Dry Hopping

General Homebrew Discussion
1

So I’m brewing a batch of Cascade Dark which calls for a ten-day conditioning/dry-hopping in the secondary.  I fermented too warm/quick in the primary, so I want to condition longer to remove some of the fusels, acetaldehyde and diacetyl.

1). What’s the max time one should allow dry hops to hang out in the secondary?

2). Is it bad to rack to a secondary, then add dry hops later, closer to bottling day?

Thanks!

2
  1. Most people don’t like to go more than two weeks due to worries of vegetal flavors.  I’ve gone 17 days and not had a problem but am afraid of pushing it any further.
  2. Not at all
3

A little OT but there is no need to rack to secondary.  You can age and dry hop in primary. Agree that 2 weeks is max normal dryhopping time.

4

I’ve dry hopped for months without getting vegetal flavors, but AFAIAC that’s more related to hop variety than length of dry hopping.

5

I think the amount and time of dry hopping is dependent on one’s personal tastes and threshold to hops. One must not only factor in the hop genome (as Denny had indicated) but also the age or “freshness” of the hops. I think there is an “aquired tast” that is developed over time. There’s a sort of trial and error process that will be dialed in to one’s personal tastes.

I have dry hopped for a few months and as little as two weeks and I think there is a point of diminishing returns. YMMV