Thoughts on dry hopping

[goosehunter75]

I brewed a 5.5 gallon wheat beer yesterday. My intentions were to make a strawberry wheat. To make room for the strawberries, I had considered racking off 1 gallon into a small 1 gallon fermenter after 3 or 4 days of fermenting. The more I thought about it, I really liked the idea, plus the wheat beer came out great and I really would like to try it without the berries (its not one I have brewed before), so I considered racking another gallon off into a 1 gallon fermenter, which would leave 3.5 gallons in my primary with plenty of room for the berries. I was going to dry hop the 5.5 gallons with .5 ounces of Vanguard. I assume if I rack two gallons off I can dry hop the strawberry wheat with .3 ounces and the two 1 gallon fermenters with .1 ounces each? My dry hop one of the gallons with something else or maybe a little more hops just to compare. Any one else ever tried this? Any reason I should avoid doing it?

 

[Hello]

Never tried it and you could; however, I would not only because I want the strawberries showcased. If my hop schedule was solid during boil, it will have a good balance. I personally would be wondering if I would throw off that balance.

It is up to you and someone who has done this with good results may very well have better input.

 

[goosehunter75]

Thanks for the input. I agree, the dry hopping the strawberry makes no sense. Think I'll do the dry hopping in just the gallon fermenters!

 

[TheRussMeister]

I agree that adding the berries and dry hopping may not be the way to go, BUUUTTTT, we can only make guesses as to how it will turn out. It seems that you like to experiment, so why not rack another gallon (or less?) of the berried beer out and hit it with the dry hops. If it throws off the balance, you still gain the knowledge of the amount you used, and if it had any synergistic aspects. If it doesn't throw the beer out of balance, then you found yourself a damn fine combination. Win win in my book. Keep me posted!

 

[goosehunter75]

Finally bottled the strawberry this past weekend. Had a great strawberry aroma and a solid strawberry taste. Didn't end up dry hopping any of the strawberry, but depending on how this turns out in the bottle I may try next time!