Hello I only do primary fermentation an I am try to find the best way to add Dry-hop’s to my beer. I read that some add there dry-hops after fermentation has fished, I also read where people add there dry-hop at day 4 or 5 that’s after the beer has started fermented an there even dry-hopping in the keg…
I do both. I like to layer it in. Day 4 and day 7 sometimes day 10 as well. Each dose settles out after a couple days so I feel some hops are always in contact with the beer
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Me do add them 10 days after primary fermenting. Me take a grav reading taste sample. Than add the dryhops.
So in dry hopping in day 5 or 10 or whatever, do you guys worry about oxidation? Obviously, you’re opening your brew to the elements. Any problems with that or infection?
I don’t worry about infection but I always have oxidation in the back of my head. That is one of the reasons I use pellets instead of whole and try to dry hop during fermenation
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I’ve never had an infection from dry hopping. While I’ve never had oxidation as far as flavor profile goes… my really heavily dry hopped beers do change colors over time. Thinking about buying a fermenter I can pressurize to help avoid this and transfer to bottle under pressure.
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Concern for oxidation is one of the reasons that I dry hop in the keg. My next IPA I’ll DH around day 4 as well to see if that improves aroma.
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My dry hopping technique has evolved through the years. Since you only do primary, I’m not sure relevant it will be, but here’s what I’ve come to…after primary is finished, I cold crash the beer, then rack to a secondary. I add the dry hops, flush the secondary with CO2, and let sit at room temp for 4-14 days. Then I cold crash again, rack to a keg and carbonate. I used to dry hop in the serving leg, but I’ve found I prefer this way. It also seem to avoid biotransformation and hop creep, both I which I don’t want.
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Could you tell us what your taste buds/nose tell you about this process ? I know why flushing with CO2, but you have come to a process becoming a standard, for now, for you… So I’ curious… Sneezles61
Simple…I don’t care for the effects of biotransformation. That was the main impetus. I also discovered that as a side benefit that it prevents hop creep. To me, it means I get the beer I’m aiming for instead of what the process gives me.
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There’s the area that I need to understand… All those different oils bring what to the party… Then, how do they play together… If one is high in Carphene oil, does another have that same oil in smaller amounts and larger amounts of geraniol oil? I know I didn’t spell the names correct, but you get the point… Sneezles61
I think I did. Didn’t do a triangle test, so I can’t say for certain, but it certainly seemed like it. I dry hopped a batch of Rye IPA in primary, which I hadn’t done before. I rememberthinking that there was somehting different about the hop character. Then, I read one of Stan’s first column’s about biotransformation in Zymurgy. It struck me that was a possible explanation for what I was experiencing. I went back to my previous method of getting the beer off the yeast first, and haven’t had it again. Now, biotransformation is a pretty weird thing, and not well understood at this point. The supposition is that it only happens with certain strains of yeast and varieties of hops, and I don’t know if WY1450 and Columbus are a pair that will do it. But I do know that by getting the beer off the yeast before dry hopping I haven’t experienced it again. An added advantage is that it frees me from concerns about hop creep, which is about as well understood as biotransformation.
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I’ve listened to master brewers(?) podcast about hop creep… It sure seems that as a home brewer, it wouldn’t be as common as the big shooters… Such a large volume compared to us… Stan sounds like he’s trying to get his head wrapped around bio transformers…
Now would be a great time to look at hop creep, having these tilt gizmos… Dry hop one on its lees. The other do a secondary. Just to see how much activity there is… Sneezles61
I dry hopped this morning and my tilt registers that I gained gravity. That’s only 2 oz of “free ranged” hops.
The chart is 5 days worth of data
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The real issue to investigate in relation to hop creep is which yeast and hop combos do it. Until we can identify that, other research will be difficult.
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