TripleC223
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Not sure where to pose this question since it's about a potential brewing technique.
I have brewed several IPAs in recent months, many of which have suffered from some degree of premature oxidation (staleness, darkening of color, etc.) and/or drastic loss of hop aroma just a couple weeks after bottling. This has only happened with my IPAs, most of which I hit with a large amount of dry hops in pellet form.
My research has led me to believe that the cause of that oxidation may come largely from the dry hops, either from the oxygen released into the beer from the pellets dispersing or the manner in which I add them.
I'd like to try the following experiment to cut down on that oxidation. If anybody has any suggestions, or experience with this method, please chime in.
Problem: If processed hops contain oxygen, and that oxygen is released into the beer after adding dry hops to the fermenter, then that oxygen will contribute to the oxidation of the beer before bottling. Therefore, more dry hops = more oxygen introduced to beer. This is also a problem that runs parallel with any "splashing" oxidation that may occur when physically adding the hops to the beer, or the unintended introduction of oxygen that comes from opening the fermenter.
Hypothesis: To combat the negative effects of the introduction of that oxygen, a brewer could add fermentables along with the dry hops to jump-start a small secondary fermentation. That secondary fermentation would theoretically make use of the oxygen that's introduced from the dry hops and keep it from prematurely spoiling the beer. The brief fermentation that occures would both make use of the oxygen contained in the dry hops AND create more co2 that would push out any headspace oxygen introduced by the adding of hops/wort.
Technique: On dry hop day, make a "starter-sized" batch of wort (1 quart at 1.040?) to act as the catalyst for secondary fermentation. After cooling to the appropriate temperature, add it to the fermenter and follow immediately with dry hop additions.
Additional technique: To take this a step further, would it be feasible to add the dry hops directly to that "starter-sized" batch of wort and let them steep for 30 minutes? My thought is that it would extract hop aroma much like a full-size whirlpool would, while also expelling the oxygen from the hops as they disperse in the wort. Then you just dump the entire wort/dry hop mixture into the fermenter, including all hop sediment.
Potential problems:
-The secondary fermentation started by adding the wort would result in a loss of hop aroma. To combat this, you could add more dry hops along with the wort. Honestly, I'm willing to sacrifice an extra ounce of hops if it meant my IPAs would stay fresher longer.
-Also, the resulting secondary fermentation may require more time to allow the yeast to flocculate, if you're concerned with that. The beer may be cloudier than desired.
Does anyone have an idea if this would work? Anybody tried something similar?
I have brewed several IPAs in recent months, many of which have suffered from some degree of premature oxidation (staleness, darkening of color, etc.) and/or drastic loss of hop aroma just a couple weeks after bottling. This has only happened with my IPAs, most of which I hit with a large amount of dry hops in pellet form.
My research has led me to believe that the cause of that oxidation may come largely from the dry hops, either from the oxygen released into the beer from the pellets dispersing or the manner in which I add them.
I'd like to try the following experiment to cut down on that oxidation. If anybody has any suggestions, or experience with this method, please chime in.
Problem: If processed hops contain oxygen, and that oxygen is released into the beer after adding dry hops to the fermenter, then that oxygen will contribute to the oxidation of the beer before bottling. Therefore, more dry hops = more oxygen introduced to beer. This is also a problem that runs parallel with any "splashing" oxidation that may occur when physically adding the hops to the beer, or the unintended introduction of oxygen that comes from opening the fermenter.
Hypothesis: To combat the negative effects of the introduction of that oxygen, a brewer could add fermentables along with the dry hops to jump-start a small secondary fermentation. That secondary fermentation would theoretically make use of the oxygen that's introduced from the dry hops and keep it from prematurely spoiling the beer. The brief fermentation that occures would both make use of the oxygen contained in the dry hops AND create more co2 that would push out any headspace oxygen introduced by the adding of hops/wort.
Technique: On dry hop day, make a "starter-sized" batch of wort (1 quart at 1.040?) to act as the catalyst for secondary fermentation. After cooling to the appropriate temperature, add it to the fermenter and follow immediately with dry hop additions.
Additional technique: To take this a step further, would it be feasible to add the dry hops directly to that "starter-sized" batch of wort and let them steep for 30 minutes? My thought is that it would extract hop aroma much like a full-size whirlpool would, while also expelling the oxygen from the hops as they disperse in the wort. Then you just dump the entire wort/dry hop mixture into the fermenter, including all hop sediment.
Potential problems:
-The secondary fermentation started by adding the wort would result in a loss of hop aroma. To combat this, you could add more dry hops along with the wort. Honestly, I'm willing to sacrifice an extra ounce of hops if it meant my IPAs would stay fresher longer.
-Also, the resulting secondary fermentation may require more time to allow the yeast to flocculate, if you're concerned with that. The beer may be cloudier than desired.
Does anyone have an idea if this would work? Anybody tried something similar?