How long do you dry hop and how hot?

[Loco_ola]

Just wondering what people's thoughts are around, timing, temp and duration of dry hopping?

What do you do?

 

[An Ankoù]

I put the hops in a hop sock so I can fish them out again and leave them in the beer for no longer than 72 hours. Any longer than that leads to "grassy" flavours with some hops- cascade being the worst I've had for that, but also English hops. They go in at the end of secondary fermentation and they come out again before cold crashing and bottling.
However, everybody has their own way, which, of course, is the right way, otherwise they'd do it differently.

 

[Graz]

About 2 days at fermenting temperature (typically 20°C), then cold crash for 24 hours before kegging / bottling.

 

[Loco_ola]

I put the hops in a hop sock so I can fish them out again

Do you squeeze or let it drain at all, or just pull it out liquid and all? Last time I tried the liquid that came out the hops bag and it was totally overwhelming. Unsure if it was phenol related or just that it was super concentrated.

 

[Dutto]

I agree with @An Ankoù that 72 hours is all that is required, even though I moved over to using a Hop Tea after fermentation was finished because of this ...

The brew conditioned okay and tasted fine, but the texture of the stuff left behind reminded me of something I once fished out of a canal in Belgium so I have moved over to Hop Tea!

 

[An Ankoù]

Do you squeeze or let it drain at all, or just pull it out liquid and all? Last time I tried the liquid that came out the hops bag and it was totally overwhelming. Unsure if it was phenol related or just that it was super concentrated.

If it's leaf hops, I let it drain and then squeeze it with a pair of freshly washed and rinsed hands. If it's pellets I let it drain and give it a light squeeze. the juice that comes out is highly concentrated hop extract, it shouldn't be phenol-related.

 

[terrym]

I have stopped dry hopping. If I am adding hops to the FV late on I now make up a hop tea using about 100ml water at 80-85*C for every 10g hops and after steeping until it gets more or less cold I chuck the lot in, solids and liquid. For me this delivers a much better result than a simple dry hop. Anyway whichever method gets about 4-6 days at fermenting temperature and even on the odd occasion it has gone to 7 days I have not noticed any grassy taste whichever hops I have used, and that includes Cascade. And I siphon and after a few days in the cold I find most if not all of the hops are settled in the trub although I do use a sock that came with a Festival kit some time back, it is more than enough to stop the hop bits going forward.

 

[Rodcx500z]

+1 Terry I find doing this and a cold crash when I say cold 6 to 10c everything drops out nicely

 

[Loco_ola]

If I am adding hops to the FV late on I now make up a hop tea using about 100ml water at 80-85*C for every 10g hops and after steeping until it gets more or less cold I chuck the lot in, solids and liquid. For me this delivers a much better result than a simple dry hop

I've just been reading about this method using a coffee press, but based on results it sounds like it brings some extra grass to the table.

I take it you don't get any grassy taste? Do you find you have to condition your beers for longer after doing teas?

 

[Rodcx500z]

Never had grassy flavours that I know of, just condition as normal

 

[An Ankoù]

We had a long thread about grassy flavours some time ago and it seems some people get it and others don't. If you get a bottle of Hobgoblin IPA and serve it cool but by no means cold or chilled. That's the flavour I'm talking about and it's not all that strong in the Hobgoblin.

 

[terrym]

I've just been reading about this method using a coffee press, but based on results it sounds like it brings some extra grass to the table.

I take it you don't get any grassy taste? Do you find you have to condition your beers for longer after doing teas?

No grassy taste whether is a late hop in the boil or a hop tea or a dry hop. I use a sanitised jug for the tea. And I don't especially differentiate between beers for conditioning, they are ready when they are ready. All that said I think I think some hops to some folks could come over as grassy, perhaps particularly those described as 'flowery'. Personally I find Fuggles a bit 'musty', my homegrown First Gold has its own unique flavour compared to the FG shop bought hops, and I have today bottled a single hop beer using Endeavour hops as a try out and that to some might be grassy, as was the Cascade UK I bought from CML some time ago. I think many people look for problems and are over picky, but in the end its what suits you in terms of what you do and as I said elsewhere on here today you do have to try things for yourself and sometimes you will get things wrong. But it's all part of the experience.

 

[Loco_ola]

I think many people look for problems and are over picky, but in the end its what suits you in terms of what you do and as I said elsewhere on here today you do have to try things for yourself and sometimes you will get things wrong. But it's all part of the experience.

I guess for me it's about trying to do the best possible job, ever refining and ameliorating recipes to end up with what I'd term 'A perfect beer'. I'm not there yet. :-)

I'm thinking of splitting a batch and trying both, to compare.

 

[terrym]

I'm thinking of splitting a batch and trying both, to compare.

That's always a good option if the circumstances allow.

 

[foxy]

If you want to learn more about dry hopping you can down load a PDF of Peter Wolfe Thesis on dry hopping from Oregon State University (search Peter Wolfe Thesis on dry hopping.
here is a short version from Braukaiser.
http://braukaiser.com/blog/blog/2012/12/12/interesting-paper-on-dry-hopping/

 

[Loco_ola]

If you want to learn more about dry hopping you can down load a PDF of Peter Wolfe Thesis on dry hopping from Oregon State University (search Peter Wolfe Thesis on dry hopping.
here is a short version from Braukaiser.
http://braukaiser.com/blog/blog/2012/12/12/interesting-paper-on-dry-hopping/

This is really very interesting, thanks for the link.

 

[dillz2003]

Any longer than that leads to "grassy" flavours with some hops- cascade being the worst I've had for that, but also English hops.

I know on the American forums quite a few brewers say they dry hop in the keg with the hops in contact with the beer for several weeks with no Ill effects. You can even buy steel hop spiders to go inside your corny kegs. Perhaps some hops are more prone to this than others? Some recipes also suggest dry hopping for up to 5 days, which I've done myself quite a few times and never experienced a problem.

 

[Loco_ola]

I found this on Scott Janish's blog which is super interesting. Sounds like 2 days could be a good time, at a cooler temp.

http://scottjanish.com/a-case-for-short-and-cool-dry-hopping/

 

[StoutWolf]

Thread bump for a related question... Apologies if I should have started a new thread. The instructions for the kit that I've got fermenting say to add hops to the fv on day 5 and bottle on day 10. I was intending to leave 14 days in the fv. Should I delay the hops until day 9 or do they need fermentation to still be fairly active? Should I be guided by Hydrometer readings or is it just a case of personal preference for length of time prior to bottling?

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I’ve tried lots of methods and timescales, sinking them / floating them, leaf / pellets, dry additions / wet additions, 1 day through to 7 days and it actually doesn’t make much difference. This is the most likely explanation for everyone having their own way. What does seem to make more of a difference in my view is which hops you use, some are just more aromatic.

I now tend to favour leaf hops and I just throw them dry into the FV about a week in and just leave them for five or six days until I keg the beer.