[Phil_M]

Like the subject says. I've got a 10.0% abv Saison that I intend to lay down for a while...I'm about a week out from bottling. Dry hop with an ounce of EKG, yes or no?

[klickitat jim]

Whats a while?

I dont think an ounce, presumably in 5 gallons, would do a whole lot for aroma even fresh. But some subtle complexity on the nose, sure.

In the end I dont think it would necessarily hurt the beer, but after a year I suspect at best it would be unnoticeable. At worst it might bring a little extra O2 to the party which might show up as oxidation.

[brewinhard]

If you were using a hop that would be more noticeable and in higher amounts then I would say go for it, but with EKG at 1 oz only, it will hardly be noticeable by the time the beer has mellowed enough to drink. I vote save it for something else.

[HoosierBrew]

An oz would just be lost in a big aged beer. I wouldn't bother, Phil. BTW, how low did the saison finish?

[euge]

I don't put beers up anymore except beers like that. Why not over-hop initially in the boil so that the ibu's are where you want them after a year or so not at 2 weeks? You'll lose perhaps 50% of your bu's over the course of 12 months.

[morticaixavier]

If you want the dry hop character AND the aged character why not bulk age and then dry hop in a year before packaging? best of both worlds

[Phil_M]

An oz would just be lost in a big aged beer. I wouldn't bother, Phil. BTW, how low did the saison finish?

Bit of a story there. Seeing as this was my first attempt to brew using plato, my conversions to SG were off. Actual OG was 1.076, corrected FG is 1.006. (18.6 P and 6.7 P, respectively.)

That FG reading has been stable for a week, so I'm going to bottle it next weekend. Ended up really good, doesn't taste like it's a 10%ish abv beer at all. Really wine like. Not as bitter as I was aiming for, it's balanced to a little bitter. I aimed high for my target bitterness, more bitter than is typical for a saison, and I'm glad I did. Between overshooting my gravity and the effects that has on hop utilization I ended way lower than my ~5.4 bitterness/OG ratio.

But in spite of all of that, the beer turned out really well. Very dry and wine like, with a good maltiness. I don't think I'll use pale ale malt for a saison this way again, it doesn't fit as well as pilsner IMO. Certainly isn't bad, however.

Now that I'm confident the beer has finished fermenting, based on how it tastes I don't think I'll age it overly long. I'll probably start tapping into it in  the July/August timeframe. I don't think it would benefit from extended aging like I was hoping.

I don't put beers up anymore except beers like that. Why not over-hop initially in the boil so that the ibu's are where you want them after a year or so not at 2 weeks? You'll lose perhaps 50% of your bu's over the course of 12 months.

That was the goal, though I missed my intended target. (In more ways than one...)

So if I'll be drinking it in 3 months, then what for the dry hopping? Up it to 2.5 ounces? I don't want this beer overly hoppy, just a bit hoppy.

[HoosierBrew]

Sounds like it'll be nice!

[klickitat jim]

I sometimes wonder with these highly attenuating phenolic yeasts if they might interact with high dry hopping over time in really interesting ways like with brett. When I do my saisons this year at least one batch is getting a good 150 grams of dry hopping just to see what they do over time.

[Phil_M]

I'm definitely leaning towards dosing this one with hops, the question is, how much?

[Phil_M]

Whelp, it's done now. 3.5 oz. of EKG, will bottle sometime this weekend.

[Hooper]

There you go...go big or go home...

[Phil_M]

Why not?

I mean, has dry hopping ever made a beer worse?

Damn the style guidelines, full steam ahead!

[Hand of Dom]

Why not split the batch, and compare them?

[euge]

Why not?

I mean, has dry hopping ever made a beer worse?

Damn the style guidelines, full steam ahead!

Doesn't dry-hopping improve the stability of the beer? I've always thought so.