Crave that pungent hop aroma in your IPAs and Pale Ales? Enjoy coating your nostrils with sticky hop goodness? Want to achieve the dry hop character of The Alchemist's Heady Topper in your own beer? Below are 10 things you can do to enhance the aroma of your hop-forward beers.
1 - Use pellets
According to research conducted by Peter Wolfe (Oregon State University) and Mitch Steele (Stone Brewing Co.), hop pellets are the most widely used dry hopping medium in the United States. While some brewers still debate whether pellets deliver the same "fresh hop" aroma as whole cones, there is one fact that cannot be debated (thanks to Wolfe): pellets show more rapid and higher overall extraction than whole hops. If you prefer to use whole cones, keep in mind that they benefit from longer contact time.
2 - Consider multiple varieties
Much like salt and pepper, dry hop varietals often work best in tandem. Whether it's Simcoe and Amarillo, Citra and Centennial, Chinook and Cascade, or Nelson Sauvin and Columbus, dry hopping with two or more hop varieties can help create greater depth in your beers. But be careful not to overdo it! In fact, you may find you can detract from a desirable characteristic of one hop if overwhelmed with another. The key is finding the right balance.
Citra's Tropical Citrus Fruit Balances Simcoe's Piney Character
3 - Use multistage additions
According to Steele, Vinnie Cilurzo (Russian River Brewing Co.), Matt Brynildson (Firestone Walker Brewing Co.), and Jamil Zainasheff (Heretic Brewing Company), among others, multistage dry hopping adds greater depth to your beers. One the commercial scale, the need for multistage dry hopping is straightforward: the large cylindroconical fermenter geometry result in less contact area between the hops and beer at the base of the tanks. Wolfe doesn't believe this technique is as much of a benefit to homebrewers since many fermenters use a flat bottom. Personally, I have noticed a difference between beers I have dry hopped in one verses two (and even three!) stages. YMMV.
4 - Utilize warmer temperatures
The warmer the beer temperature at dry hopping, the more aroma you will extract from the hops. In For The Love of Hops, author Stan Hieronymus reported the following dry hop temperatures for commercial breweries: Stone at 62F, Lagunitas at 70F, New Belgium at 54F, and Sierra Nevada at 68F. Even lager breweries, such as Jack's Abby, raise beer temperature to 55F during dry hopping. For me, I find it easiest to dry hop at ambient fermentation temperatures (66-68F).
5 - Optimize contact time
Wolfe found that most commercial dry hopping regimens last anywhere between three days to one week, sometimes extending upwards of one month! Steele recommends limiting dry hopping to 5-15 days. Conversely, Brynildson does not exceed three days with any dry hop addition. Keep in mind many commercial breweries have the ability to rouse the hops, keeping them in suspension via hop cannon or torpedo-like devices. Unroused pellets will only achieve 3/4 of the overall aroma intensity as roused ones, peaking at four days, according to Wolfe. Experimentation is key here; I've found that four days of contact time provides substantial aroma for my IPAs.
Add That 'Hop Field' Aroma To Your IPA
6 - Start in primary
Most breweries dry hop after primary fermentation is complete to prevent yeast from absorbing hop flavors and allowing for yeast harvest for subsequent batches. Some breweries have openly ignored this dogma, introducing dry hops during the final stages of primary fermentation. Lagunitas, New Belgium, Sierra Nevada, and Firestone Walker introduce some/all of their dry hops before reaching terminal gravity. Brynildson prefers this method because it takes advantage of yeast-hop interaction and reduces oxygen uptake from the hops due to the still-active yeast.
7 - Minimize oxygen uptake
As any experienced brewer knows, minimizing oxygen uptake post-fermentation is critical. For hop-forward beers it is essential! No matter how good your technique, the most common area where oxygen uptake is introduced is during racking. Reducing the total number of vessels (secondary fermenter, keg, and bottles) the beer matures in is one easy way to reduce oxygen uptake. Even better is purging all your racking equipment and vessels with a liberal amount of CO2 before transfer.
8 - Utilize late hopping/whirlpooling
Research conducted in the late 2000's by Rock Bottom's Van Havig revealed that late hopping/whirlpooling may be more effective at achieving high levels of hop aroma than dry hopping. First, his data demonstrated that longer post-boil hop residence (whirlpool) resulted in more hop flavor, aroma, and perceived bitterness than shorter residence. Second, longer post boil residence resulted in more hop flavor than dry hopping alone; therefore hop flavor is best developed in the kettle. Lastly and perhaps most importantly, was the combination of late hopping and dry hopping resulted in greater aroma than dry hopping alone.
A Whirlpool Hop Addition Improves Aroma Too
9 - Understand the law of diminishing returns
Dry hop aroma doesn't increase exponentially with the addition of greater amounts of dry hops. In fact, Havig also demonstrated that brewers can reach a point of diminishing return with dry hops. Many commercial breweries report a dry hopping rate between 0.25-1.5 oz/gal (0.5-3 lb/bbl) with breweries such as Stone, Lagunitas, and New Belgium at the higher end of the spectrum, averaging to 0.5 oz/gal (1 lb/bbl). This is a good place to start, but I find best results at 1.5 oz/gal for my hoppy IPAs.
10 - Check the chart!
Taking advantage of craft brewers' willingness to share recipes with homebrewers, I have begun to develop a comprehensive commercial dry hop analysis chart: http://dryhop.thirdleapbrew.com
Commercial Dry Hop Analysis Chart
The goal is to determine the average dry hop rate and duration for hop-forward beer styles. My initial findings suggest DIPAs to utilize 0.78 oz/gal for 11 days, IPAs to utilize 0.48 oz/gal for 9 days, and Black IPAs to utilize 0.4 oz/gal for 12 days, on average.
If you have a verified commercial DIPA, IPA, APA (or any hoppy beer style) recipe and would like to add it to the chart, please leave a comment below!
"Andrew is an award-winning homebrewer and avid beer enthusiast. For more from this talented brewer and writer find him on his multiple social media accounts, or at his blog ThirdLeapBrew.com!"
http://www.facebook.com/ajkazanovicz
http://twitter.com/ajkazanovicz
http://instagram.com/ajkazanovicz
1 - Use pellets
According to research conducted by Peter Wolfe (Oregon State University) and Mitch Steele (Stone Brewing Co.), hop pellets are the most widely used dry hopping medium in the United States. While some brewers still debate whether pellets deliver the same "fresh hop" aroma as whole cones, there is one fact that cannot be debated (thanks to Wolfe): pellets show more rapid and higher overall extraction than whole hops. If you prefer to use whole cones, keep in mind that they benefit from longer contact time.
2 - Consider multiple varieties
Much like salt and pepper, dry hop varietals often work best in tandem. Whether it's Simcoe and Amarillo, Citra and Centennial, Chinook and Cascade, or Nelson Sauvin and Columbus, dry hopping with two or more hop varieties can help create greater depth in your beers. But be careful not to overdo it! In fact, you may find you can detract from a desirable characteristic of one hop if overwhelmed with another. The key is finding the right balance.
Citra's Tropical Citrus Fruit Balances Simcoe's Piney Character
3 - Use multistage additions
According to Steele, Vinnie Cilurzo (Russian River Brewing Co.), Matt Brynildson (Firestone Walker Brewing Co.), and Jamil Zainasheff (Heretic Brewing Company), among others, multistage dry hopping adds greater depth to your beers. One the commercial scale, the need for multistage dry hopping is straightforward: the large cylindroconical fermenter geometry result in less contact area between the hops and beer at the base of the tanks. Wolfe doesn't believe this technique is as much of a benefit to homebrewers since many fermenters use a flat bottom. Personally, I have noticed a difference between beers I have dry hopped in one verses two (and even three!) stages. YMMV.
4 - Utilize warmer temperatures
The warmer the beer temperature at dry hopping, the more aroma you will extract from the hops. In For The Love of Hops, author Stan Hieronymus reported the following dry hop temperatures for commercial breweries: Stone at 62F, Lagunitas at 70F, New Belgium at 54F, and Sierra Nevada at 68F. Even lager breweries, such as Jack's Abby, raise beer temperature to 55F during dry hopping. For me, I find it easiest to dry hop at ambient fermentation temperatures (66-68F).
5 - Optimize contact time
Wolfe found that most commercial dry hopping regimens last anywhere between three days to one week, sometimes extending upwards of one month! Steele recommends limiting dry hopping to 5-15 days. Conversely, Brynildson does not exceed three days with any dry hop addition. Keep in mind many commercial breweries have the ability to rouse the hops, keeping them in suspension via hop cannon or torpedo-like devices. Unroused pellets will only achieve 3/4 of the overall aroma intensity as roused ones, peaking at four days, according to Wolfe. Experimentation is key here; I've found that four days of contact time provides substantial aroma for my IPAs.
Add That 'Hop Field' Aroma To Your IPA
6 - Start in primary
Most breweries dry hop after primary fermentation is complete to prevent yeast from absorbing hop flavors and allowing for yeast harvest for subsequent batches. Some breweries have openly ignored this dogma, introducing dry hops during the final stages of primary fermentation. Lagunitas, New Belgium, Sierra Nevada, and Firestone Walker introduce some/all of their dry hops before reaching terminal gravity. Brynildson prefers this method because it takes advantage of yeast-hop interaction and reduces oxygen uptake from the hops due to the still-active yeast.
7 - Minimize oxygen uptake
As any experienced brewer knows, minimizing oxygen uptake post-fermentation is critical. For hop-forward beers it is essential! No matter how good your technique, the most common area where oxygen uptake is introduced is during racking. Reducing the total number of vessels (secondary fermenter, keg, and bottles) the beer matures in is one easy way to reduce oxygen uptake. Even better is purging all your racking equipment and vessels with a liberal amount of CO2 before transfer.
8 - Utilize late hopping/whirlpooling
Research conducted in the late 2000's by Rock Bottom's Van Havig revealed that late hopping/whirlpooling may be more effective at achieving high levels of hop aroma than dry hopping. First, his data demonstrated that longer post-boil hop residence (whirlpool) resulted in more hop flavor, aroma, and perceived bitterness than shorter residence. Second, longer post boil residence resulted in more hop flavor than dry hopping alone; therefore hop flavor is best developed in the kettle. Lastly and perhaps most importantly, was the combination of late hopping and dry hopping resulted in greater aroma than dry hopping alone.
A Whirlpool Hop Addition Improves Aroma Too
9 - Understand the law of diminishing returns
Dry hop aroma doesn't increase exponentially with the addition of greater amounts of dry hops. In fact, Havig also demonstrated that brewers can reach a point of diminishing return with dry hops. Many commercial breweries report a dry hopping rate between 0.25-1.5 oz/gal (0.5-3 lb/bbl) with breweries such as Stone, Lagunitas, and New Belgium at the higher end of the spectrum, averaging to 0.5 oz/gal (1 lb/bbl). This is a good place to start, but I find best results at 1.5 oz/gal for my hoppy IPAs.
10 - Check the chart!
Taking advantage of craft brewers' willingness to share recipes with homebrewers, I have begun to develop a comprehensive commercial dry hop analysis chart: http://dryhop.thirdleapbrew.com
Commercial Dry Hop Analysis Chart
The goal is to determine the average dry hop rate and duration for hop-forward beer styles. My initial findings suggest DIPAs to utilize 0.78 oz/gal for 11 days, IPAs to utilize 0.48 oz/gal for 9 days, and Black IPAs to utilize 0.4 oz/gal for 12 days, on average.
If you have a verified commercial DIPA, IPA, APA (or any hoppy beer style) recipe and would like to add it to the chart, please leave a comment below!
"Andrew is an award-winning homebrewer and avid beer enthusiast. For more from this talented brewer and writer find him on his multiple social media accounts, or at his blog ThirdLeapBrew.com!"
http://www.facebook.com/ajkazanovicz
http://twitter.com/ajkazanovicz
http://instagram.com/ajkazanovicz
