Ask 10 brewers how to do something, and you’ll get 12 answers.
Then I guess I’m not going to apply the Bryndilson method. I don’t see convincing arguments.
I think it’s absolutely the way to go provided you can cap the fermenter and rouse the yeast. If you aren’t fermenting in a corny or conical, you have to compromise, either by dry-hopping early and risking the loss of some aroma, or by dry-hopping late and risking some oxidation.
Nope, I ferment my beer a simple carboy. Apparently the Bryndilson method is recommended in an IPA-related article in a recent BYO? Unfortunately I don’t have a subscription, so don’t know what it says exactly. Must be something like “if you can’t purge with CO2, use this method”…
My last pale ale I fermented, added hop pellets to the secondary, purged secondary with co2, racked beer onto the hops. After 4 days there was waaay too much hop matter to keg (I didn’t use a bag for the hops), so I cold crashed, which cleared it up nicely. Next dry hopped beer I may try cold crashing twice: once before racking and once before kegging.
I would consider that there’s a risk of oxidation by dry hopping late, except I’ve never experienced it! I would guess that I’ve dry hopped 200-250 batches and never had an oxidized beer from the dry hops. If it doesn’t happen, I’m not going to worry about it.
+1. As easily as hop aromas can oxidize and disappear, I wouldn’t do it if I felt it diminished the beer.
Risks can be mitigated, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
I’m not going to worry about oxidizing a beer by dumping in some hop pellets and resealing the fermenter, but I’m also not going to toss the pellets in one at a time from across the room. 
And I don’t think anyone would do that. But “normal” methods just don’t seem to present a real risk, as opposed to the theoretical risk. If it doesn’t happen, then it remains theoretical. Same thing with the discussions about stir plate vs. shaker…shaker may have the theoretical edge, but if no one tastes problems with starters made with stir plates, who cares?
I think there is a considerable risk of oxidation from dry going late. Most homebrew IPAs I drink are oxidized (maybe grin dry hopping maybe not). I agree the risk can easily be mitigated though.
There must be a reason why people like Kelsey always win prizes: because they are obsessive about the details, right? Or wrong?
My guess is that it’s because he brewed the recipe dozens of times and honed it carefully. You will quickly discover which details are worth obsessing over.
That may be, but I’m pretty familiar with the effects of oxidation and I haven’t found it in my late dry hopped beers.
That’s been my experience as well, although I think it’s most often from open-air transfers. My hoppy beers got a lot better once I started obsessing about oxygen exposure.
And Denny, I completely agree, although of course I’m going to be pedantic about the difference between “theoretical” and “hypothetical”. ;D
As modern brewers we get the benefits of centuries of work on best practices in brewing. Knowing why those practices are what they are is always a good thing though.
Pedantic is what you do, and you do it damn well! ;) And I agree that you’ve got to know the rules in order to learn which ones you can break.
I agree. I think doing closed transfers (when possible) and using purged kegs makes a bigger difference than the hopping method you use. Everything else is just preference.
Unfortunately I ferment in bottles and curtec drums. So I have to rack from one drum to another. What I do right now is spray some CO2 from those cycle tire inflators under my armpits. 
I think that a lot of whole leaf hops we get as homebrewers are not stored well and are starting to oxidize. At this point, I only dry hop with pellets.
That’s why I try to purchase my hops as close to the original source and as close to the harvest date as possible.