When you guys dry hop, do you just toss the pellets in, or do you use a hop bag?
Toss them in, wait til they settle (a few days or so), rack off the top. Can make yeast washing a pain in the ass though, depending on how well they re-settle when you're doing the washing.
No prob, I havent washed any yeast yet, and I probably wont start with this one.
Thanks I will just toss them in!
How long do you usually dry hop?
after the primary fermentation is done, I generally throw them into the primary fermenter for a week for a mild character, and 2 to 3 weeks for a strong character.
I don't know how to do it with a spunding valve except to caution you to not over fill the keg when doing so, as the valve will spew hop good and then clog.
Okay ill go for 2 weeks dry hopping
Like many things in brewing, this is both surrounded by a lot of contradictory information and has a podcast from someone with experience ("Tasty"): http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/ ... ry-Hopping (http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/Brew-Strong/Brew-Strong-12-08-08-Dry-Hopping)
Seriously; check out all that these guys have to offer, on any topic that piques your interest. Ditto for the "Basic Brewing Network" guys.
what kind of beer is it?
Nice Richard I will check that out, Thanks
Its an IPA
cool ...yeah, IMO definitely more than one week
Okay sounds good.
Im definitely going for a strong character, so Ill do two weeks ish
FWIW the take-home points from that show seem to be:
- Dry-hopping is for aroma, which of course impacts your perception of flavour, but other methods (late-hopping/hopback) are more appropriate (and are distinct in their contribution as opposed to dry-hopping), if you are addressing flavour concerns rather than aroma.
- The timing and quantities are entirely down to taste. You don't like it, change it; however:
- Longer contact equals grassier/more vegetative, and tannic/dry/puckering tastes.
- Higher alpha varieties tend to have higher quantities of aroma oils, in addition to resins, meaning that like bittering - you need less.
- Dry hopping in the keg will likely lead to tannin extraction if you do not get those things out of there past a couple of weeks.
- Higher temperature will more quickly extract the "desirable" qualities of dry-hopping (non-tannic, non-vegetal).
- Adding dry-hops during the final stages (last few points of gravity) of primary fermentation can increase the stability of the beer.
- Less vegetal matter = less potential for tannin and grassiness, so generally using less, higher-alpha hops, will be a kind of insurance. Of course you may want a specific profile, so this is not a panacea.
- Shaking the carboy is good during dry-hopping to speed up the process - and contrary to what might be intuition speeds up precipitation (dropping out) of hop particles, and other undesirables.
Thats awesome Richard, thanks... I am just listening to the podcast now
Really glad you summarized that because it was a ton of info, but extremely useful.
Sounds, from the podcast, that those guys dry hop 1-2 weeks tops.
and you're right, shaking the carboy is definitely not somehting I would ever think of doing, but I will start for sure.
Going through some other podcasts now... Im "working" while listening.
And for a completely non-scientific anecdote, a month-long dry hop with 3oz in an IIPA is the absolute limit of drinkability. I had to let it sit for a month in the serving keg before it was good. It turned outstanding in the end, but probably best to use fewer hops.
My guess is you had tannin extraction, and tannins will fade over time (a large part of aging wine is just that).