Double dry hop

[Paul Fraser]

So I have a India Black Ale in the fermenter with a mosaic dry hop in it. I want to do another dry hop of Mosaic. I was just wondering whether to rack to carboy and add second dry hop or just chuck it in on top of the first one? I plan on the 2nd dry hop to last 4 days then a crash cool for maybe 3 days.

Cheers

[Tilt]

How long has the first dry hop been in Paul?

[Paul Fraser]

5 days now

[Tilt]

I haven't used Mosiac so I can't give hop specific advice - but if you stick with your original schedule then the first dry hop charge will have been in the mix for 12 days before you rack off them.  A touch too long by most dry hopping rules of thumb.  You could be at risk of extracting vegetal flavours. 

I'd rack off the first lot for the second dry hop.  Minimise splashing and if you can c02 double flush the secondary fermentor to prevent hop oxidation and keep all those fresh aromas intact.

[Paul Fraser]

No c02 but I think I will take the risk and rack anyway. Cheers for the advice. I was feeling a wee bit lazy but I'll get my butt in gear. It means I get to taste a sample too.

[JackoNZ]

You could still be lazy, crash chill now and do your second dry hop at the same time. That brings you down to 9 days total dry hop, probably a little longer than recommended but I doubt you'll get any issues.

[Paul Fraser]

I have heard that dry hopping cold brings out less hop character. Not sure how big a difference it makes tbh but I now have my carboy and auto siphon sanitising.

[Paul Fraser]

I've racked to secondary quite a few times now for various reasons and haven't had any oxidation issues that I have noticed yet (touch wood). Thanks for all the advice. A few different options for me to think about next time.

[Ralph]

Yup. I would go with Tilts advice Paul. That cascade ale you tried of mine was double dry hopped. 3 days for each dry hop, and I dumped the hops out the bottom of the conical and then threw more in the top. I think if dry hops are in there too long it can get a bit grassy/astringent (depending on the hops).

From the reading I have done, most of the oils/aroma in the hops will have gone into the beer in the first 3 days.

[Paul Fraser]

Oh right. I will plan on 2nd dry hop to last 3 days before the crash cool then. Cheers

[Richard Deeble]

I generally try and rack off the dry hop if am doing a second hop addition. I don't see the point in doing a second addition if you aren't going to remove the first, at that point I think you are better just doing one very large dry hop. The point of two additions is to try and reduce and harsh flavours that develop with time, maximise the surface area of wort in contact with hops and increase oil extraction. I'd go with racking into a carboy purged with C02, warm condition for 2 days then cold crash and fine. I find this works well with my hoppy beers, although I tend to favour shorter contact times than most people (5 days max, 3 days is preferable) because I am paranoid about grassiness. Might not be such an issue in a darker beer though.

[Paul Fraser]

I have just racked to carboy. It smells and tastes great at this point. If it were a blind taste I don't think you would pick it as dark. Just a nice hoppy IPA. Richard - I read on your deeble pale ale blog that you fine with gelatin. Does this strip some of the hop character? And do you then add more yeast for bottle conditioning or would there still be yeast floating about?

[Ralph]

There will still be yeast in solution even after fining with gelatine. With a dark beer I would probably not get so picky about the clarity as most of the time you wont be able to see through the beer??