dry hopping question

[BlauMaus]

Hi all,

I bottled what was in my secondary yesterday and replaced it with an IPA that was in my primary. It was in the primary for just over a week and had finished fermenting. Not thinking, though, I added an ounce of Citra in the secondary, when it should have been added two days before bottling.

Question is, should I leave it in the primary another week and add more hops two days prior to bottling (I love hops so more flavor wouldn't be an issue) or should I skip ahead and bottle early.

Second question: if I add more hops in a week, what percentage/amount would be appropriate? This is my first IPA... well my second, but my first kind of morphed into something else.

 

[reed1911]

Either way is fine really. If it is done fermenting (checked by gravity not by time), 2 days on the hops, and then bottled will be the same as x days in the secondary and 2 days hopped then bottled. What I'm getting at is, that it makes no difference if you age in the secondary or bottle, except that there is more risk for oxidation/infection in the secondary than the bottle.

As for dry hopping, I usually let mine sit for 5-10 days rather than just 2. I cannot say if it makes much of a difference or not, but they all turn out well. If there is a significant amount of hops already in the batch, adding more than the one ounce you have as dry will not add much flavor so I would not add any more to it.

 

[meltroha]

Typically you do not want to dry hop for more than 7 days, dry hoping is so experimental, any way you do it is probably fine. I would leave it in the secondary for 7 days, then bottle.

 

[Weizer]

Any way you do it is fine. Generally, if you leave the hops in secondary for more than 7 days it produces grassy flavors. If you happen to be a talking cow, you may want to dry hop longer.

 

[reed1911]

I have not had a grassy flavor come through, ever. I'm not sure what hops would produce that but it must be blind luck that it has never happened to me.

 

[meltroha]

Any of the American "c" hops will, cascade, centennial, colombus, chinook.

 

[reed1911]

Interesting, I have a Cascade IPA that has been brewed 5-6 times with no issue. Same with the FF7c's no issues there. Maybe my friends and I's palate just does not detect a flavor that we associate with grassy. I just chalked it up to another home brew myth like needing a secondary for all brews, being concerned about autolysis, needing to rack off the trub in the brew pot, etc...

Indeed most of my highly hopped brews end up with some bits of hop in the bottle, just a side effect of lots of hops to me, no worries.

 

[meltroha]

You would have to leave it on the yeast for at least 6 weeks to pick up an off flavor. If there was an issue with your methods, you would really have off flavors, it's most likely the hops. Some commercial breweries purposely leave hops in for a while to bring out that flavor, but usually in huge beers like 120 minute and Hoptimum. Some commercial breweries remove pellet hops after a few days, to do another round of dry hoping, I've heard Russian River does this with Elder, for a reference

 

[BlauMaus]

Thanks for the input, guys. I'm thinking I'll throw another ounce of Citra on for the last two days and bottle.

 

[reed1911]

You would have to leave it on the yeast for at least 6 weeks to pick up an off flavor.

Are you referring to the hops or the yeast here?

If there was an issue with your methods, you would really have off flavors, it's most likely the hops

I'm NOT having any problems, which is why I find the statement that dry hoping for more than 7 days is absurd. I hear it a lot, but no one seems to be able to duplicate it in the home brew scenario without trying REALLY hard.

Back to the OP, I think 2 days is a little short to get all the flavor and aroma out of the Citra, but it won't hurt by bottling up early.

 

[DerCribben]

I would never dream of dry hopping for less than a week and I usually do it for two. Your hop cones are barely going to be fully soaked through after two days. If you have another oz of citra, put it in now!

One question, you are using whole leaf/cone hops right?

 

[BlauMaus]

No, pellets.

 

[drainbamage]

I do my dry-hopping for 7 days tops (always with pellets). I get a little bit of hop sludge in the bottle, but haven't run into any grassy flavors. I wouldn't push it any longer than 2 weeks though.

The more important thing is to verify your fermentation is really done before you bottle. When you transferred, was it just the end of visible fermentation (no more airlock activity) or did you take hydrometer readings to make sure your gravity had leveled out?

 

[LastChair]

I dry hop when kegging and use whole hops in a steeping bag held down by a ss street 90 until all the beer is gone.

 

[BlauMaus]

I always take hydrometer readings to check fermentation. I use the air lock primarily for entertainment.

I ended up dry hopping for 5 days with 1 oz citra and adding another 1 oz citra for two days before bottling. Sampled, and flavor seems fine. I bottled twelve with a bit of ginger and cranberry for fun, the rest without. Can't wait to see how it tastes out of the bottle.