dry hopping during fermentation
  • frydogbrewsfrydogbrews
    Posts: 44,679
    i was talking to one of the brewers for the largest craft beer company in st louis about dry hopping. he says for the two beers i love the most, APA and AIPA, they actually dry hop starting on day 3-4 of fermentation. so, the beer is actually fermenting fairly actively.

    anyone tried this? he says it draws out more from the hops because of the active fermentation. i don't think that makes a lick of sense to me. for one, it would blow some of the sensitive aroma right through the airlock.

    what are your thoughts, folks?
  • ceanntceannt
    Posts: 53,828
    Back when I "didn't know any better"... I dry hopped on day 3 all the time ....
    Things are starting to slow down a bit ... so not as much is lost out the airlock as you might think.... best thing is it cuts down on that "grassy" taste dry hopping often imparts ....
    I don't dry hop much anymore .... but day 4 is what I aim for now.
    Never attribute to malice, that which can adequately be explained by stupidity.
  • frydogbrewsfrydogbrews
    Posts: 44,679
    i am giving it a try today on a ten gallon batch split into two 5 gallon batches. so where do you go from there?
    here is my normal routine.....

    dry hop for one week after the first two weeks. this gives me a total of three weeks and nice, clear beer plus the yeasties have a chance to clean up any mess. then i rack into keg and proceed to get drunk.

    are you dry hopping for a longer time or removing the hops after a certain time and then letting it sit there longer? are you (gasp) racking to a secondary? i don't use secondary's on any of my apa's or ipa's (sometimes on an iipa though)
  • ceanntceannt
    Posts: 53,828
    frydogbrews said:

    i am giving it a try today on a ten gallon batch split into two 5 gallon batches. so where do you go from there?
    here is my normal routine.....

    dry hop for one week after the first two weeks. this gives me a total of three weeks and nice, clear beer plus the yeasties have a chance to clean up any mess. then i rack into keg and proceed to get drunk.

    are you dry hopping for a longer time or removing the hops after a certain time and then letting it sit there longer? are you (gasp) racking to a secondary? i don't use secondary's on any of my apa's or ipa's (sometimes on an iipa though)



    why... why... why.... would I secondary????
    I leave in Primary for at least 4 weeks... so I pull the hops out... after 2 weeks or so depending on what I'm doing... plastic bucket fermenters have an advantage here....
    I have used the "paint strainer bags" for hop bags.... and it worked out pretty well. I like whole hops for dry hopping... (I have used pellet hops a few times, I just dribbled them in the airlock hole and let 'em go... but always later in fermentation... and never with as good of results)
    Never attribute to malice, that which can adequately be explained by stupidity.
  • frydogbrewsfrydogbrews
    Posts: 44,679
    allrighty, i will just plan on pulling them out.
    i almost strictly use whole leaf hops, for everything. i just think its cleaner.

    usually i dump 3-4 oz of hops in to dry hop, wait ten days or so and then scoop them out with a kitchen spider (strainer on a stick) and squish them down with a spatula to release they beer they are trying to steal. i have nylon boiling bags i suppose i could use for this effort.
    then just squeeze the bag once by hand.
  • ceanntceannt
    Posts: 53,828
    frydogbrews said:

    allrighty, i will just plan on pulling them out.
    i almost strictly use whole leaf hops, for everything. i just think its cleaner.

    usually i dump 3-4 oz of hops in to dry hop, wait ten days or so and then scoop them out with a kitchen spider (strainer on a stick) and squish them down with a spatula to release they beer they are trying to steal. i have nylon boiling bags i suppose i could use for this effort.
    then just squeeze the bag once by hand.



    probably get more out of 'em with the "scoop and squish".... I only bag 'cause I'm lazy...
    Never attribute to malice, that which can adequately be explained by stupidity.
  • FuzzyFuzzy
    Posts: 49,786
    i bag just because it's easier to remove that way and i feel like the less time i let the beer stay exposed to the open air, the less chance i'll have for a bunch of nasty bugs to get in.
    The pinnacle of lame and awesome in one singular moment. -Lake
  • ceanntceannt
    Posts: 53,828
    FromZwolle said:

    i bag just because it's easier to remove that way and i feel like the less time i let the beer stay exposed to the open air, the less chance i'll have for a bunch of nasty bugs to get in.



    There is that too...... but I like the sound of the "scoop and squish" technique.....
    Never attribute to malice, that which can adequately be explained by stupidity.
  • JayrizzleJayrizzle
    Posts: 90,691
    When another day in the fermenter means money, I can see why you would dry hop so soon. I can't see why it wouldn't work well, maybe not as well per oz of hops, but nearly. I'd suggest basing it more on fermentation rather than days, if it takes off slow, give it more time than one that's fast out of the gate.
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