Dry Hopping: When to add hops & how much to add?

This is going to be moved to the homebrew forums, but to answer your question, I like to dry hop my ipa around day 14 in the fermenter. I use pellets and just throw them right in. I feel like you may be underwhelmed with the hoppiness of your beer as there aren't many hops in the boil. I typically use at least 3 oz on the hot side of things and at least that much again for dry hops.

 

“Also, how much Chinook should I add when I dry hop? 1 oz? I'm using pellets. I'm looking to make a very hoppy beer!”

How much hops to add for dry hopping is a matter of personal preference. I am more conservative than many other BAs in that I use 1-2 ounces of pellet hops for dry hopping. I read posts from other BAs where they use 3, 4, 5 and even more ounces of hops for dry hopping.

Maybe 2 ounces would be a good idea for this batch?

I also enclose my dry hops in a sanitized muslin bag which I weigh down with marbles. Entirely your choice whether you want to bag your dry hops or go ‘commando’ like @SFACRKnight.

Cheers!

 

Is your beer nearing its end of ferment/target gravity? Dry hop away

Without knowing more about your grist bill and your OG its hard to determine how much to add to get it where you'd like hop wise. You do seem pretty light in your late hop additions.

I would dry hop 2oz for 3 days then 0.5oz for 3 days and then do a slow cold crash then rack and carb on day 8 or 9.

And as @JackHorzempa said the method is up to you.

 

The caveat I will add is that the dryhopping timeline I outlined above is for my west coast style ipa. I also dry hop for 7 days usually and then bottle.

 

@JackHorzempa do you suspend the hop bag with a string? Or do the marbles weigh it down to the button to rest on the trub? Also (if on a string) do you "teabag" the hops for some gentle agitation?

@SFACRKnight when you do "naked" hops in the fermenter, do you agitate at all when you put them in or at any other point?

Thanks in advance for the answers

 

@ECCS when I go commando with pellets sometimes I aggitate and sometimes I don't. If, two or three days after dry hopping, the hop matter is floating on top of the beer I give it a gentle shimmy. I don't rock it or splash the beer, I kind of rotate it a bit, and quickly change the direction if that makes sense. I don't do it right away, I prefer to let the co2 off gas and displace any oxygen that I may have introduced when I opened the fermenter to add my hops.

 

I do not use a string; the marbles weigh the bag down to the bottom (i.e., on top of the trub).

I make sure that there is a lot of 'extra' room in the bag (i.e., I tie it at the top of the bag) since the pellets will expand as it gets 'hydrated' during the dry hop period.

@emswurld, I neglected to mention my dry hop contact time. I dry hop for 7-14 days. I would guess a typical timeframe is about 10 days.

Cheers!

 

Even after cold crashing there is enough yeast in suspension to bottle condition. No need to add yeast.

 

For my NE-IPA's I dry hop twice, near FG and post FG. Usually I am around 1oz per ABV in 5-gallon. My normal IPA's I just dry hop once FG is reached.

5% pale will get about 5oz dry hop. 8% will get 8oz.

I have been dialing this down slowly to see when I start to notice anything. Will go for 3/4oz per ABV on my next DIPA.

For lighter ales, non-IPA I have done 1-2oz total.

 

Do you keg hop your NEIPA? Curious as I'm about to keg and I've never done it for this style...

 

Nope, I dry hop in primary only. Crash prior to kegging. Aroma/flavor is super intense, no shortage of that even after 2-3 months.

 

Just my two-cents - I put about 2 grams of hop oil into the boil at 60 and that's it for the boil. Then at flameout I cool it to about 175 degrees and then dump 4-5 ounces into the wort and do a combo hop stand/whirlpool, cover it and stir about 4-5 times in a 45-50 minute period. After that, the temperature is down to about 145 and then I cool to 65-68 and then pitch.

For dry hopping, after 7 days I dump another 4-5 ounces of hops right on top of the trub and let it do its thing. sometimes I may do a gentle stir about 3 days into dry hopping. After 7 days I prepare to keg, and throw in 1 ounce in a bag and put it in the keg. I get amazingly juicy, fruity and aromatic beers.