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When to dry hop

M

MRMARTINSALES

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Hi,

I will be dry hopping in the FV I will also be adding some grapefruit zest.

Does anyone have any advice as to when to add in the hops and zest. I?ve read towards the end of the fermentation, at start and after it has finished so not really sure when to do it.

Anybody give me some pointers?
 
In my process, I would add the zest about a day before I cold crashed. 

As far as dry hopping, it really is a matter of what you are looking to get from your hops.  There has been a lot of differing opinions and methods discussed across the internet and in many books.  For a hazy IPA, I would dry hop early to get some potential biotransformation of the hop oils to give me strong aromatics and a polyphenol haze.  For a more traditional west coast IPA, I would dry hop in the last three days before cold crashing.  Currently, I am experimenting with dry hopping in the cold crash to see what different aromatics I obtain from this method. 

Brad has a few blog entries about dry hopping such as this one: http://beersmith.com/blog/2013/11/25/dry-hopping-for-beer-revisited-part-1-of-2/

Another brief article about dry hopping can be found at https://woodyshomebrew.com/blogs/beer-blogs/top-5-tips-for-dry-hopping-your-home-brew

 
I skipped dry hopping in primary the last 2-3 times. Instead, adding dry hops after cold crashing after kegging at near freezing temps. Then, used a recommendation where  don't use a charge larger than 3 oz at a time for a 5 gal batch. So did 2-3 oz for 2-4 days, pulled/dumped, then added 2-3 oz more for another 2-3 days. I've been really happy with this method.

Mark
 
I have adopted the ?three days before fermentation is complete? technique for my dry hop. I want the yeast consume any O2 added by opening the FV.
 
merfizle said:
I skipped dry hopping in primary the last 2-3 times. Instead, adding dry hops after cold crashing after kegging at near freezing temps. Then, used a recommendation where  don't use a charge larger than 3 oz at a time for a 5 gal batch. So did 2-3 oz for 2-4 days, pulled/dumped, then added 2-3 oz more for another 2-3 days. I've been really happy with this method.

Mark
Click to expand...

Good to know.  Any comments on the difference you are perceiving between warm and cold dry hop additions?
 
I take a simple approach.  I dry hop, at fermentation temp, after 5 days. I leave hops in 5 days then cold crash.  On higher alcohol beers, I wait 7 days.

Keep in mind that hops do have sugars a big dry hop charges to instigate further fermentation which does produce diacetyl which will end up in your final beer. Thus a diacetyl rest before cold crashing is advisable. Especially for snooty craftbeerists like me who are sensitive to diacetyl.
 
Oginme said:
merfizle said:
I skipped dry hopping in primary the last 2-3 times. Instead, adding dry hops after cold crashing after kegging at near freezing temps. Then, used a recommendation where  don't use a charge larger than 3 oz at a time for a 5 gal batch. So did 2-3 oz for 2-4 days, pulled/dumped, then added 2-3 oz more for another 2-3 days. I've been really happy with this method.

Mark
Click to expand...

Good to know.  Any comments on the difference you are perceiving between warm and cold dry hop additions?
Click to expand...

Aroma is similar but biggest difference is in flavor. With larger dry hop charges at near-ferm temps, I would get an assertive bitterness/grassiness. Every palate is different but that hid a lot of the other flavors and can be difficult to get past. At near-freezing temps, much more of the hop flavors come through with minimal grassiness or bitterness.

I really rarely bother with a lot of whirlpool hops, as I get my bitterness with FWH unless I want some added IBU's from whirlpooling. Even then, I keep it minimal and whirlpool at around 170 to keep bitterness extraction lower.

Mark
 
merfizle said:
Aroma is similar but biggest difference is in flavor. With larger dry hop charges at near-ferm temps, I would get an assertive bitterness/grassiness. Every palate is different but that hid a lot of the other flavors and can be difficult to get past. At near-freezing temps, much more of the hop flavors come through with minimal grassiness or bitterness.

I really rarely bother with a lot of whirlpool hops, as I get my bitterness with FWH unless I want some added IBU's from whirlpooling. Even then, I keep it minimal and whirlpool at around 170 to keep bitterness extraction lower.

Mark
Click to expand...

Thanks, pretty much what I have been looking for in moving the dry hops to the cold crash part of the fermentation process.  I have come to rely on the whirlpool hops for a longer lasting aroma and hop presence which I find diminishes when I do just a FWH/Long boil additions and dry hopping.  I have not done a lot of IPAs mostly because I am really sensitive to the bitterness crossing from strongly present to harsh and grassy pretty easily (I find the same with commercial IPAs as well), but am trying to explore better methods for making good, reproducible IPAs which better fit my palate and preference.
 
Oginme said:
merfizle said:
Aroma is similar but biggest difference is in flavor. With larger dry hop charges at near-ferm temps, I would get an assertive bitterness/grassiness. Every palate is different but that hid a lot of the other flavors and can be difficult to get past. At near-freezing temps, much more of the hop flavors come through with minimal grassiness or bitterness.

I really rarely bother with a lot of whirlpool hops, as I get my bitterness with FWH unless I want some added IBU's from whirlpooling. Even then, I keep it minimal and whirlpool at around 170 to keep bitterness extraction lower.

Mark
Click to expand...

Thanks, pretty much what I have been looking for in moving the dry hops to the cold crash part of the fermentation process.  I have come to rely on the whirlpool hops for a longer lasting aroma and hop presence which I find diminishes when I do just a FWH/Long boil additions and dry hopping.  I have not done a lot of IPAs mostly because I am really sensitive to the bitterness crossing from strongly present to harsh and grassy pretty easily (I find the same with commercial IPAs as well), but am trying to explore better methods for making good, reproducible IPAs which better fit my palate and preference.
Click to expand...

Nice, I think you'll like this. Even some of the west coast IPA's are getting away from some of the harshness by lessening the bittering and/or FWH addition. Whirlpooling for IBU's and then incremental dry hops...whether during primary fermentation or during aging seems to be the ticket...for me anyway.

Cheers,

Mark
 
Oginme said:
Thanks, pretty much what I have been looking for in moving the dry hops to the cold crash part of the fermentation process.  I have come to rely on the whirlpool hops for a longer lasting aroma and hop presence which I find diminishes when I do just a FWH/Long boil additions and dry hopping.
Click to expand...

Yeah, for Aroma, whirlpool is huge. Although, I do anywhere between 170-180 pending how my IBUs are shaping up from the boil. Sometimes, I'll do flameout--200--for ten minutes, then another addition at this 170-180 range. Even for West Coast IPAs, I'm adding a whirlpool addition, for that aroma.

MRMARTINSALES said:
I will be dry hopping in the FV I will also be adding some grapefruit zest.

Does anyone have any advice as to when to add in the hops and zest. I?ve read towards the end of the fermentation, at start and after it has finished so not really sure when to do it.
Click to expand...

I try to do what I can to avoid oxygen. Therefore, I lean towards adding hops, or any addition before fermentation is complete. If it's a NEIPA, I add a charge 24 hours post pitch, per biotransformation as @Oginme stated. If it's a West Coast IPA, I add a charge 3-4 days post pitch. Then when I keg, I add another addition--the keg with hops are purged and I fill through the out post. But I do large additions--anywhere between 3-6oz.

If you keg and aren't doing large additions, I'd hop in the keg because you can purge it of oxygen. Same with your zest. If you bottle, making your additions 3-4 days in would be my approach.

Even if this wasn't an IPA, whatever additions, I'd add 3-4 days in to avoid oxidation.
 
For my NEIPAs, after extensive research and personal experimentation, I (and many others) have settled on soft crashing to 58-60 before DH. I no longer do a day 2 biotranformation DH. Plenty of hop oils make it to the fermenter for biotransformation to still occur. There used to be the thought that DH during active fermentation led to more stable haze, but that seems to be old info. Personally, my haze is much more stable after soft crashing the yeast. Apparently, yeast binds to the hop polyphenols and drags some of the haze and potential flavor with it. If you drop the yeast first, and DH shorter than you think (a few studies show extraction rates as fast as 24 hours on the homebrew level), you'll create a stable haze with softer bitterness. I've done DH both ways, and I'm getting better results by soft crashing the yeast and DH 2 days before kegging.

http://scottjanish.com/what-we-know-about-dry-hopping/
 
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