Would it be unusual to dry hop a Bohemian Pils? I took a gravity reading today and tasted the beer and it didnt have as much hop flavor as I expected. I was thinking adding 1/2 oz Saaz pellets towards end of conditioning for more flavor/aroma.
Any thoughts?
Thanks
Go for it. I do it when I feel it needs more hop. You’re using the correct hop IMO.
Bruce
Unusual, yes. But I don’t know how much that matters.
I would say no.
But that is my opinion.
No what? No, don’t do it? Or no, it’s not unusual?
I think I know what you mean, but for clarity’s sake . . .
I don’t think it is out of place. You can do whatever you want. This is the beauty of making it yourself. Based on the BJCP guidelines there is aroma in the commercial versions but not a tremendous presence per my own experience . But I think they are fairly hoppy beers anyway so why not go for the nose too?
I’m going to take tasting samples thru the conditioning period to see how the flavor develops. If I think it needs dry hopping, when is the best time for a lager? I was thinking of adding the hops the last week of cond., then let warm up to 60 degrees for a couple of days to let the hop aroma diffuse since solubility is better at warmer temps.
Unusual? Probably. But as long as you don’t go overboard, I think it could increase your aroma and flavor enough to make the beer more like you planned. I wouldn’t use more than an ounce in 5 gallons… 1/2 should be fine.
I would not dry hop Bo Pils.
Thanks. 
I know it’s not traditional, but I haven’t been to Czech Republic so I don’t know if so breweries have started doing it.
I have often wondered if Euro lagers have very little hop aroma here because of the shipping distance. Perhaps they have more hop aroma when fresh and local. (It has been 38 years since I was in Germany, well before my critical beer evaluation stage of life.)
I dry hopped the second half of my German Pils while the first half was in the keg and it does not seem out of place. I’ll bet a Bo Pils would be nice with some saaz dry hops.
In my opinion, fresh and unskunked PU has so much spicey Saaz aroma that they could be dry hopping. Its a beautiful beer when fresh. Buying it in the cardboard-covered 12 packs helped solve the perenial skunking of PU for the most part. I’m looking forward to finding PU in cans. I haven’t seen it yet, but hear that it exists.
I used to buy 0.5L cans of PU when I lived in Germany 98-99 timeframe. Fixed getting skunked PU.
Fresh it has fine saaz aroma. Sometimes that would be muted when drinking it in Germany. There is the article in Brewing Techniques that says the last addition is at 30 min.
The only Germen beer that is dry hopped to my knowledge is the Zum Uerige Sticke.