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Author Topic: how much dry hops for the secondary?  (Read 5048 times)

Offline Al Equihua

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how much dry hops for the secondary?
« on: September 29, 2011, 11:09:22 am »
Last weekend i brew my first American IPA, came out with 5 gallon and 1.069 OG and 111 IBUS with Magnum for bitterness and Cascade and Athantum for flavoring. I want to get some really good aromas as well in secondary and i plan to use whole leafs of Cascade.. so ,how much do i have to use? half ounce? more?
i dont want a grassy aroma of course

thanks!
saludosss
Al
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Offline denny

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Re: how much dry hops for the secondary?
« Reply #1 on: September 29, 2011, 11:09:58 am »
I never use less than an oz. and I've gone up to 4 oz.
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Offline hoser

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Re: how much dry hops for the secondary?
« Reply #2 on: September 29, 2011, 11:14:33 am »
Depends on how much aroma you are looking for. But,  I never use less than 2oz. for an IPA and like Denny have gone up to 4oz.

Offline Al Equihua

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Re: how much dry hops for the secondary?
« Reply #3 on: September 29, 2011, 11:21:11 am »
i asked becouse i read in a recipe that to much can develop some unwanted aromas
I want just a good aroma but no extremely, i usually dont rack to secondary becouse im a little afraid of infection, but this time i'll go for it,
thanks guys!
Al Equihua

Offline beer_crafter

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Re: how much dry hops for the secondary?
« Reply #4 on: September 29, 2011, 12:09:40 pm »
Sometimes in a light bitter or something, I'll go as little as 1/4 oz.  But in an IPA, 2oz is standard for me, and 3-4 if I really want a hoppy punch to the liver.

Offline euge

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Re: how much dry hops for the secondary?
« Reply #5 on: September 29, 2011, 12:43:30 pm »
A few minutes ago I dry-hopped 1 oz pellet per five gallons in the keg. Two kegs of special bitter get the treatment except I used Amarillo in one and Cascade in the other. Each ounce was divided into 4 bouquet garni bags for optimal coverage then dropped into the kegs after filling.

Hoping to get some flavor out of it as well.
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Offline Al Equihua

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Re: how much dry hops for the secondary?
« Reply #6 on: September 29, 2011, 02:00:33 pm »
Euge you give me an idea for using a bouquet garni in to it, i think i have some Cascade in pellets wich is gonna save some dollars

very enjoyable using two differente dry hops in that Bitter,
thanks!
Al
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Offline hoser

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Re: how much dry hops for the secondary?
« Reply #7 on: September 29, 2011, 02:07:23 pm »
I just dry-hopped an American-style ordinary bitter with 5oz. of pellet hops and the aroma is awesome!

Offline hopvine

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Re: how much dry hops for the secondary?
« Reply #8 on: September 30, 2011, 06:59:46 am »
I wouldn't go any lower than 2 oz.  I would suggest as high as 3 oz, but I have limited experience using leaf hops for dry hopping and so I can't comment on any challenges that may present (e.g. excessive absorption of beer, difficulty racking, etc.)

The biggest factor in preventing the grassy/vegetal aroma is contact time.  I never, ever dry hop for longer than 5 days.  That, in my experience, is the sweet spot for getting great flavor and aroma and preventing that grassy flavor.  But again, my experience is almost entirely with pellet hops which have a higher contact surface area, so that sweet spot may be different for leaf.  Maybe somebody else can comment on that.

Offline Al Equihua

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Re: how much dry hops for the secondary?
« Reply #9 on: September 30, 2011, 12:29:07 pm »
I wouldn't go any lower than 2 oz.  I would suggest as high as 3 oz, but I have limited experience using leaf hops for dry hopping and so I can't comment on any challenges that may present (e.g. excessive absorption of beer, difficulty racking, etc.)

The biggest factor in preventing the grassy/vegetal aroma is contact time.  I never, ever dry hop for longer than 5 days.  That, in my experience, is the sweet spot for getting great flavor and aroma and preventing that grassy flavor.  But again, my experience is almost entirely with pellet hops which have a higher contact surface area, so that sweet spot may be different for leaf.  Maybe somebody else can comment on that.

thank's Hopvine, for comments.. ok but asume that you're refering the use of pellets with muslin bags yes? im a little afraid of infecting the batch, well sanitized before let it in the beer, so maybe 3or 5 days in the secondary will be enough...
Al
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Offline denny

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Re: how much dry hops for the secondary?
« Reply #10 on: September 30, 2011, 01:38:22 pm »
The biggest factor in preventing the grassy/vegetal aroma is contact time.  I never, ever dry hop for longer than 5 days.  That, in my experience, is the sweet spot for getting great flavor and aroma and preventing that grassy flavor.  But again, my experience is almost entirely with pellet hops which have a higher contact surface area, so that sweet spot may be different for leaf.  Maybe somebody else can comment on that.

Then how do you account for those of us who dry hop for months and don't get off flavors?  I dry hop with both whole and pellet hops and don't get grassy flavors.
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Offline kylekohlmorgen

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Re: how much dry hops for the secondary?
« Reply #11 on: September 30, 2011, 01:43:19 pm »
When you brew an IPA with the max amount of bitterness (100+ IBUs), you need a LOT of hop flavor/aroma just to bring it into balance.

I would go with the hopping schedule of an Imperial IPA. About 3 oz of hops for two weeks or so, then pull and replace them with another 3 oz.

What dryhops are you going to use???
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Offline richardt

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Re: how much dry hops for the secondary?
« Reply #12 on: September 30, 2011, 03:32:40 pm »
Where does one find "boquet garni" bags?

Offline tubercle

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Offline richardt

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Re: how much dry hops for the secondary?
« Reply #14 on: September 30, 2011, 04:11:50 pm »