Dry hopping question

[psuhammer14]

In my recent white IPA I made, the recipe calls for dry hopping at the beginning of fermentation, dropping in 1 oz of el dorado pellets before adding the yeast. I have read a number of posts that say you should dry hop after active fermentation is complete... I'm assuming that is to make sure the hop flavor and aroma come through? So, what will be different based off of my adding the hops before fermentation and not afterwards? I'm thinking the hop flavor taste and aroma may not be as strong? With it being a white IPA, that may not be too bad though... Thoughts?

 

[JordanKnudson]

It will simply be different. Some will tell you that active fermentation will scrub out the aromatics. However, what I find is that fermentation simply changes the character of the aromatic/flavor compounds. Dry hopping is done after primary fermentation to achieve the same aroma that you get when you rub the raw hops between your hands. Adding them during fermentation will still get you plenty of character (I say this from experience, as I actually use this technique in two of my house beers), but it will be a bit transformed from what the raw hops display -- much in the way a late kettle addition is transformed during fermentation.

I wouldn't worry -- often the character is just as strong. Actually, I have done this very thing with El Dorado hops, and I quite like the result. Good luck!

 

[BridgewaterBrewer]

In theory, the CO2 produced during the fermentation will carry a lot of the hop aroma out of your beer as it leaves the fermenter. Also, adding hops (or fruit, spices, etc) is much less likely to cause contamination if you wait until the yeast have generated about 4 or 5% alcohol, which prevents most bacteria from growing. Hops do contain antibacterial compounds but I'm a microbiologist and I find it hard to be believe that you can't introduce contamination with your hops. On other hand, some people worry about oxidation that occurs when you open the fermenter to add hops, so they recommend dry hopping when the fermentation is almost but not quite done, so the yeast that still actively eating the sugars can metabolize the oxygen that gets in when you dry hop. Also, there is good evidence that the yeast will interact with the hop compounds and produce different flavors that may be desirable. Also see these links:
http://www.winning-homebrew.com/dry-hopping.html
https://byo.com/stories/issue/item/3187-advanced-dry-hopping-techniques
http://www.bear-flavored.com/2014/09/how-i-dry-hop-my-ipas-with-no-oxygen.html