Recent Baltic Porter Formulation may have been to lightly hopped . Lager yeast used. What about lightly dry hopping with tetnager after primary fermentation?
Welcome to the forum Frank!.
You will not get any more bitterness from the dry hops. Dry hopping increases the hop aroma in the beer but will not add additional bitterness. The bitterness is derived from the isomerization of the alpha acids in the hops during the boil. Longer boiling times will increase the bitterness, shorter boiling times will yield less bitterness. How long did you boil the wort and when did you add the first addition of hops? What bittering hop did you use and what were the Alpha Acids of the bittering hops?
Also bigger beers need more bitterness, i.e. more hops, to balance the malt flavors and the bitterness.
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For homebrewers, it’s pretty much impossible to add bitterness to a beer post-boil. The only option–and you might get advice to try this–is to boil some hops in water and then add the cooled hop water to the beer. In principle, this adds bitterness, but in practice it also adds nasty vegetal flavors, and so I think it’s a bad idea.
The only practical thing that would work to add bitterness to a beer post-boil is isomerized hop extract. But I have never seen this sold at the homebrew level–which is a bummer, because there are times I definitely could have used it.
A less practical solution is to a brew a small batch of the same style, but make it extremely bitter. Then blend the two beers to taste, taking great care to avoid oxygen ingress.
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A quick search found several extracts in homebrew quantities. Here’s one…CO2 Hop Extract – Yakima Valley Hops
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This extract isn’t already isomerized, so it still needs to be boiled. It might not give the same vegetal flavors when boiled in water that regular hops do, however, so it might work for adding bitterness post-fermentation.
The stuff that I wish was available to homebrewers is this: https://hopsteiner.us/iso-extract-30/
Yeah, you’re right. Thought it was.
There is a product that More Beer includes in their Flash Brewing kits they call ‘Hop Bite’ but I can’t find it for sale outside those kits. Those kits are no boil and this ‘Hop Bite’ charge is supposed to give it the bitterness. The other hops included are non-isomerized for dry hop effect.
Hi everyone.
I’m brewing an IPA and I have a question about the best dry hopping technique. Is it better to dry hop with the hops free-pellets (keeping in mind that I won’t be able to filter the beer afterward and that it would leave the beer in contact with the hops for more than 7 days)? Or is it better to use a stainless steel filter so I can leave the hops in for only 3 days and then remove it?
I appreciate any advice you can give me.
For me, neither. I dry hop loose for 48-72 hours at 35F post fermentation, then package. Given your 2 options, I’d go for the one that let’s you remove the hops so they won’t be in too long.
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Always do free pellets.
If you dry hop warm, cold crash the beer for a day or two before packaging. This will make the hop particulates settle to the bottom of the fermenter and make transferring (vastly) smoother.
If you use Denny’s preferred method (which is the better way), then dry hopping and cold crashing are done in one fell swoop.
FWIW, I have left dry hops in contact with beer for up to 14 days with no ill effects. I typically dry hop for 3-5 days. It definitely doesn’t need longer than this, but if circumstances dictate a longer contact time (within reason), I don’t think it will make or break the beer.
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2 points…I cold crash prior to dry hopping. Also, research has shown that after 48 hours, the hops start to reabsorb the oils. That means less hop goodness, and more vegetal flavors and aromas.
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Since we’re talking about cold crashing, I usually do a cold crash and then fill the beer keg after two days. I recently bought a 20-liter fermenter, and my keg is 10 liters. Knowing that my refrigerator is small and I can only keep either the keg or the fermenter in the fridge, can I do a cold crash, fill the keg, and then take out the fermenter? And once I’ve finished the keg, transfer what’s left in the fermenter to the keg? In other words, is it recommended to do an interrupted cold crash, put it in the refrigerator, take it out, and then put it back in?
I think that would be fine