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Author Topic: Racking onto dry hops in secondary, improved hop aroma?  (Read 2158 times)

Offline Steve L

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Racking onto dry hops in secondary, improved hop aroma?
« on: April 15, 2017, 12:42:44 pm »
I've recently began kinda 'going against the grain' when it comes to dry hopping. I know many have gone away from using a secondary, but over the last few brews, I've thrown my hops in an empty fermenter, purged it with CO2 and racked on top of the hops. I have noticed what I perceive to be a better hop aroma while using less hops as opposed to dry hopping in primary. Am I getting a better dispersion of the dry hop with the agitation of racking?
Corripe Cervisiam

Offline bayareabrewer

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Re: Racking onto dry hops in secondary, improved hop aroma?
« Reply #1 on: April 18, 2017, 04:15:32 pm »
maybe, maybe your dry hops aren't interacting with all the yeast in your primary. Theres a lot of things that could be at play, but the important thing is your beer has improved. Cheers!

Offline denny

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Re: Racking onto dry hops in secondary, improved hop aroma?
« Reply #2 on: April 18, 2017, 07:05:24 pm »
maybe, maybe your dry hops aren't interacting with all the yeast in your primary. Theres a lot of things that could be at play, but the important thing is your beer has improved. Cheers!

That's it exactly!  Dry hopping is about the only time I ever use a secondary any more.  Or I dry hop in the serving keg, which is pretty much the same.
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Offline zwiller

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Re: Racking onto dry hops in secondary, improved hop aroma?
« Reply #3 on: April 18, 2017, 08:26:50 pm »
maybe, maybe your dry hops aren't interacting with all the yeast in your primary. Theres a lot of things that could be at play, but the important thing is your beer has improved. Cheers!
+2;  Biggest improvement to my IPA in recent years was crashing well prior to dry hop.  Beer is crystal clear.  Biostransformation is BS IMO.  When I was DH into primary when I cleaned the carboy the yeast smelled magnificent as it went down the drain...  ;D
Sam
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Offline HoosierBrew

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Re: Racking onto dry hops in secondary, improved hop aroma?
« Reply #4 on: April 19, 2017, 05:43:44 am »
+2;  Biggest improvement to my IPA in recent years was crashing well prior to dry hop.  Beer is crystal clear.  Biostransformation is BS IMO.  When I was DH into primary when I cleaned the carboy the yeast smelled magnificent as it went down the drain...  ;D


I like dry hopping clear beer better, too. I don't think biotransformation is BS, I just don't like its effects compared to the hop character in clear beer. Each his own. We're probably in the minority here, since it seems that many or most dry hop @ the end of fermentation.
 
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Offline bayareabrewer

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Re: Racking onto dry hops in secondary, improved hop aroma?
« Reply #5 on: April 19, 2017, 02:40:53 pm »
+2;  Biggest improvement to my IPA in recent years was crashing well prior to dry hop.  Beer is crystal clear.  Biostransformation is BS IMO.  When I was DH into primary when I cleaned the carboy the yeast smelled magnificent as it went down the drain...  ;D


I like dry hopping clear beer better, too. I don't think biotransformation is BS, I just don't like its effects compared to the hop character in clear beer. Each his own. We're probably in the minority here, since it seems that many or most dry hop @ the end of fermentation.

agree 100 percent. I also like dry hop character when the dry hops interact with clear and room temperature beer. I get more grassy sharp notes when I dry hop beer sub 50 degrees.

Offline zwiller

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Re: Racking onto dry hops in secondary, improved hop aroma?
« Reply #6 on: April 19, 2017, 02:54:07 pm »
House IPA is pretty much done and will get crashed soon.  Last IPA was glorious but the magic gone in about 2 weeks.  I think that we can at least agree O2 is not good for finished beer. ;D  There should still be enough yeast in the clear beer to ward off O2 ingress from DH, right?  I have been using ascorbic acid on other beers and it seems to give me some additional shelf life.  Also read that AA can superoxidize.  Thinking a 50/50 blend of PMB and AA on this one at kegging.  Any thoughts?  I am really not into the idea of pushing a full keg of sanitizer out... 
Sam
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Offline bayareabrewer

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Re: Racking onto dry hops in secondary, improved hop aroma?
« Reply #7 on: April 19, 2017, 03:07:31 pm »
House IPA is pretty much done and will get crashed soon.  Last IPA was glorious but the magic gone in about 2 weeks.  I think that we can at least agree O2 is not good for finished beer. ;D  There should still be enough yeast in the clear beer to ward off O2 ingress from DH, right?  I have been using ascorbic acid on other beers and it seems to give me some additional shelf life.  Also read that AA can superoxidize.  Thinking a 50/50 blend of PMB and AA on this one at kegging.  Any thoughts?  I am really not into the idea of pushing a full keg of sanitizer out...

dry hopping is tough when you're trying to reduce post fermentation o2, no doubt about it. pushing sanitizer is going to give you a near 100% 02 free keg, but opening it back up to throw your dry hops in might negate some of that. furthermore, even though those pellets are dense, they still contain plenty of 02. adding dry hops during active fermentation might negate some of the oxidation it causes, but gives me flavors I don't like, and dry hopping post fermentation will introduce o2. Havent heard of hop extracts or concentrates giving flavors as good as pellets or whole hops.

some of the big guys in beer dry hop in ways to reduce o2 that we as homebrewers don't have the technology to do and most people agree that delicious dry hop character is one of the first things to go. Even with commercial technology used in breweries to reduce o2 levels to miniscule levels, dry hop character changes over time.

I guess in the end, you just gotta relax, don't worry and have a homebrew and do whatever feels right.

Offline denny

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Re: Racking onto dry hops in secondary, improved hop aroma?
« Reply #8 on: April 19, 2017, 03:08:31 pm »
House IPA is pretty much done and will get crashed soon.  Last IPA was glorious but the magic gone in about 2 weeks.  I think that we can at least agree O2 is not good for finished beer. ;D  There should still be enough yeast in the clear beer to ward off O2 ingress from DH, right?  I have been using ascorbic acid on other beers and it seems to give me some additional shelf life.  Also read that AA can superoxidize.  Thinking a 50/50 blend of PMB and AA on this one at kegging.  Any thoughts?  I am really not into the idea of pushing a full keg of sanitizer out...

My understanding (and it could be wrong) is that adding sulfites at packaging is not a good idea becasue they'll end up in your beer.  Assuming that's true, I'd much rather push out the sanitizer.
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Offline brewinhard

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Re: Racking onto dry hops in secondary, improved hop aroma?
« Reply #9 on: April 19, 2017, 05:40:15 pm »
House IPA is pretty much done and will get crashed soon.  Last IPA was glorious but the magic gone in about 2 weeks.  I think that we can at least agree O2 is not good for finished beer. ;D  There should still be enough yeast in the clear beer to ward off O2 ingress from DH, right?  I have been using ascorbic acid on other beers and it seems to give me some additional shelf life.  Also read that AA can superoxidize.  Thinking a 50/50 blend of PMB and AA on this one at kegging.  Any thoughts?  I am really not into the idea of pushing a full keg of sanitizer out...

My understanding (and it could be wrong) is that adding sulfites at packaging is not a good idea becasue they'll end up in your beer.  Assuming that's true, I'd much rather push out the sanitizer.

+1 to this Denny. Similar issue with adding AA as this is a super oxidizer and especially post fermentation can lead to quick staling.