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Hi all,

I'm about to do an IPA and was going to dry hop a small amount of fuggles hops. When is the best time to add these to the fermenter? Is it at the start or when fermentation is nearly finished?

Marty

Are you racking into a secondary fermenter? If you are racking then dry hop into your secondary. You want the fermentation to be basically finished to get the most out of your dry hopping or else you are just pumping hop aroma out the airlock with the CO2. If you aren't racking then maybe you could add the hops as a late 'taste' addition at flameout of your boil or with just 5 minutes to go. You can dry hop any time you like but will get strongest results in terms of aroma if you add them to secondary.

Good luck,

Shawn.

I'm not racking into a secondary fermenter. I was thinking of waiting until ferment had just about finished and then putting hops in for 2-4 days prior to bottling. I'm boiling hops whilst brewing but I thought by dry hopping a small amount I would get a stronger hop aroma.

Marty

Marty,

I chuck some hops into the primary and then dump the hot wort on them. then I quickly add my cold water to take it to 23 L. I find this works out pretty smooth.

Dogger

Thanks guys,

I chucked them in the fermenter before adding the cold water and yeast. Hopefully it will turn out good.

Marty

I Have been adding hops to my last few brews by putting the infusion
bag in hot water for 10 mins then chucking the lot in with the mix
before topping up with cold water to the 23 lt mark, so my question is
what is dry hopping & how will it differ from what i am doing ? and
what are the advantages ?
cheers.

Dry hopping with an infusion bag is as simple as taking it out of the foil wrapper and throwing it in the bucket either at the same time a pitching yeast or a day or two before bottling.

Cheers,

Greg.

Hey, another quick question about dry hopping - is it possible to infect your beer by just chucking in hops this way. I mean, it's not being boiled, the wort isn't even hot. What's to stop bacteria that may be on the hops growing in your brew ?

I read something on another website that said "Don't worry, it just DOESN'T happen". Real informative.

I hit the books.....

First one, sounded supported.
"Experiments were done several years ago regarding this very issue and although some bacteria were found on whole hops, they were killed by the beer during dryhopping. Personally I have never had an infected beer in which the problem was due to dryhops."*

Second one, not overly scientific, but reassuring nonetheless.
"Don't worry about adding unboiled hops to the fermenter when you are dry hopping. Infection from the hops just doesn't happen."**


*Homebrewing Volume 1, AL Korzonas, page 83.
**How To Brew, John J Palmer, page 51.

Hope this is of assistance. And forgive me for reading the manual.

Cheers,

Greg.

I had heard about bacterial infections from the hops but I also know that they are sterilized for us the homebrewer to increase the shelf life and allow us to dry hop if you buy them from the shop. (These are the pellets not the the actual flower)

Dogger

don't hop oils have an antiseptic effect?
-wombat

Sure tastes like it when you overdo it eh?

They also reportedly enhance your dreams to new levels (and I thought that was the alcohol LOL)

Dogger

i think you're thinking of their screwy cousin cannabis, dogger dan
-wombat

Hey, thats a no shit dit man. will post the recipe for dream pillow tomorrow LOL

Dogger

Usually you'll dry hop at or near the end of primary fermentation. If you add them earlier the aroma that you're trying to get by dry hopping goes out the airlock with the CO2.

As far as infections, wombat is right, hops are a natural preservative and as I read somewhere, "No self-respecting bacteria would live on hop pellets".

Another reason for adding them after primary is almost done is that by this time the pH of the brew has dropped to a level where bacteria would have a hard time living, let alone chewing up your brew.