Dry Hopping an American IPA

I've never used F.F. (it's actually a blend and not a single hop...I really don't know what's in it). But the others (at very least) should work well together in a 'sweet citrusy fruity' IPA.

 

FF contains Citra, Simcoe, and Sorachi Ace, amongst some other hops. I've used it and achieved flavors/aromas between orange and melon. With a lot of it you'll get something fairly dank as well. I wouldn't say it's as good as Citra or Amarillo on its own, but it definitely ain't bad.

 

FF is awesome as a dry hop .. used it in a few pale ales and they turned out really good.

 

I would say I have enjoyed it more as a dry hop versus a late kettle addition as well.

 

Agreed.

 

I don't expect the dry hop police will come after you for this, no.

I'd suggest something like use the FF and citra in your DH, then use the cascade, centennial and amarillo as late kettle additions. Then find something else high alpha and use that as a bittering hop (CTZ or Warrior are good picks).

If you'd like to try to "balance your flavors" between kettle and DH you could take some of that citra and FF and add it at the end of the boil/whirlpool, but it isn't necessary IMO. Hop aromas/flavors in the kettle vs the DH are rarely the same kind of flavors anyway, so there isn't a ton of benefit to try to match kettle and DH hops.

 

You sir have a stuck fermentation it sounds for such a low starting gravity. Whats the fermentation temp ? Type of yeast ?

 

No. The ethical constrictions regarding IPA recipes only apply to crystal malt.

 

Heh. I'm with you, brother.

 

Rock Bottom conducted a late hopping experiment (in 2008 or 2009?) solely using Amarillo hops:

“Four approaches to finishing hops

– 1 lb/bbl total per trail

• Short – 50 mins stand in hot wort

• Long – 80 mins stand in hot wort

• Dry – all dry hopped

• Half – half dry, half long stand”


The result of the experiment was that the combination of dry hopping and end of boil resulted in:

· Half equals or exceeds “dry” on all measures!

· For a given amount of finishing hops:

– Best results if you split them btw steep and dry”


The above information is from a Ray Daniels presentation at NHC 2009.

So, it appears that a combination of end of boil and dry hopping (using the same hop variety) yields a ‘better’ hop flavor/aroma. Does this necessarily ‘translate’ to you should use the same hop(s) at end of boil and dry hop? Beats me.

Cheers!

 

You may have underpitched but not by a huge amount if your yeast was not too old. So, how old was the yeast?

 

And mash temp too. Had a apa I missed my mash temp on finish way high. Should have added brett.

 

As @SFACRKnight said, what was your mash temp? That can have a huge effect on fermentation. What did the hydrometer sample taste like? Are you sure your hydrometer is correct (Does it read 1.0 in water)?

Before you try to fix this beer, I would wait another week to see what happens. If the gravity doesn't move, I would not bother with the dry hops. But, you can consider the brett suggestion from @SFACRKnight

 

You're not likely to have a significantly lower alcohol beer. Underpitching can cause slower fermentation and some types of off-flavors. But unless you severely underpitched, you'll probably attain as much attenuation (or very nearly so) as if you had pitched more yeast. The important limiting factor in attenuation is fermentable sugars, not yeast count.