[jlo]

I'm still working my way through the Hops book.  I have a system that works for me.  It may not be the best way but it works well for me.  I really like the double dry hopping and some of the fruiter flavors I get from the initial dry hops.

I've take to loose pellet dry hopping with ~1 degree Plato left in primary at fermentation temps generally 68F for ales for three days, 50F for lagers for four or five days. 

For ales I then chill to 40F and rack off of the initial dry hops, yeast and trub to a conditioning keg at 40F where I dry hop with pellets in a weighted bag up to 7 days while I carbonate over the same 7 days.

[AmandaK]

Wow, interesting to hear about you guys trying dryhopping before fermentation is done. 
I had thought that the "conventional" wisdom was that yeasties tie up and drag hoppy goodness down into the cake...to use the technical terms .

Let us know how your trials go.

I always thought it was best to wait until after fermentation was done so you did not lose all of the hop aroma out the airlock with the CO2.......

I've heard both these things as well, and that's why I've added my dry hops on the late side in the past. I'm definitely going to try moving to a 2-stage dry-hopping regimen when practical after reading Stan's book, in hopes of catching the best of both worlds.

How are you planning on doing this on a homebrew scale? Commercial brewers can dump out of the conical, but what about us with carboys and pellet hops? My brain is not functioning this Monday morning...

[erockrph]

I've heard both these things as well, and that's why I've added my dry hops on the late side in the past. I'm definitely going to try moving to a 2-stage dry-hopping regimen when practical after reading Stan's book, in hopes of catching the best of both worlds.

How are you planning on doing this on a homebrew scale? Commercial brewers can dump out of the conical, but what about us with carboys and pellet hops? My brain is not functioning this Monday morning...

I'm probably not going to bother trying to remove my initial pellets. For example, my old way I would probably add 2-3 oz of pellets at day 10, then bottle at day 17. I'm probably going to try something more like 1.5 ounces at day 8, then another 1.5 ounces at day 12, then bottle day 15 or 16.

[AmandaK]

I've heard both these things as well, and that's why I've added my dry hops on the late side in the past. I'm definitely going to try moving to a 2-stage dry-hopping regimen when practical after reading Stan's book, in hopes of catching the best of both worlds.

How are you planning on doing this on a homebrew scale? Commercial brewers can dump out of the conical, but what about us with carboys and pellet hops? My brain is not functioning this Monday morning...

I'm probably not going to bother trying to remove my initial pellets. For example, my old way I would probably add 2-3 oz of pellets at day 10, then bottle at day 17. I'm probably going to try something more like 1.5 ounces at day 8, then another 1.5 ounces at day 12, then bottle day 15 or 16.

What temperature are you doing this at? The reason I ask is that I tend to get vegetal aromas/flavors when I dry hop for 7-8 days. I'm much better around 3-5 days.

[erockrph]

I generally dry hop at 68F. The only time I've ever noticed any vegetal notes is when I went way too overboard on dry hops in an IIPA. But that was literally to the point where the hops stained the beer a muddy greenish color and I got quite a bit of pellet residue in my bottles. Even then, after a couple months of lagering that beer has turned around nicely.

FWIW - I think the vegetal thing varies from person to person. What I perceive as pleasantly herbal/grassy/hoppy may seem vegetal/grassy to someone else.

[AmandaK]

FWIW - I think the vegetal thing varies from person to person. What I perceive as pleasantly herbal/grassy/hoppy may seem vegetal/grassy to someone else.

Totally agree. I'm way more sensitive to some things than others.

[tomsawyer]

I've been described as universally insensitive.  It didn't bother me a bit.

I was inspired by this thread and added my dry hops to a pale ale thats just finishing up fermentation.  I brought it upstairs where its warmer so it could finish completely, theres still a bit of foam on top and the hop pellets are floating in it.  I'm going to let it sit a few days then maybe add another charge and keg a couple days after that.

[pinnah]

OK, with regards to dry hopping before fermentation is done. 

If there are benefits to dry hopping as fermentation is winding down,
what downsides would there be to adding hops earlier during active churning fermentation as well?

...other than potentially wasting hops?

[tygo]

what downsides would there be to adding hops earlier during active churning fermentation as well?

...other than potentially wasting hops?

I think just wasting the hops.  The aroma you're looking for will probably be mostly scrubbed out by the venting CO2.

[erockrph]

what downsides would there be to adding hops earlier during active churning fermentation as well?

...other than potentially wasting hops?

I think just wasting the hops.  The aroma you're looking for will probably be mostly scrubbed out by the venting CO2.

I'm not sold on this. If CO2 really scrubbed out hop aroma to any great extent, then you wouldn't get much aroma from late boil additions. I dry hopped an IPA early once (like maybe day 7 or so), when the krausen was still over an inch thick. The aroma in the finished beer was great, and even 4 or 5 months later still had a great hop aroma. I say go for it.

[pinnah]

what downsides would there be to adding hops earlier during active churning fermentation as well?
...other than potentially wasting hops?

I say go for it.

Well I did it;  added an ounce of pellets during the peak of churning ferment.

I ferment in 6 gallon glass, and it was fascinating to watch.  There was 2-3 inches of loose fluffy already yellow stained krausen foam on top.  The pellets fell down through all this and were floating on top of the beer.  With all the churning, they soon started to break apart and get mixed in.

It was interesting, it seemed like fermentation bumped up a bit and there was a reaction akin to wort threatening to boil over at first hop addition during a boil.  With all the churning, and yeasties and cold break chunks exploding off the carboy floor, the pellets were soon dissolved. Some green looked like it got folded up into the krausen.  I did not notice a difference in the aroma exiting.

Anyone here know anything about the potential desirable influences of dryhopping during fermentation?

[tomsawyer]

I'm doing it too and the hops ride up in the krausen, maybe you get better interaction/exraction since there is movement in the fermentor.