Does dry hopping affect carbonation level?

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by FeDUBBELFIST, Sep 30, 2012.

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  1. FeDUBBELFIST

    FeDUBBELFIST Pooh-Bah (1,765) Oct 31, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    I brewed an IPA a while back and dry hopped with 4 oz for 12 days. Primed with an average amount of table sugar. The result was significant over carbonation. So I recently brewed another IPA, 4 oz dry hop for 10 days, and primed with the low end of recommended weight of table sugar. I thought this would have solved my problem but no such luck. My question is then, do the nucleation sites created by hops and mesh bag create additional co2? If so, any recommendations to adjust my priming rates?

    Any insight would be appreciated. Cheers!
     
    #1 FeDUBBELFIST, Sep 30, 2012
  2. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    Unless you are putting the hops into your bottles, they are not creating nucleation sites that would cause excessive foaming from your bottles. BTW, nucleation sites don't create CO2. They encourage CO2 to leave the solution.

    How much sugar did you use? What was the exact bottled batch size (actual, not planned)? What was the highest temp reached by the wort/beer at the end of fermentation or after? What temp were the bottles at when you poured?
     
    #2 VikeMan, Sep 30, 2012
  3. dasenebler

    dasenebler Initiate (0) Jan 26, 2008 Maine

    If the dry hops create volume loss that you forget to take into account when priming, then yes, dry hops can "cause" carbonation problems. I used to be all over the place with my carb levels until I realized that it's very important to measure the exact volume of beer being packaged and then calculate the priming sugar needed. The amount of yeast in suspension is also a big factor.
     
    #3 dasenebler, Sep 30, 2012
  4. Homebrew42

    Homebrew42 Initiate (0) Dec 20, 2006 New York

    Creating nucleation sites in the fermenter would result in LESS carbonation in the bottle, not more, as less residual CO2 from fermentation would make into the final product.
     
    #4 Homebrew42, Sep 30, 2012
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