Came across this article from December BYO - just thought I’d point it out - some interesting points:
http://byo.com/stories/issue/item/3187-advanced-dry-hopping-techniques
Interesting article. Thanks for posting.
I’m gonna have to read that later and think about it.
I had already adopted a max dry hop contact time of 4 days for my brewing. Now I see that it could be half that when using pellets. Interesting. I’ll have to try it.
I do agree that keeping the beer warm (ie: not crash chilled) seems to aid in the extraction. With regard to ‘layering’, it doesn’t make any sense to me to add hops at differing times. Why not all at once? It would result in less oxygen contact.
I do appreciate the note that Heady Topper only has the equivalent of about 4oz of dry hops in a 5 gal batch. I haven’t used that much to date, but am more willing to now. My main concern was the beer loss and the potential to leach green vegetal flavor. I’ll have to man-up.
How about the oxidation caused by adding dry hops? Is that real and avoidable for a simple homebrewer?
IMO, it’s nothing to worry about. My own experience is in direct conflict with several of the “facts” in the article. Try things for yourself and decide.
sure it is real - whether it is noticeable in its impact for you is up to your experience. I have had some IPAs display slight oxidation cues - but I was never able to definitively say it was from dryhops - it could easily have been sloppy racking practices. I’ve since been vigilant about flushing my kegs with CO2 always, and being sure to purge headspace anytime I open the keg.
to your second question - one method to minimize this is to add your dryhops to your keg or secondary carboy/bucket, flush the vessel with CO2 and then rack from primary on top of these hops.
the other method mentioned in the article is to presoak the dryhops in a small amount of boiled and chilled water and add the entire mixture to the secondary. I can’t vouch for this method, only relaying the message.
there may some validity with regard to what Brynildson does - first charge in primary just prior to the end of fermentation and then in the brite tank. I think we all have noted that there is a bit of a different effect when dryhopping with lots of yeast present and without, however slight that may be.
I’m on the fence about 2 stage dryhopping. it seems like a lot of pros do it, and I have a near pro style setup so why not? but it does add a PITA factor, i’ll admit.
I can’t say I’ve noticed much difference in 2 planned charges vs all at once. But I will add more hops to the canister in my keg when I feel the aroma has started to drop off. So I guess that is a 2 stage of sorts.
EDIT - As for oxidation, I rack into purged kegs and purge headspace after filling or opening, so I don’t notice oxidation ever on these beers, though in theory it is there. I wonder though if the CO2 rich atmosphere in the purged keg forces the lighter O2 up to the keg lid ?
I’ve seen Brynildson’s methods talked about before and I’ve been intrigued – FW Union Jack is one of favorite beers and I love how much aroma I get. My setup would make his methods a total PITA, so I’ve never tried it.
My Pliny clone has finished and is ready for dry hopping. I cold crashed it to 50 to drop as much yeast as possible.
After I rack into the keg, should I let it warm up before dry hopping or leave it at 50? If warm up, to what temp?
I mainly use conicals so it may be outside the realm of most homebrewers, but when I dry hop I add a diffusion stone to my racking arm and give a little blast of Co2. Yeah, I may be losing a little aroma but I fee it protects against oxydation. So those of you with conicals might try this. It also helps distribute the hops.
I personally feel 64-72 for best hop extraction.
Yep.
Perfect - I’ll rack, bring the beer up to ambient temperature, and dry hop.