I am the only beer drinker in the house so a 5 gallon batch lasts me a few months …
I have brewed a Pliny clone several times now with a recipe that has ~5 ounces of dry hops staggered 7 + 5 days. While Pliny is intended to be consumed fresh, it’s just not possible given my situation.
Since it takes me a while to finish the batch, I’ve been thinking about dry hopping for 7 days then the other 5 when the keg is half consumed. My thought process being that the second later dry hop will provide aroma/flavor that may perhaps have been lost as the beer aged.
The issue however, is that the second dose is intended for 5 gallons, not 2.5 or less and I am wondering if the beer will be lacking flavor and aroma by going only with the first addition in the beginning.
So if you were me … would you follow the recipe and load-up on dry hops as the recipe intends or try something new.
Will a 5 ounce dry hop dose have significantly more flavor & aroma than 2.5 ounces?
I’ve done this kit three times now, twice extract and once AG. Initially I followed the kit instructions and did both dry hops in the secondary fermentor before I transferred to the keg. That was a very popular kit at my house so it only lasted about a month. The second time I was on vacation for part of the month and the kit didn’t go as quickly so I did notice a bit of aroma fade by the time I kicked the keg despite the fact that it was still delicious, it just didn’t pop the same way at the very end as it did in the beginning.
What I have now started doing is leaving the dry hops in a loosely tied Muslin bag in the keg for the duration. I also don’t use a secondary anymore, I just transfer straight to the keg and let it ride until it’s ready to go into rotation. I dry hopped the initial dry hop two weeks before it went into the kegerator, and the second dry hop 5 days before it went into kegerator, both in Muslin bags. I pulled the initial dry hop bag out before I put it in kegerator and left the second dry hop in for the duration. The aroma held up much better this way down to the very last glass.
I forgot to mention that I cold crashed @ 45F for about 12 days before moving the beer to the keg.
I suspect the haze has something to do with the hops and colder temperature. This is really the only process change from the last few batches (of the same beer).
I’ll add the second dose in a few days and let it set till kicked!
Did you cold crash while you were dry hopping? General rule of thumb I’ve read is not to dry hop below room temperature as it extracts less oils much more slowly if the temp of the beer is down in the cold crash realm. BYO article on dry hopping
