Dry hop

[Neil1987]

I'm doing a festival lager kit it said to dry hop on day 4 and bottle on day 8 but I waited until day 7 to dry hop as airlock had almost stopped but after adding hips airlock went mad again and that's been 7days it's still bubbling once every few mins have I left hops in too long?

 

[Fireside Ales Homebrewery]

I'm doing a festival lager kit it said to dry hop on day 4 and bottle on day 8 but I waited until day 7 to dry hop as airlock had almost stopped but after adding hips airlock went mad again and that's been 7days it's still bubbling once every few mins have I left hops in too long?

Good Morning,
I turned to the American brewing scene to learn about dry hoping, they are mad for the IPA. In there mind I don’t think there is a wrong time to dry hop. From my experience I would tend to agree. Some people dry hop straight after the yeast has been pitched. Some after a day and some do multiple dry hops. I wouldn’t worry too much. Personally, I might think about removing the hops now and letting the brew do its thing until it’s ready to bottle. I would also cold crash the beer for a few days before you bottle if you can. This will drop any unwanted hop debris to the bottom of the FV. If you haven’t already I would grab yourself a hydrometer or a fractometer(Brix measurement) these bits of kit are hands down the best way of monitoring and understanding your beer during fermentation and knowing when fermentation is complete.
good luck

 

[Neil1987]

So if I leave hips in beer over a week it should still be ok ? I took a reading yeasterday but wanted to leave it a day or 2 before taking next one

 

[terrym]

When you add hops to beer in a dry hop the hops form sites for CO2 to bubble out of solution. That's what you were seeing.
At the end of a fermentation you sometimes get the odd bubble through the airlock. That's what you are probably seeing at 14 days in. I dont know what arrangement you are using to take SG samples but I suggest you take one soon and you are likely to find its finished so yiou can go ahead and bottle. And if your sampling regime involves taking the lid off dont be wary of doing that in case of 'infections'. Taking the lid off to make necessary interventions is part of the brewing process, whereas taking the lid off every day isn't.

 

[Neil1987]

Still seems to be at 1.014 from yeasterday and day before box said 1.008 but I've hit the 5% target so I'll just bottle this afternoon

 

[Fireside Ales Homebrewery]

Still seems to be at 1.014 from yeasterday and day before box said 1.008 but I've hit the 5% target so I'll just bottle this afternoon

You really want the gravity reading to remain the same for at least 3 days. If the reading is still dropping day to day then you are probably still fermenting. Looks like you might be done though.

 

[DixeySJ]

Just had an odd observation with dry hopping. I monitor SG with a Tilt wireless hydrometer. SG fell progressively and was levelling out at day 4 which was the suggested time to dry hop. After the hop addition the SG went up by 5 points and has stayed there ... I gave the Tilt a clean at the time and have checked that it is floating free. I’m not planning to do anything until the 10 day mark at the earliest, but I can’t think why dry hopping would cause this ...

 

[Session]

Just had an odd observation with dry hopping. I monitor SG with a Tilt wireless hydrometer. SG fell progressively and was levelling out at day 4 which was the suggested time to dry hop. After the hop addition the SG went up by 5 points and has stayed there ... I gave the Tilt a clean at the time and have checked that it is floating free. I’m not planning to do anything until the 10 day mark at the earliest, but I can’t think why dry hopping would cause this ...

The tilt may be sitting against some floating dry hops which could have altered the reading. Can you check a hydrometer sample?

 

[DixeySJ]

I did check that and gave it a prod! No difference. I’ll be checking the SG with a hydrometer at 10 days, so I’ll update then.

 

[foxy]

Just had an odd observation with dry hopping. I monitor SG with a Tilt wireless hydrometer. SG fell progressively and was levelling out at day 4 which was the suggested time to dry hop. After the hop addition the SG went up by 5 points and has stayed there ... I gave the Tilt a clean at the time and have checked that it is floating free. I’m not planning to do anything until the 10 day mark at the earliest, but I can’t think why dry hopping would cause this ...

Hop creep?

 

[DixeySJ]

Wouldn’t that reduce SG?

 

[foxy]

Wouldn’t that reduce SG?

What are you meaning by SG ? For me SG is starting gravity, SG starts to reduce towards final gravity, dry hopping adds diatase which converts non fermentable sugars into fermentable sugars, can be a problem for commercial brewers.

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

What are you meaning by SG ? For me SG is starting gravity, SG starts to reduce towards final gravity, dry hopping adds diatase which converts non fermentable sugars into fermentable sugars, can be a problem for commercial brewers.

Probably SG = Specific Gravity. That’s how I’ve always thought of it.
OG = Original Gravity
FG = Final Gravity

 

[foxy]

Then yes it would reduce your SG.

 

[DixeySJ]

Probably SG = Specific Gravity. That’s how I’ve always thought of it.
OG = Original Gravity
FG = Final Gravity

Yes!