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  • Dry hopping

    Hi, as I've mentioned before I'm a seasoned homebrewer but a green probrewer, and this question will demonstrate that.

    In the past, when I've dry hopped, it's been by putting hops in the bottom of a vessel and dropping room temp beer on top of them.

    In my brewpub, we use one 15-bbl conical to ferment and age the beer, only removing it from the conical when it's ready to go to the brite tank.

    I dry hopped a 15bbl batch of beer with 3.5 kg of pellet hops 4 days ago by dropping the hops through the PRV on top of the conical. At the time, the beer was already crashed to freezing temp (and it still is).

    As of today, there is only the subtilest hop aroma and I was wanting it to be pretty significant.

    Wondering what the reason is. Some possibilities:
    • The "top hopping" technique doesn't mix them effectively
    • The cold temperature slows down the process
    • 4 days isn't long enough and I should be patient
    • I didn't use enough hops
    • Something else


    The other way I can dry hop is to tie a hop bag to the CO2 stone in the brite tank before I fill it. This sounds like a pain, but if that's the best way to do it, that's still an option.

    Can someone shed some light here?

    Thanks.

  • #2
    did you use cones or pellets?

    whole flower hops will just float around the top mostly. hooking up to a carb stone would work, but that will be in the BBT, which isnt a bad place to dry hop if you can leave it in there for a few days. I think it works best when the beer is still at 20C, perhaps its there but the freezing temps are hidding the effects.
    I think 3.5kg will be a good amount in a 15bbl tank.

    You could also weigh the bag with something heavy like a few Clamps and tie it to the spray ball or something.
    www.Lervig.no

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    • #3
      I used pellets.

      As far as doing it in the BBT, we don't package but sell virtually all beer over the bar, served from the BBT. Therefore, the hops will be in the beer for probably a month or so. I'm worried about picking up some kind of planty-like flavor toward the end. What do you think?

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      • #4
        Session Ales Rock!

        You will get better results if you Fv dry hop for 3-4 days WARM, then crash to 33f. 1 pound /bbl will give crushing hop aroma and great flavor.
        Dry hopping in TT w/ 2.5- 3/10bbl pnds whole hops in coarse nylon bag will give medium hop aroma and many of my IPA customers like the last of the batch which sits in the tank 6 weeks. Although I have it on authority (ABGuild) that 21 days is optimum for cask/dry hop conditioning. 1pnd/5gl will however come out tasting like tea....
        Try both techniques for a real "hop monster".
        Note: Although low AAU hops a traditional for dry hopping, high AAU hops have more oil-to-pnd ratio, and extraction of oils is what you are going for.
        Brewmaster, Minocqua Brewing Company
        tbriggs@minocquabrewingcompany.com
        "Your results may vary"

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        • #5
          Thanks Ted. I'll dry hop before crashing next time. New problem:

          I can't filter this beer. We have a DE filter and there's so much pellet hop crud I have trouble even getting the beer into the filter, much less being able to precoat (I normally precoat with beer).

          I'm planning to let it sit cold a while longer and dump hops from the cone every day until I get less trub/hop crud. Any other advice?

          Also, what do you think of using pellets in a hop bag in the brite tank instead of whole?

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          • #6
            Wouldn't pellets dissolve right through a mesh bag?

            Speaking of hop bags, how do you sanitize these things? I just soaked it in vodka last time before dropping in the hops but that was just a last minute "well I should do something" sort of solution.

            David
            David Cohen
            The Dancing Camel Brewing Co. Ltd.

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            • #7
              I used a 12.5ppm solution of Iodophor for soaking hop bags -- you could probably also use chlorine dioxide solution. A 10-15 minute soak and off you go!
              "By man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world" -- St. Arnold of Metz

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              • #8
                If you are really adventurous you can try hop oils. Hop Union is offering some nice varieties these days. With this you can breakdown the oils in a high alcohol solution (we use everclear) add it to a corny keg of beer and add to bright vessel inline durring transfer.
                Bags work well too. Just be sure to not over fill the bag as you want pleanty of contact with as much of the hops as possible. Using moe than one bag is a good idea.

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                • #9
                  You can get some pretty fine-meshed nylon bags for hops - and of course, bigger is better to increase contact area. Something that looks more like a 150-200 count bed sheet is what I have, but in nylon of course.

                  I sanitize mine with a bucket of 180F water.

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                  • #10
                    Tank Recirculation

                    Hi, you may also want to add your pellets in the fermenter, say half a degree or more above final gravity. This helps with keeping the hops in circulation instead of just settling to the bottom of the cone. Here in San Diego I find that some of the best IPA's are recirculate from the racking port up through the bottom after 24-48 hours for extra contact. Seems they know what they're doing!!

                    Cheers, Dean
                    San Diego BrewCo

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                    • #11
                      I've been using a mesh bag with whole cones, but wasn't all that impressed with the results. The bag of cones seems to float, is this limiting my contact? Should I weigh it down, or doesn't it matter?

                      I boil my hop bags first...
                      Jeff Rosenmeier (Rosie)
                      Chairman of the Beer
                      Lovibonds Brewery Ltd
                      Henley-on-Thames, Englandshire
                      W: www.lovibonds.com
                      F: LovibondsBrewery
                      T: @Lovibonds

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                      • #12
                        Rosie, you'll want those hops immersed. You could put a couple of sanitized TC clamps in the bag to weigh them down...the bags will float initially, but as the hops cones absorb beer, the TC clamps will drag them under (Muhahahah)!
                        "By man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world" -- St. Arnold of Metz

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                        • #13
                          I used that amount of hops in a 7BBL batch with only about 5 days contact time, half before and half after cold break. Customers have loved the hoppiness of the beer.

                          Just my 2 cents worth...

                          Ray
                          Ray Sherwood
                          Sherwood Brewing Company
                          Shelby Township, MI
                          586.532.9669
                          f.586.532.9337

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