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Author Topic: Maximizing hop flavor  (Read 13422 times)

Offline mainebrewer

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Re: Maximizing hop flavor
« Reply #75 on: July 13, 2020, 04:21:14 am »
A pro friend has talked about his IPA would lose aroma in the Brite serving tank as it went into the increasing headspace.

Another way to suspend a hop bag in a corny is to use plumbers tape. Thinner than floss, no leaks, in my experience.

You can buy lids that have a tab welded on the bottom so that you can tie off there.

Or you can put a half inch hose clamp on the bottom of the PRV on the lid and attach the line to that.
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Offline hopfenundmalz

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Re: Maximizing hop flavor
« Reply #76 on: July 13, 2020, 06:34:53 am »
A pro friend has talked about his IPA would lose aroma in the Brite serving tank as it went into the increasing headspace.

Another way to suspend a hop bag in a corny is to use plumbers tape. Thinner than floss, no leaks, in my experience.

You can buy lids that have a tab welded on the bottom so that you can tie off there.

Or you can put a half inch hose clamp on the bottom of the PRV on the lid and attach the line to that.

Hey, I used to do that too.
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Offline skyler

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Re: Maximizing hop flavor
« Reply #77 on: July 13, 2020, 09:42:07 am »
So I tried the 35 degrees 48 hour technique, except that I got too busy (newborn) and ended up letting it go 7 days. It was in a bucket, so I didn't see what it looked like, but there was a little hop matter in the first few pours, so I assume that it dissolved okay. I have to say that I got decidedly less aroma than I would expect from the hop addition I used, though it was not a huge addition and it is not an otherwise super-hoppy beer (it's a riff on Denny's Waldo Lake Amber Ale recipe -- smaller gravity and a touch darker/maltier than the original and with Eureka/Chinook instead of Cascade/Centennial). I only added 1 oz dry hops, but the finished beer seems more like I used 1/2 oz or maybe 1/4 oz. It's fine -- I wasn't even going to dry hop this beer, so there's really nothing lost to me here, but I would hesitate to try this on an IPA where I might be under-utilizing 4-6 oz of wort-absorbing aroma hops.

I will probably try it again in a blonde ale or a bitter or something else that doesn't have a ton of aroma hops in the kettle, but so far I am wondering if Denny's success with this technique might have something to do with his using cryo hops.

Offline denny

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Re: Maximizing hop flavor
« Reply #78 on: July 13, 2020, 09:58:58 am »
Leaving it for 7 days is part of the problem.  According to the paper that got me doing this, the hops start reabsorbing the oils after 48 hours.  It's like saying I made your recipe, but I subbed for every ingredient.  Yiu cant realky judge the technique, because you didn't do it!  And I've only used cryo once for it.  The rest of my trials were with standard T90.
« Last Edit: July 13, 2020, 10:00:40 am by denny »
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Offline rburrelli

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Re: Maximizing hop flavor
« Reply #79 on: July 13, 2020, 10:04:18 am »
Leaving it for 7 days is part of the problem.  According to the paper that got me doing this, the hops start reabsorbing the oils after 48 hours.  It's like saying I made your recipe, but I subbed for every ingredient.  Yiu cant realky judge the technique, because you didn't do it!  And I've only used cryo once for it.  The rest of my trials were with standard T90.
I agree with Denny. The whole focus of the paper was the time and how extended time was not better. I have dry hopped three successive beers using this technique and I, not totally convinced yet, do think that it does what it says.
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Offline skyler

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Re: Maximizing hop flavor
« Reply #80 on: July 13, 2020, 10:06:12 am »
Leaving it for 7 days is part of the problem.  According to the paper that got me doing this, the hops start reabsorbing the oils after 48 hours.  It's like saying I made your recipe, but I subbed for every ingredient.  Yiu cant realky judge the technique, because you didn't do it!  And I've only used cryo once for it.  The rest of my trials were with standard T90.

That's interesting. I will have to try it again, making sure I only give it 48 hours. Timing things right is tough with a newborn. That no-sleep brain...

Offline skyler

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Re: Maximizing hop flavor
« Reply #81 on: July 13, 2020, 10:12:11 am »
It's like saying I made your recipe, but I subbed for every ingredient.

Also, I sort of made your recipe, but subbed for every ingredient :P. Actually, I just saw what ingredients I had around and wanted to make an amber ale, so I used your recipe as a jumping off point. The only identical ingredients in both were CaraRed and Melanoidin and my SG was 1.052.

Offline BrewBama

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Re: Maximizing hop flavor
« Reply #82 on: August 11, 2020, 05:07:10 pm »
Just saw this and thought I’d post it. It’s about an hour long but I thought it may interest some.


https://youtu.be/LNgjCQx5jeo


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Offline erockrph

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Re: Maximizing hop flavor
« Reply #83 on: August 11, 2020, 08:06:20 pm »
Just saw this and thought I’d post it. It’s about an hour long but I thought it may interest some.


https://youtu.be/LNgjCQx5jeo

I just tried to add this to my watch list, but I can't because this is listed as "Made for kids"  ;D  I'll have to check this out later (if I remember)
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Offline Wilbur

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Re: Maximizing hop flavor
« Reply #84 on: August 11, 2020, 08:17:20 pm »
Just saw this and thought I’d post it. It’s about an hour long but I thought it may interest some.


https://youtu.be/LNgjCQx5jeo


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Finally getting to slow enough point for work where I feel like I can put a podcast or something on in the background. I think I've got about 40 hours in the backlog from all the awesome seminars people put out, I guess this makes 41.

On the cold hopping thing, I've been trying it on the last few beers. One turned out awesome, the other was OK. One has the "fresh" blue lake hops and was an incredible lager. The other had local hops (Centennial, Cascade, & YCH El Dorado). I'm thinking it was the local hops, but I also used Omega Tropical IPA yeast and I'm wondering if the yeast had an effect.

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Offline BrewBama

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Maximizing hop flavor
« Reply #85 on: August 13, 2020, 08:47:11 pm »
I just kegged the first beer where I increased my hop qty significantly. As I said above I think I simply wasn’t using enough hops to get the flavor I am looking for. Tasting the hydro sample I am getting a more improved flavor than I recall from previous batches.

I used a standard APA with 6 oz Cascade in the boil (2 oz ea at 15,10,5 min.).  I would normally use far less and earlier in the boil. I am thinking the more hops later in the boil ‘hop burst’ technique will help me in the flavor profile without blasting the bitterness off the charts.

I also added 2 oz in the fermenter for the last 3 days of fermentation vs my usual dry hopping in the keg. My thought is that adding them during active fermentation — but after the most vigorous activity — wouldn’t potentially ’CO2 scrub’ as much flavor away and any O2 I introduced by opening the lid to add the hops would be consumed by the still active yeast. I used a hop bag but didn’t tether it to the fermenter. This was a mistake because it got sucked into the drain and made closed transfer a PITA of a long process. I’ll tie it off to the handle with dental floss or fishing line next time.

Fingers crossed this early indication of flavor improvement survives into the pint glass.
« Last Edit: August 14, 2020, 05:52:27 pm by BrewBama »

Offline waltsmalt

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Re: Maximizing hop flavor
« Reply #86 on: September 07, 2020, 09:15:42 am »
Great thread.  I'm going to try this with a IPA that I plan to brew later this month and dry hop.  One question (and maybe this was answered and missed it): I ferment in converted keg that I can crash to 35 once the fermentation is complete, but I cannot dump the yeast from the fermenter.  Any negative effects from dry hopping on top of the nearly dormant yeast?  Would it negate any of the benefits of the 48 dry hop at 35 degrees?  My other option would be to crash and dry hop in the keg for 48 hours.

Offline denny

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Re: Maximizing hop flavor
« Reply #87 on: September 07, 2020, 09:41:47 am »
Great thread.  I'm going to try this with a IPA that I plan to brew later this month and dry hop.  One question (and maybe this was answered and missed it): I ferment in converted keg that I can crash to 35 once the fermentation is complete, but I cannot dump the yeast from the fermenter.  Any negative effects from dry hopping on top of the nearly dormant yeast?  Would it negate any of the benefits of the 48 dry hop at 35 degrees?  My other option would be to crash and dry hop in the keg for 48 hours.

I haven't done it that way, so I can't speak from experience, but I would guess that would be Ok.
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Offline jeffy

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Re: Maximizing hop flavor
« Reply #88 on: August 29, 2021, 11:50:52 am »
So, I want to dry hop my latest beer, using the cold and short method as described in this thread, but I’m wondering how much is really necessary to achieve the best results.  I see that maximum is suggested to be about an ounce per gallon, but what about less than that?
I have what is called either a “Cold IPA” or a “New World Pilsner” - 80% Best Pils, 20% corn grits (cereal decoction) with Mosaic and Citra hops at about 60IBUs at 1.070, fermented with Diamond Lager.  It is currently cold crashing.
Since I have two fermenters, each with 5 gallons, I want to dry hop cold with Citra in one and Mosaic in the other. 
Do y’all think 2 or 3 ounces each would be enough to get some good hop flavor?
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Offline denny

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Re: Maximizing hop flavor
« Reply #89 on: August 29, 2021, 12:45:48 pm »
So, I want to dry hop my latest beer, using the cold and short method as described in this thread, but I’m wondering how much is really necessary to achieve the best results.  I see that maximum is suggested to be about an ounce per gallon, but what about less than that?
I have what is called either a “Cold IPA” or a “New World Pilsner” - 80% Best Pils, 20% corn grits (cereal decoction) with Mosaic and Citra hops at about 60IBUs at 1.070, fermented with Diamond Lager.  It is currently cold crashing.
Since I have two fermenters, each with 5 gallons, I want to dry hop cold with Citra in one and Mosaic in the other. 
Do y’all think 2 or 3 ounces each would be enough to get some good hop flavor?

Yeah, that should be fine
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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The best, sharpest, funniest, weirdest and most knowledgable minds in home brewing contribute on the AHA forum. - Alewyfe

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