Dry hopping is the primary method used by brewers to impart tantalizingly fresh hop aroma into styles ranging from Pilsner to Double IPA. When it comes to utilizing this method, opinions vary greatly on many levels, including how long beer should be kept in contact with the hops. In this xBmt, a split batch of the same beer was hit with the same amount of dry hops, the only difference being that one sat on them for 2 days while the other remained in contact for 11 days. Results are in!
It’s interesting that a shorter dry hop gives a more powerful flavour, but I guess that’s because time between hopping and drinking is shorter, so the flavours haven’t faded so much.
Interesting. It corresponds to the Wolfe thesis published a couple of years ago. But the biggest comment is I wonder how it would change things, doing the same experiment but removing the beer from the yeast.
It wasn’t testing a test of dry hop length, but my primary-only vs. secondary xBmt showed no distinguishable difference:
I just did this with my split batch. I felt my long dry hop had a perceived bitterness that the short didn’t. I also thought the short aroma was more fresh and hoppy. I normally did 7-10 days. My short was 5 and the long was 14 days. I definitely liked the shorter length.
Wow. Very cool. I need to try the 2-day dry hop method on my next IPA!
Very interesting, this is something neither my participants nor I noticed. I still have some of both beers left, I’ll be sure to compare some in a bit!
I typically dry hop for about 7 days strictly to give the hops time to break apart and drop out. I don’t have the ability to cold crash before kegging so a 2 day dry hop may lead to excessive hop material in the keg for me.
That’s a good point, dry hopping can be messy. Have you tried keeping the hops in a muslin bag?
That was actually my next thought. I might try that. I have been keg hopping more and more lately out of ease
My DIPA recipe has both 11 and 4 day additions. I think I’ll try dropping the 4 day down to 2 or 3 and see if I notice any difference. Another great article.