I’ve got an IPA in primary right now. I plan on doing my dry hopping in stages. I’ve heard you can get big aroma by splitting your dry hops in 2 to 3 stages. Is primary too early to start adding hops? I brewed the beer on Saturday, so I’m 2 days into fermentation. I was thinking of adding some hops to primary, Wednesday, and the rest when I move to secondary?
Any suggestions?
Let the beer ferment for 7-10 days, ramping up to 68F the last few days to help the yeast finish, then add the dryhops and keep the temp at 68F for another 7-10 days, splitting the hop load in two if you like. Then bottle or keg. If you keg, you can add another dryhop charge to boost the hop character.
I wonder what the reasoning is for multiple dry hop additions? Why would multiple additions work better than the same amount added all at once?
Yeah, I’ve never really heard of this and it seems like more work than it’s worth to me but I guess it’s worth a try if your up for it. If you do report back here.
I was wondering this too, I saw something about double dry hopping somewhere. I also don’t know what benefit it would have, but I have an all Falconers Flight APA, that I dry hopped last week w/2 oz per carboy, tomorrow(1 week) I’m gonna do another 2 oz per carboy and bottle next wednesday. Should be good either way though.
A guess:
Adding dry hops for a short amount of time infuses the beer with certain characteristics (perhaps fresh grassy, floral, “hoppy” notes) while dry hopping for a longer period results in other characteristics (maybe dankness, piney, fruity). By splitting up your hops you get both sorts of attributes.
I do it for a different reason. I’ll use most of my dry hops in a fermenter or bright keg, and sometimes won’t serve the beer for a month or two later. a quarter or half ounce of hops added a week before i tap the beer livens up the hop character for an even more over-the-top hoppy punch to the face.
Does anyone ever add additional dry hops for the second half of a keg if the flavor starts to fade? I have a chinook IPA that is just starting to fade. I was thinking that adding 1/2 oz might be interesting with half a keg left
I got the idea to split the dry hopping from Brewing TV Episode 59: The Big DIPA, at exactly the 13 minute 42 second mark. I definitely take all the advice all those guys give.
I have added dry hops to the primamy when doing a festa brew kit. I did not notice any ill effects at the time, but I likely would not do it nowadays just in case.
