Dry hopping using pellets

[Paul Fraser]

I've just done my second ag beer and my first dry hopping. I've used 15g centennial with no hop bag in secondary. 9% a/a. How long will be good to leave. Have been advised that 4 days primary and 13 days secondary might be too much. Opinions welcomed

[Smiffy]

Certainly won't be a problem. You might find that 15g might not be enough though. The professional advice I received was to always do it for the same amount of time for consistency, and he said they do it for 7 days. The a/a of the hops won't make any difference, hops in cold beer won't add bitterness, just flavour and aroma. Larger quantities seem to run into "diminishing returns", 150g (of cascade) seemed to be no different to 100g (in 25 litres). I added a stainless steel mesh filter to the tap of the secondary to avoid hop solids in the bottles.

[Paul Fraser]

Would prefer 15g be not enough then I can learn and add more next time than be too much and ruin a good beer. It already smelled delicious going into secondary. Was told it might be too grassy. Seems obvious now you say that a/a won't make any difference. Just don't want a ruined batch.

[Smiffy]

A very sensible approach.

[Ralph]

I assume this is a 23 Liter batch Paul. I agree that 15g is likely to not make a huge difference to the beer I often dry hop and never use a hop bag. The hops sink with the yeast trub and sit hard on the bottom. I rack off to a bottling bucket and never get hop bits in my beer by simply racking off the top. 

 

I have often dry hopped for 14 days in primary without any adverse or grassy notes that I noticed. If doing a big hop monster this contact time might be more of a problem. I dont do secondary as when putting the beer into bottles it will get secondary in the bottle. Secondary just adds an extra step, with extra work and could add oxidation or infection to the beer. A thread on whether to secondary or not over here if you are interested. http://www.forum.realbeer.co.nz/forum/topics/to-rack-or-not-to-rack... 

[Paul Fraser]

Yes, secondary was less for getting off the trub but more to try dry hopping. We'll have to arrange another brew/tasting day so you can try it. From tasting/smelling, I think I might have finally done a goodie. From advice so far I'll let it go full run

[Paul Fraser]

21L batch. I thought that there would be enough yeast( 2 pckts us-05) so that after 4 days primary there would be enough yeast to chew up the oxygen in secondary so to avoid any adverse affects and enough alcohol to help ward off infection

[MrC]

I dry hop for 5-7 days.  I find that 7 days is a bit of a turning point with dry hops with uplifting freshness turning duller and grassier, albeit very subtle and slow.  I started of with 1g/L and liked what it brought to the beer so increased from there.  My pale ales are usually dry hopped with around 2-4g/L depending what I'm in the mood for.  I don't secondary, usually just 2 weeks in primary with dry hops for the last 5 days.

 

 

[jt]

I've gone from dry hopping cool in secondary to warm in primary 3 to 4 days into the ferment after posts by Joe on the subject - massive improvement

[Greig McGill]

Yep, I do that also. The yeast action keeps the hop bits moving around and maximises contact with the wort. That said, I'm backing off on dry hopping. I'm working more on getting a consistantly balanced beer which ages well, and has plenty of hop flavour. For  me (and I know this is controversial) dry hopping kills the stability of beers. I'll do it when I want that "over the top" aroma hit, and I know the beer is going to be consumed quickly.

[jt]

What do you call quickly ?

I ddont notice degradation in a dryhopped beer, keg usually done and dusted in a month.
But the well balanced and flavoursome aspect is spot on. I find that without temperature control I have trouble crash chilling and getting the hops to drop out well when the weather warms up.
So I'm about to embark on the warmer season brews with more zero minute additions

[Greig McGill]

Quickly == within six weeks or so. I definitely notice some off notes similar to oxidation start creeping in after that. Still, most kegs don't last that long around my place, so it's not really an issue! :)

[Smiffy]

I dry hop into a second fermenter which I rack off into, (primarily to be able to save the yeast) and that is left at room temperature and given a good swirl once a day for the first three or four days. Agitation is essential to get the hop pellets fully wetted in the first place, and to get the most flavour and aroma out of them. Temperature probably has a bearing too but I haven't experimented with that.