and needs to sit for a week or two to mellow out, so if your in a hurry, probably best off into secondary. Hop pellets into large tea strainer balls or weighted hop socks into kegs = AWESOME

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