I have an IPA on its third day of primary, bubbling nicely. In the next couple days I would like to dry hop it. Its my house IPA, and I’ve never dry hopped it before. Suggestions please? My recipe is as follows…
12# 2 row
1# 60*
.75 oz mag @ 60
1 oz cascade @ 45
1 oz cascade @ 30
1 oz cascade@ 5
First suggestion…wait til it’s completely done before you dry hop. What hop do you want to dry hop with?
Something new I am trying. An idea I got from someone on another forum. I bought some stainless steel bolts, sanitized them, and put them in the hop sack to hold my hops on the bottom of my fermenter.
Good call on the bolts. I’ll do that. Denny, my obsession with Cascade borders on the erotic, some Cascades it will be. I’m mostly curious how much I should use. When you say fermentation is done, do you mean y FG levels out, and the yeast is on clean up duty, or even after that is done?
You do want to wait until active fermentation is complete. I usually wait about two weeks, then dry hop for 7 - 10 days. I use pellet hops and just toss them into the primary fermenter.
Most commercial brewers (especially Hop Man Matt Brynildson) dry hop in the primary when primary fermentation is within 1 degree Plato of terminal fermentation to scrub out the oxygen off the hops that are present in the pellets or cones. This is what I commonly do and would recommend if it is possible for you to do.
I’ve been hearing the “scrubbing” technique as described above. I also know Brewers who only dry hop for 3-4 days, but I don’t see the problem in leaving them for 7 days.
I mostly ferment in glass carboys and wait 'till the Krausen subsides substantially but there are a few bubbles left on top indicating fermentation is slowing down…then I drop my hops in. I’ve been using whole leaf hops with nice results, but pellets are fine and a little easier to deal with. I’m a proponent of letting the hops roam free in the beer, so I don’t contain them in any mesh bags or rigs. I’ve read that it’s best to package after about 4 days of dry hopping, but I always forget to do this…I’ve had a dry-hopped amber sitting in the carboy for about 3 weeks now, lol!
I’m a proponent of “free roaming” hops myself. I just chuck the pellets/cones in loose after the krausen has dropped. My dry hops are generally in for 10-15 days and I’ve never gotten any grassiness. I make sure my beer is at 68F or higher while I’m dry-hopping. I’ve never done a side-by-side, but I’ve heard several people say dry-hopping at warmer temps minimizes grassiness.
I have used both whole-cone and pellet hops successfully, and haven’t noticed a flavor difference between the two. Because of this, I prefer pellets for dry hopping because you lose less beer. If you use dried whole cones loosely, you may want to allow an extra day or two of contact time, since they tend to float and will take some time to hydrate.
I also make sure to line my bottling bucket with a sanitized paint strainer bag before I rack over. This keeps any hoppy bits from getting in the bottles.
I usually dry-hop at a rate of 2 oz for a Pale Ale or 3-4 oz for an IPA (per 5 gallons). There is definitely a difference between using 1 and 2 oz of dry hops (to my nose at least), but I’m not quite sold yet that there is a huge difference once you go above 2 oz of dry hops.
Thanks guys. Just the kind of help I was looking for.
Many ppl, including Denny, say u can skip the weights. While it might make us feel better, I don’t know that it increases the amount of aroma they impart.
Yeah, I’ve tried with and without and it just didn’t seem like the weights really made any difference.
Your recipe sounds very similar to a Mirror Pond clone that I do with the exception that Mirror Pond is a single hop Cascade beer. I use 1 oz of Cascade for dry hop and it is pretty dead on to MP. The most I use when dry hopping is 3 oz and that is in my Celebration Ale clone (which is about to be kegged today). I wait about 7 days for fermentation to complete and then drop the hops directly into the carboy for 7 days.
I like to dry hop my beers with 2-3oz for a period of 5-7 days and I always use a secondary, it just works for me better:)
I like to use 1 gallon paint strainer bags and I do weight them down with stainless steel bolts. I decided to do this because I found my beer to be clearer, even if I filtered my racking cane. I use the bolts because I was finding that once the hops swelled up they started pushing up into the neck of the carboy and plugging things up.
If you try this a couple tips: Tie the bolts vertically into the bottom of the bag, if they are sideways you’ll have a great time trying to get them out the neck. It takes a solid 2-4 heavy bolts to keep the bag submerged, especially if you use whole leaf. Be prepared to lose some final volume as the more you use the more they suck up, especially whole leaf:)
I’ve not noticed any difference in aroma/flavor in using the bag or not when I used to just let them swim.
For a 100 ibu 1.090 beer, Simcoe bitter, cascade flavor, Willamette aroma… would 2 ounces of Willamette in a bag in the keg be enough?
I’d consider 2oz the bare minimum, but that’s just my tastes. Personally, I’d do 2 oz each of all 3 hop varieties if it were my beer, but I admit that I have a bit if a hop problem.
Your gonna wish you added more hops…
Mmmk, glad I asked. How about 2 Willamette 2 cascade? Not sure I want Simcoe aroma though I dig them bittering.
+1. Me too ! My last IPA had 13 oz total in the recipe.
Funny but that’s what this one will have now.
2 Simcoe FWH
2 Cascade FWH
1 Sim at 60
2 cascade at 10
2 cascade at FO
2 Cascade 2 Willamette in the keg
13