Dry Hopping technique - Chronical

[philipCT]

i dry hopped 10g of pliny clone this evening. 4.5 ozs tomahawk pellets, 1.5 ozs each simcoe and centennial whole leaf.

for whatever reason I decided to free range the hops. maybe it was something I read in Vinny's article about allowing the hops to float down through the beer.

anyway - here's how it looked when I finished. the pellets were put in last and essentially took up residence high and dry on top of the leaf.

any bets about whether these will soak, and then sink, as I think they will?

[i swear to f'in G I rotated this image seven ways to Sunday no love]

 

[slym2none]

That's an awesome looking salad! I imagine that's gonna be a really good beer.

 

[CA_Mouse]

As the hops start to soak up the beer, they will drop out. I usually see my hops completely drop after 3 days.

 

[chudsonvt]

Hmm. Whole leaf usually stays up top. But I think the leaf will wick up enough to get the pellets soft and heavy. My guess is they will break apart and mostly sink. Some might get left up top, stuck on leaf, but should still contribute to the flavor and aroma just fine. I would image that the wet and heavy pellet will drag some whole leaf down with it. It all just might take a bit longer to happen than with pellets. Just my guess...

 

[philipCT]

Update: not a big fan of opening up the fermenter a lot, but I couldn't resist - I had to know. Here's a shot the next morning, after about 8 hours. Looks like it got pretty steamy in there and the buds started to open up. Also looks like some of the pellets got all moist and exploded. The aroma when I popped the top was glorious.

I'll check it again tonight. If I lose my nerve I may just have to give it a stir.

 

[aprichman]

I wouldn't worry too much about popping the top, those hops look like they're providing a nice barrier!

 

[kevink]

I wouldn't worry too much about popping the top, those hops look like they're providing a nice barrier!

Yes, but opening it lets a lot of air/O2 into the headspace. When the lid is put back on, that air/O2 will be trapped in there and it will get into the beer.

 

[aprichman]

Yes, but opening it lets a lot of air/O2 into the headspace. When the lid is put back on, that air/O2 will be trapped in there and it will get into the beer.

That's a good point. I guess this is a case where [Molecular Oxygen] < [Curiosity]

 

[passedpawn]

That's a good point. I guess this is a case where [Molecular Oxygen] < [Curiosity]

Take a big swig of beer before you open it, then release a nice long throaty belch in there just before you close it. I thought everyone topped off their fermentors with CO2 this way

I assumed leaf hops never sank. I've only used leaf in the boil, never dry hop, for this very reason. I'd give that thing a gentle stir and help the pellets out anyway. Then belch.

 

[philipCT]

Yes, but opening it lets a lot of air/O2 into the headspace. When the lid is put back on, that air/O2 will be trapped in there and it will get into the beer.

yeah - that's my take on it too - that's why I lay down a CO2 blanket after I put the top back on. About 20 secs of CO2 through the lid opening. I am babying this brew.

 

[philipCT]

So on Friday night (day three) I took another look and the leaf hops really hadn't fallen (pic 1). So, per passedpawn, I gave it a very gentle stir and got them all wet (pic 2). replaced the top, and then laid down a CO2 blanket before I put the airlock back on.

 

[philipCT]

Final update on this batch: I ended up stirring the hops in a couple more times, including the second round of dry hops. After each time I laid down a CO2 blanket before tucking it back in.

Even after 12 days and two rounds of dry hops, the whole hops never really sank, but they stayed wet and the stirring seemed like it was doing the trick and distributing the hoppy goodness throughout the beer.

I cold crashed this for three days before kegging though - and by the time I was ready to keg almost all the whole hops had fallen out. So much so that I couldn't extract the beer through the racking arm - completely clogged with the enormous amount of hops!

Anyway, fell back to using an auto-siphon to fill the kegs, flushing everything with CO2 before and after.

The final verdict: this was certainly the most amazing IPA I've ever brewed and I can finally say that I am thrilled with the hops profile. I had that one friend try some, the one that I can always depend on for an honest opinion (everyone should have at least one of these!) and he immediately said that this was better than the same recipe I brewed last year.

Full disclosure - this beer fermented down to 1.010, so it was pretty dry. I pitched a really healthy amount of 1056 slurry from a previous batch - like 550ml or so. I do believe this was at least partially the reason for the great hops aroma/flavor. There just wasn't a lot of malt sweetness getting in the way. I'll have to look back at my notes from last year to see if that fermented down as low but I suspect not.

So pitch a big yeast, dry that beer out, use whole hops, and free range 'em, and don't be afraid to stir in the dry hops and use CO2 liberally.

 

[Bilbo1usa]

Cool!
Appreciate the chronicle.
Good pics, well explained.
Nice experiment.

Thanks,
Bill