Northeast Pales/IPA/DIPA

I have not noticed a difference between 6 oz for 7 days or splitting the addition up.

 

Have you brewed a NE Style IPA yet?

 

Lol
Edit. Yes
Double edit @JackHorzempa can attest to that

 

I find that interesting then. Do you only do 6 oz. of dry hops per 5 gallon batch? If so, do you find these beers hold up to the likes of Tree House, Trillium, etc.?

 

I havent had treehouse or trillium, but can say the nose on my beers are as potent as heady or Sip of Sunshine. My last batch had a split dryhop, while my previous ones have one large addition and I did not notice an appreciable difference in the nose. As I tinker with NEIPA as a style I may split a batch and dryhop one all at once while splitting the additio on the other batch. Also, do you feel 6 oz is not enough of a dryhop addition?

 

I did a pale ale version, around 5.6% and dry hopped with 7 oz. and it was just enough. I did an ipa around 6.5% with 12 ounces and it was mind blowing with the amount of hope aroma. I am doing a dipa now and it will have 10 ounces of dry hops. we will see when it finishes, how good it is.

 

6oz seems to be my sweet spot. Anything more has diminishing returns it seems.

 

what do you mean by "diminishing returns?" you dont get any more hop character or you dont think it add a valuable hop character or anything else?

 

@drink1121 I would encourage you to read Dave Green's (@telejunkie ) article on dry hopping (see link below). There are lots of differing thoughts about how 'best' to dry hop and how commercial brewers conduct dry hopping in their HUGE conical tanks is quite different from what we homebrewers have in our breweries.

Cheers!

https://byo.com/stories/issue/item/3187-advanced-dry-hopping-techniques

 

I mean I hit a threshold. I could put 12 oz in and not notice much more than 6 oz.

 

This is exactly what I do and why I do a second dry hopping. I do the first for the biotranformation and second for more traditional dry hopping flavors.

 

From my experience, the last two IPA's I have done with both S-04 and S-05 have been turbid, hazy beers up until the last drop out of the keg. They never cleared. The thing those two beers had in common were a hefty hopstand (say 2.5-5oz for 5-gal) between 160-170F for 30-45mins. The time I did an IPA before that (without the hopstand) the beer cleared up just fine. My experience jives with that testing perfectly. Also, both of those last two IPA's when enjoyed side by side with similar "NE style IPA's" were near identical in intensity of aroma, mouthfeel, etc... And no flour or other weird tricks to get the turbidity. Oh, and my water profile was west coast (highhhh SO4 to CL ratio of like 11:1), which is opposite of what most people think they need.

I am actually now trying to get an IPA that isn't hazy/turbid for my next one... So I am eliminating the hopstand and just increasing the dry hop rate, along with using gelatin perhaps (first time).

One thing though, my DIPA is now two months in the keg and it is holding up wayyyy better than I expected. Hop aroma/flavor still vivid, no additional maltiness, etc... Quite awesome! I was worried it would fade out quickly or something, but it really got better and better with age for a while.

 

I can't believe @drink1121 is getting so much blowback for double dry hopping. It's been pretty standard practice in all the home brewing circles I frequent for quite some time, and it is what I practice for most of my IPAs, particularly with the NEIPA sub category. You dry hop 5-7 days into primary in the primary fermenter, and the again in a keg, agitating several times. I thought this has already been established as proper technique. Now suddenly everybody is questioning it? Homebrewers....what ya gonna do? Lol

 

Depends on what you're after...feel it appropriate to cut & paste here:
"Only two of the seven pro brewers I spoke to didn't add their dry hops in stages. One that was surprising was John Kimmich who adds all his dry hops in one big charge for his Imperial IPA (Heady Topper). Jamil Zainasheff pointed out an important nuance to me: "The main reason is that we're dry hopping into cylindroconical fermenters. The bottom is a narrow cone, which means that when the hops drop to the bottom, it results in a smaller surface area." He said not to worry about layering in dry hops on a small scale. Peter Wolfe also weighed in on the topic saying especially if a homebrewer is using a flat bottomed fermenter, there is little reason to layer in your hops, the surface area to volume ratio is much greater on a homebrew scale.

There is one reason that homebrewers may want to layer in their dry hops. As stated earlier, Matt Brynildson adds dry hops while active fermentation is still ongoing. For some of his beers, he will add a first dry hop charge near the termination of active fermentation and a second addition after flocculation has occurred. He backs up his approach with the concept to, "Take advantage of both conditions (1) with yeast and (2) without yeast influence." So if you plan to add your first dry hop charge near the end of active fermentation, you may also want to take advantage of this two layered dry hop approach. Otherwise, if you are planning on waiting until most yeast has settled from the beer, then one stage dry hops are all you need."
https://byo.com/stories/issue/item/3187-advanced-dry-hopping-techniques

 

Why would you state that Double Dry Hopping is "established" for homebrewing?

Cheers!

 

I question his assertions about his dryhopping technique. There is no hard evidence backing any of these statements, and I am finding that homebrewers in general may be succeptable to buying into the hype of new brewing techniques. I have had biotransformations occur after dryhopping when fermentation was complete without having to add hops at day three. I have had huge noses on beers with a single dryhop addition. Just because the pro brewers do it does not mean it translates into what we do.

 

A HUGE Amen to that!!

My homebrewing system is waaaaay different from the systems that commercial brewers utilize.

Cheers!

 

Well among Homebrewers that I associate with, as well as online home brewing communities, other than this one apparently lol. Homebrewers admittedly are known for pushing the limits. Maybe they're pushing the point of diminishing returns? I dunno. I can't quantify my results in any sort of official capacity, but I feel with my system I get more hop character with, for instance, two 2 oz additions versus one 6 oz addition. I agree that pro brewing techniques don't always translate well to homebrew systems. I don't even know if double dry hopping originated with pro Brewers. I know Vinnie is well known for it. Now y'all can stop ganging up on us double dry hoppers.