Dry Hopping

[beermkr]

QOTD (Question of the Day): Dry hop before crash cooling or after?

Mike

[Jephro]

Ideally before, but I have done it, and it works both ways. I usually just the pour the pellets in through the PRV just as it's reaching terminal gravity. If its still fermenting you will just scrub out some of the aroma, but i think you get a better extraction from warm beer. As i said i have done it cold in the BBT and it worked, but then i had to put it in a hop sack reducing surface area exposed and probably ended up wasting half of what i put in.

[rafters_brewer]

I definitely prefer dry-hopping for the last 2-4 days of fermentation, especially if you are using pellets... the warm temps, convection current, and gently rising CO2 bubbles seem to extract and distribute the flavor and aroma much better. Of course, you should cap the beer for that time to capture aroma and CO2.
If it is a quick fermenting beer that suddenly finishes fermenting too quickly (like a low OG pale), I will usually dry-hop and cap at FG and then slowly bubble CO2 through the racking arm to keep the hop particles more suspended.

[Hophead78]

I prefer both methods dry-hopping warm as the beer hits TG and adding a sack of hops to the serving tank. If I had to pick one I would go warm it seems to pull out more flavor and aroma than just adding to the server.

[beertje46]

I prefer warm, loose pellets, just prior to bunging off the unitank and through the PVRV. My first experience with dry hopping through the PVRV was on a fully conditioned and cold beer. It was an afterthought really and being a young brewer I thought, I'll slowly degas the tank, dump in the pellets reseal, regas. Wrong! I didn't consider all the points of nucleation I was adding to carbonated beer. You guessed it tank top geyser!

[Jephro]

It was an afterthought really and being a young brewer I thought, I'll slowly degas the tank, dump in the pellets reseal, regas. Wrong! I didn't consider all the points of nucleation I was adding to carbonated beer. You guessed it tank top geyser!

DOH!

That reminds me of my buddy who decided to dryhop a grundy. He started venting the pressure and immediately started to loosen the bolts holding the top on...BOOM... took off his hat, took a chunk of concrete out of the ceiling, and moved all of the pints on the bar (which was above the cooler) a 1/2". He was lucky to still have his head.

[beertje46]

DOH!

That reminds me of my buddy who decided to dryhop a grundy. He started venting the pressure and immediately started to loosen the bolts holding the top on...BOOM... took off his hat, took a chunk of concrete out of the ceiling, and moved all of the pints on the bar (which was above the cooler) a 1/2". He was lucky to still have his head.

I've heard of people doing that with erosion tank DE filters. Forget to vent off the pressure in the dosing tank and blow your face off. My filter rep. told me that is why they don't import them anymore.

[NYSBrewer]

I have witnessed a DE filter dome blow off.....Scary. At a former place of employment, I was in the brewhouse makeing a hop addition. The filter was located in the fermenting room, a cement wall seperating the two. As I made the addition, I heard a sound that sounded like a missle being fired, a loud kind of pop, then a swooshing sound, then a bang. I new exacty what it was, even never hearing or seeing it before. I ran into the fermenting room to find the other guy staring at the filter, with a look on his face that can only be described as pure fear, and I cant beleive I have a head, at the same time. A huge chunk was taken out of a cement ceiling, that is at least 25' in height, and the dome itself was across the room still rocking, and badley misshapen. I felt kind of responsible because I had trained the guy, but I had stressed over and over the importance of this step, and he had done the job on his own at least a hundred times before. I found out later he was out the night before, late, and had very little sleep. God, just writing this reminds me how the brewery is a dangerous and unforgiving place, and we should never become complacent with our day to day duties.

[beermkr]

Thanks for all the great responses. I have been dry hopping after cooling and am not real happy with the aroma I have been getting so today I dry hopped at fermentation temps and will give it a few days then cool it.

Mike

[beertje46]

Thanks for all the great responses. I have been dry hopping after cooling and am not real happy with the aroma I have been getting so today I dry hopped at fermentation temps and will give it a few days then cool it.

Mike

How long are you leaving the dry-hops in?

[beermkr]

Till I transfer which is usually about 5-7 days.

[beertje46]

Personally and through much unscientific analysis, I find two weeks contact as a minimum.

[Moonlight]

I have really conflicting opinions. I believe the yeast fouls the hop extraction, so I put dry hops in aging. I really think whole hops give superior flavors than pellets. But if I add whole hops to aging, I am never confident I get enough oxygen/air removed from the hop pile. I figure activeyeast would scavenge some oxygen. (Dry hops in tank before beer.) I believe I can taste dry hop oxidation products dependent upon how anal I am about removing air...but that is a huge waste of CO2 to purge a whole aging tank. I have been planning on putting my whole dry hops in a "torpedo"- basically a half bl keg with 4" t/c's, purging that, then cycling the aging beer through it somewhat like a Randall.

[rafters_brewer]

I agree with beertje46 that the longer you leave the dry hops in the better the extraction will be, but that can be difficult if your turnaround is less than three weeks.

I have been planning on putting my whole dry hops in a "torpedo"- basically a half bl keg with 4" t/c's, purging that, then cycling the aging beer through it somewhat like a Randall.

Is that basically going to be a transfer hop back? How long will you cycle the beer through it?

[gallon]

This is some what of a diversion, but I use open top fermenters. Are there any insues in droping in hop pellets and then letting the beer sit in that style fermenter for a while before cooling? Or do the open fermenters not make a difference at all?

Tim