I have Dawson’s Multigrain Red in the keg at the moment and I was thinking of taking some leftover hops from the freezer and dry hopping. I have a few varieties owing to some interrupting brewing this winter. Any recommendations for a good dry hop to suit a lower alcohol, session red?
What do you have on hand?
An Irish red doesn’t really have a lot of hop aroma. You’re going to be turning it into more of an American amber style by dry hopping, in which case I’d go with a citrusy hop. Or if you use a floral/earthy British hop you’ll have something along the lines of a common bitter.
Ok cool, that helps. To be honest, I missed by target gravity by a bit, which means I’ve turned a nice session ale into a REAL session ale (only my second all grain batch so still working out the kinks). I like it, but figured I’d have some fun. I have an ounce of cascade and an ounce of northern brewer. Been in the freezer in an open bag inside a sealed baggie. Wondering about freshness. Probably had them for 6 months in the freezer. I also have a ton of Liberty, Columbus, and Hallertau but they’re in sealed one pound bags and don’t really want to open them at this point in time.
I wouldn’t DH with hops that have been exposed to air and freezerburn that long unless they smell good (the beer is going to pick up whatever aroma they have).
I’d throw in both the Cascade and NB if they don’t smell cheesy. I store hops this way and they stay good pretty well.
Thanks guys, this is great. I went with the ounce-plus of cascade. All smelled good. We’ll see how we do…
