dryhopping at the end of primary fermentation

[denny]

@narvin

I think that a lot of whole leaf hops we get as homebrewers are not stored well and are starting to oxidize.

That’s why I try to purchase my hops as close to the original source and as close to the harvest date as possible.

Once again, I’ll put in a plug for Hop Heaven.  No affiliation, just the best hops I’ve ever bought.

[a10t2]

@narvin

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.

If your homebrew shop repackages their hops into 1 oz baggies, you’re pretty much at their mercy as far as oxygen pickup.

[johnnyb]

@a10t2

@narvin

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.

If your homebrew shop repackages their hops into 1 oz baggies, you’re pretty much at their mercy as far as oxygen pickup.

Yup.

And my system works better with leaf hops, so I try to get all of them in bulk in the fall soon after the new crop is available. Then I keep them vacuum sealed in the basement freezer. I don’t trust leaf hops from my LHBS.

They are much cheaper in bulk too, but I lose some of that savings because every year I throw away the hops that I haven’t used that are greater than about 2 years old. Although I opened up some old hops this year and they still smelled great.

[jeffy]

I just ordered a pound of Eldorado hops from Hop Heaven and they are from the 2013 crop.  I think they were cared for properly.  They came double bagged and vacuum sealed.

[system]

I miss hop plugs.  I never saw any yellowing leaves on them.

[jonhughey_att.net (HoosierBrew)]

@a10t2

If your homebrew shop repackages their hops into 1 oz baggies, you’re pretty much at their mercy as far as oxygen pickup.

+1

[homoeccentricus]

@denny

I have experienced less than ideal results by dry hopping when the beer is still on the yeast, though.  I noticed high levels of geraniol, a rose like quality.  I started xferring the beer before dry hopping and haven’t noticed it since.

Mike Tonsmeire in a recent article in BYO seems to claim the opposite: he says that yeast can convert geraniol  provided by hop (e.g. citra) into citrusy beta-citronellol.

[homoeccentricus]

Any suggestions on how to minimize oxidation while dry-hopping if one doesn’t have a keg and ferments in a bottle? Apart from not splashing like crazy, that is.

[erockrph]

@homoeccentricus

@denny

I have experienced less than ideal results by dry hopping when the beer is still on the yeast, though.  I noticed high levels of geraniol, a rose like quality.  I started xferring the beer before dry hopping and haven’t noticed it since.

Mike Tonsmeire in a recent article in BYO seems to claim the opposite: he says that yeast can convert geraniol  provided by hop (e.g. citra) into citrusy beta-citronellol.

Based on some of the published research out there the biotransformations are far from a 1-way street. Yeast can convert many hop oils from one to another. The end results will depend on a bunch of factors, so I would personally attach little faith in any sweeping generalizations without experimental evidence. You just can’t isolate one reaction and make reliable predictions based solely on that.

In addition, most of the major hop oils have drastically different effects depending on how much is present and what other oils are there as well. I have recently acquired some citronellol, geraniol, linalool and alpha- & beta-pinene to do some experimentation, and none of them smell much like hops or dry-hopped beer at all. The flavor and aroma chemistry is just way too complex.