Dry Hopping

[redoubt]

For whatever it's worth, we've used the hop slurry technique. It went well, albeit a bit sloppily, and the beer tastes really good. We'll be doing it again, without a doubt.

-Keely.

[Hub Brewer]

I used this recently to dry hop with 2oz of citra into my IPA. Ended up using just over 500ml of water in a glass measuring cup, but I was able to get it into the narrow carboy opening fairly easily by swirling it a few times to keep the hops suspended. Sampled it going into the keg after seven day dry hop and was very happy with the results. That keg will disappear quickly.

[dean2k]

... keep the hops suspended.

Whoops. Lesson learned.

[kberry]

is there an upper limit to how much hops one should use when dry hopping? most 5 gal recipes seem to use 1-2 oz of hops - would there be any detriment to using 4-6 oz in an IPA? Are there diminishing returns to using this many hops?

[amartin]

kberry - I don't know if there's really an upper limit, but if there is it'd be well above 1-2 oz. I think that's a good amount for a modest APA, but 4-6oz in an IPA would be good.

Does anyone know if this would work well with wet hops? I'm doing a wet hop IPA when my hops are ready to be harvested, but my nuggets are probably a week behind my cascades and eroicas. I thought maybe I'd use the nuggets for dry hopping.

[RubberToe]

Andrew, didn't you learn your lesson dry hopping with fresh hops last time?

Edit: Ok, I was just jerking your chain. You want to steep the wet hops, I get it now.

[Celiacbrew]

No worries with dry-hopping, hops are an excellent inhibitor of beer spoilage bacteria so we've been blessed as brewers to go ahead and dump them in.

On another note, here's some info that's not very common knowledge - there have been many studies done on dry-hopping and it's effects, some of the studies were closely related to first wort hopping techniques. Dry-hopping doesn't release any alpha acids or bitterness into the beer but it can and does add astringency depending on the strain and quantities used. Here's where the relation to first wort hopping comes in, they discovered if you steep the raw hops in a bit of water to make a thin slurry @ 160 - 170F for 10 - 15 minutes then dump the whole thing into your finished beer for dry-hopping that it almost completely eliminates the associated astringency and brings new heights to dry-hopping with a more integrated, softer palate while retaining that fresh hop burst. It works.

Did I misinterpret your post Greg? My interpretation of your post is that the slurry needs to be 160 – 170, but if it is the water that needs to be 160 – 170, and as you say, keep adding more water until you get a thin slurry, then you would end up with a mush that is more like FWH temperatures.

Are you saying that FWHs don't go through the 160-170 temperature range?

...steep the raw hops in a bit of water to make a thin slurry @ 160 - 170F...

The water, of course, should be deaerated. The slurry should be in the temp range as posted, not the water. Make a pourable solution, no more. No need to dilute your beer.

Does anyone know the source of this technique? Was there a paper or maybe a podcast of someone talking about it? I'm thinking the 160-170F temperature is to drive off myrcene or maybe to oxidize it into another flavour compound. I can't find a source for this anywhere I look.

[Jimmy]

Does anyone know the source of this technique? Was there a paper or maybe a podcast of someone talking about it? I'm thinking the 160-170F temperature is to drive off myrcene or maybe to oxidize it into another flavour compound. I can't find a source for this anywhere I look.

Nash references "An Analysis of Brewing Techniques" on the previous page - not sure where they got the information.

http://brewnosers.org/forums/viewtopic. ... 327#p90327" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I believe it was also referenced in the "Hops" book from the brewing elements series, and I'm pretty sure it talked about the experiment..though I could be thinking about something else.

[Celiacbrew]

Does anyone know the source of this technique? Was there a paper or maybe a podcast of someone talking about it? I'm thinking the 160-170F temperature is to drive off myrcene or maybe to oxidize it into another flavour compound. I can't find a source for this anywhere I look.

Nash references "An Analysis of Brewing Techniques" on the previous page - not sure where they got the information.

http://brewnosers.org/forums/viewtopic. ... 327#p90327" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I believe it was also referenced in the "Hops" book from the brewing elements series, and I'm pretty sure it talked about the experiment..though I could be thinking about something else.

How did I miss that????? I thought I had read through the whole thread several times. Having a sick baby in the house has turned me into a sleepless zombie.

Thanks Jimmy

[BasilD]

I just tried this technique with 125grams and 1 little of water, after steeping at 175f for 15min I started to throw it in the carboy..... Talk about volcano! Any idea why it would just start spouting? I have the slurry cooling in the freezer now, hopefully room temp will make a difference.

[Jimmy]

How long has your beer been in the carboy? If there's still a lot of dissolved co2, the hops act as nucleation points and will release the dissolved co2 in the beer.

[RubberToe]

What temp was the beer you added it to?

Was fermentation complete?

If this was post fermentation and cold crashed I could see this happening since there would be CO2 in solution and you're adding nucleation points.

[BasilD]

It had been fermenting for 7 days, and was sitting at 68f when the hops were pitched. After sticking the slurry in a snow bank for a few minutes, pouring the rest of it went great! It's mostly sitting at the top, I imagine it will naturally drop, but should I agitate the carboy?

[RubberToe]

I always just leave it.

Sent from the brew timer