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Dry hopping question

Posted: Wednesday Jun 27, 2007 7:48 pm
by banger
Evening all,

Been lurking for a while and thought it was about time I posted.

Recently rediscovered the wonderful world of homebrewing after a 13 year hiatus. Must say that things have changed a bit in that time...

Anyway my questions are:

At what point in the brewing process should I be adding hops to the fermenter to dry hop (bearing in mind that I won't be racking)?

How long should you leave the brew after adding the hops before bottling?

Also, am i right in thinking that adding hops this late in the process will only add aroma to the beer (as opposed to flavour and bitterness)?

Posted: Wednesday Jun 27, 2007 8:36 pm
by Trough Lolly
G'day Banger - welcome to the forum!
If you don't use a secondary fermenter, you're best off, IMHO, making your dry hop addition later in the primary fermentation phase. Dry hopping adds flavour and aroma properties to the beer. And you lose a substantial amount of aroma whilst the yeast pushes CO2 out of the fermenter airlock.
So, I'd recommend adding the dry hops when you are late in primary and allow at least a few days for the hops to make a contribution to the fermented wort. That said, I'd recommend you rack the beer to a clean secondary fermenter and dry hop then so you minimise the aroma losses.
Cheers,
TL

Posted: Wednesday Jun 27, 2007 8:53 pm
by Pale_Ale
I'd dry hop after 1 week and let it go for another week.

Posted: Wednesday Jun 27, 2007 10:10 pm
by Balls
Banger,
When I dry hop I usually add them once fermentation has ceased. As I don't rack to a secondary I leave them for 3-5 days with very few problems. Cheers

Posted: Wednesday Jun 27, 2007 10:10 pm
by banger
TL, thanks for the welcome :D will add hops a few days prior to bottling.

Posted: Thursday Jun 28, 2007 12:49 pm
by Trough Lolly
No probs - you're beer will happily wait for another week or so after fermenting has finished to gain flavour and aromas from the hops you add so at least 3-5 days is good.

Cheers,
TL

Posted: Saturday Aug 11, 2007 4:59 pm
by melbourne man
is dry hopping literally just putting dry hop pellets into the fermenter once fermentation has ceased?

Posted: Saturday Aug 11, 2007 5:02 pm
by KEG
yeah. the primary, secondary or keg - depending on your methods.