Dry hopping duration...

[bwarbiany]

So, I brewed by Belgian IPA on Saturday morning. Ferment is chugging along, and I'll probably be near FG by the end of this week. I need to dry-hop, but I'd like to serve the beer at a party Saturday, Jun 5 (meaning I'll probably crash-cool Thursday, keg and slam it with 40 psi on Friday, and it should be carb'd by Saturday).

I normally dry-hop this recipe for 2 weeks. But I don't have that luxury here...

How long does dry-hopping take to extract the aroma? If I'm dropping from 2 weeks to 1 week, how much additional hops should I use to achieve the same flavor (i.e. 20% more, 50% more, 100% more, etc)?

[dhempy]

Oh dude .. I've got some hop oils in a bottle that have your name on 'em ... if we can just get them into your hands.

Dan

[backyard brewer]

One word: Randal (sp?)

[dhempy]

One word: Randal (sp?)

I think it is Randall.

Great idea Derrin ... you might be able to cobble one together from a home water filter arrangement ... see a HBT thread here.

Dan

[backyard brewer]

That's the one!

[brahn]

I've only had a beer out of a Randall once at the homebrew fest but the only flavor I got from it was grassy. It was not good, IMO. Sort of like shoving a handful of grass clippings in your mouth and then taking a sip of beer. I don't know if that's the typical experience but it really turned me off on the Randall idea.

I'd just go with the dry hops for 1 week, you'll get a different character but it will definitely be noticeable. It will probably be on the grassy side, but nothing like with a Randall. How do you do your dry hopping usually? I typically just put the hops in a bag that's suspended from the keg lid and leave them in there until the beer is gone. You can see how the flavor and aroma evolve that way.

[bwarbiany]

Okay, thanks all for the diversions... Again, the questions are:

1) How long does it take for dry-hopping to be effective?
2) If longer than 1 week, how much additional hops (since I've got > 1# of Columbus on hand) should I add to counter the limited exposure time?

I appreciate all the unasked questions you guys have answered, but where's our science guy equivalent who can handle the ones I actually asked?

I'm not building a Randall, and unless the hop oils are derived from Columbus (or very similar) hops, I'm not sure I want to experiment with that portion of the recipe.

Brent -- My method is to dry-hop with loose pellets in the fermenter. I then add gelatin and crash-cool a day before racking to ensure I don't pick too many up in the keg, but I don't worry that much, since I'll have significant (and quick) settling in the keg. I've never tried keg-hopping. I re-read my initial post and realized that for clarity, I should point out that I'll dry-hop near the end of this week, but then cool/keg/carb it at the end of NEXT week (one day prior to the party).

[BrewMasterBrad]

As with most things related to brewing, the answer is "it depends". Time, temperature, and quantity all come into play when dry hopping. I think that 3-5 days at 66-68F gives a fine dry hopping character. Any longer and warmer than that and you risk getting more grassy and vegetal characteristics. The warmer you dry hop, the shorter the time period. You will find that dry hopping with the same amount, for the same amount of time, at different temperatures will give you vastly different results.

I know this is not a definitive answer, but it is the best one I can come up with.

[jward]

1) How long does it take for dry-hopping to be effective?

What do you mean by effective? It's not like hops get to drive at 16 and drink at 21. BTB, I hate that grassy taste too. Like Brent said, he puts them in the keg and leaves them so he can see how they evolve. At the AHA conference years ago Vinnie of Russian River Brewery brought 4 kegs of Pliny the Elder for a talk he gave. One keg was not dry hopped. For the others I'll guess since I don't have my notes. One was 3 days of dry hopping. One at 9 days and the last at 12 days. They were all different and each was better then the last. The last 2 were slightly different but you could still tell. He said they normally dry hop for the 9 days. They'ed go longer but time in their tanks is money so the beer has to move out.

[brahn]

Basically what the others have said, you will notice the dry hops after one week, but the character will be different than what you would get after two weeks. That may not be a bad thing, you may even find you like it better. I think you should dry hop for the one week and use the same amount of hops you normally would.

I'm not certain about your plans, but if you're adding the dry hops before you hit FG, I would compensate by adding more. I can't give any numbers on how much more though.

[bwarbiany]

Thanks guys, that's a bit more the type of discussion I was looking for

Brad - I'll probably be a bit hotter than 66-68, as it's a Belgian and the yeast might still be doing a bit of their final cleanup. I'm fermenting at 75, and will probably ratchet down 1-2 degrees per day from the time I start dry-hopping until I crash cool.

John - That's good anecdotal data. That tells me that I want to push the dry-hopping as long as possible. My initial thought was that the type of flavors/aromas extracted were consistent, but that they might increase over time (such as the bittering contingent of boil hops). I was asking because I didn't expect it to be a linear relationship. If there's a qualitative, as well as quantitative, advantage to leaving it longer, I definitely want to push it.

Brent - I expect I'll be VERY near FG when I add them. But as there may be still a few points to drop, I might add a small percentage just in case.

[dhempy]

Bringing this thread back to life briefly ... rereading it was informative for what I'm doing. Most of you know that I rarely brew hoppy beers as I prefer the more malt forward varieties. That said, I was coerced into brewing a hoppy amber ale last week and I want to "kick it up a notch" with a little dry hopping. Ultimately, this batch will all go into bottles and distributed to those responsible for the coercion.

So my question relates to pellet vs. whole hop dry hopping ... should I do anything differently for whole versus pelleted hops? Different duration, method, amounts etc.?

I have whole hops to use .. the plan was to get a sterilized bag and a couple of marbles and rack into a purged corny for 7- 9 days at +/- 68. FWIW, the yeast is WLP-001 and the hops are Cascades. The plan was for 1-1.5 ounces (which is about what I have left in that bag).

I did add an ounce at flameout and whirl-pooled it for about 20 minutes.

Dan

[brahn]

So my question relates to pellet vs. whole hop dry hopping ... should I do anything differently for whole versus pelleted hops? Different duration, method, amounts etc.?

I have whole hops to use .. the plan was to get a sterilized bag and a couple of marbles and rack into a purged corny for 7- 9 days at +/- 68. FWIW, the yeast is WLP-001 and the hops are Cascades. The plan was for 1-1.5 ounces (which is about what I have left in that bag).

I don't do anything different for whole vs pellet. Your plan sounds fine to me. I don't use anything to weigh down the bag, but the marbles won't hurt.

[dhempy]

Thanks Brent.

Dan

[BrewMasterBrad]

If you're using corny kegs for the dry hopping, I actually wouldn't weigh the bags down to the point where they sink to the bottom. You run the risk of blocking the dip tube and getting extremely frustrated. Been there, done that. Also, if you are using the whole hops, you're going to lose a lot of precious liquid to absorption.