Late / Dry Hopping

twerg_85

Hi guys,
coupla questions you might help me with.

1. If I hop at time zero, am I right in saying that they're only in the beer for as long as it takes me to cool the wort, or do people not strain when pouring into fermenter ?

2. If I dry hop (or hop late in the boil), do I need to sanitize the hops ? If so, how, and if not why not ?

3. When dry hopping, is the AA level of the hop irrelevant and it's only the aroma/flavour I need to worry about ? Does the acidity affect dry hopping in any way ?

Thanks !

F.

mayto

twerg_85 wrote: »

Hi guys,
coupla questions you might help me with.

1. If I hop at time zero, am I right in saying that they're only in the beer for as long as it takes me to cool the wort, or do people not strain when pouring into fermenter ?

2. If I dry hop (or hop late in the boil), do I need to sanitize the hops ? If so, how, and if not why not ?

3. When dry hopping, is the AA level of the hop irrelevant and it's only the aroma/flavour I need to worry about ? Does the acidity affect dry hopping in any way ?

Thanks !

F.

1. Yes at time zero the hops are added when the heat is turned off for the boil
2. If dry hopping you would usually sanitise a muslin bag if using to contain the hops but hops themselves are generally regarded as being sterile.
3.Ye just pick a hop with the aroma you are after for dry hopping.

oblivious

twerg_85 wrote: »

3. When dry hopping, is the AA level of the hop irrelevant and it's only the aroma/flavour I need to worry about ? Does the acidity affect dry hopping in any way ?

Yep AA is a measurement of the potential bitterness that the hos will contribute

sharingan

You will get some bitterness from dry hopping too, so the AA% may be relevant.

Dry hopping is not the same as your Flame Out Hops, or 0 minute hops.

sharingan

Also, the matter of 0 minute hop additions and chilling is not really talked about much.

But this post on BIABrewer.info http://www.biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=1596 summarises a lot of the issues, like the time to go from boil (at flame out) down to some reference temperature is a key factor in late hop utilisation.

For instance, if you no chill with the hops in, you need to adjust your schedule for late hop additions (otherwise they will all turn into bittering hops). I extract my hops at 0 mins,to prevent this, but it means I have to overcompensate with late additions, or adjust my schedule.

Your 0 minutes is not necessarily the same as someone elses 0 mins.

twerg_85

Thanks for all the replies, very helpful.

Slightly related to that last point, is there any benefits to adding hops at 45mins instead of 60mins for example ?

They should both be bittering only, with almost no aromatic, but adding it at 45 instead of 60 just means you need more (so higher cost). Am I missing something there ?

F.

BeerNut

twerg_85 wrote: »

Am I missing something there ?

You just won't get as much bitterness by doing a 45 minute boil compared to a 60 minute one. Brewing software will show you the difference in IBUs.

TheBrewMeister

twerg_85 wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies, very helpful.

Slightly related to that last point, is there any benefits to adding hops at 45mins instead of 60mins for example ?

They should both be bittering only, with almost no aromatic, but adding it at 45 instead of 60 just means you need more (so higher cost). Am I missing something there ?

F.

There's a school of thought, and some research to back it up, that adding your bittering hops at 45mins will give you a less "harsh" bitterness.

I, personally, don't use 45min hops, I do 60min hop additions. I've had beers done this way though and couldn't really tell the difference.

And true, you will get zero aroma from any hop addition >15mins.