Dry-Hopping: Does it Matter for Bottled Batches?

[sfbayjay]

I just bottled an APA that I dry-hopped. This is the first time I've tried dry hopping.

A few questions:

(1) As I understand it, the aim of dry-hopping is mainly to get hop aroma, correct?
(2) How persistent is the effect of dry-hopping? In other words, does the dry-hop aroma fade over time?

When I opened up the fermenter to commence bottling this weekend, this beer smelled FANTASTIC! A great blast of cascades -- sweet/floral/fruity. I wanted to drink the beer right outta' the bucket! However, as I moved along through my bottling routine, the smell seemed to fade. Perhaps it was that my nose got swamped with hoppy delicious smell. Either that, or whatever contribution came from the dry-hopping just wafted away as I was moving from fermenter to bottle.

So my final question is this:

(3) Does dry-hopping really have an impact if you're bottling, or is it more effective when kegging where you have one quick(ish) transfer from fermenter to keg? Is it even worth dry-hopping when you're going to bottle your batch?

Any insights appreciated! Anyone got methods for maximizing the contribution of dry-hops when bottling? I kept my bottling bucket loosely covered with a sanitized lid during the process, thinking that might help capture some of the volatile hop aroma compounds...

Looking forward to hearing the groups collective ideas!

Cheers!

 

[ChshreCat]

I think when those bottles are conditioned and you crack one open, you're going to get hit with pretty much the same hop aroma rush you got bottling. I'm sure some of the aroma leaves while you're bottling. You wouldn't smell it if it wasn't. But there's still plenty in the beer, and the carbonation does a lot to carry that. You pour in the glass and the CO2 starts leaving the beer and that carries the hop aroma with it. *sniff* it's a beautiful thing, man! *sniffle*

 

[ifishsum]

I definitely makes a difference - I recently started kegging but I dry hopped and then bottled a lot of beers. It does fade over time but I think it takes several weeks to be noticeably reduced.

I played around with some different techniques and this is what seemed to get me the most effect from my dry hopping:

-Rack into secondary after 10-14 days in the primary (assuming FG has been reached)
-Give the beer a week in secondary to completely quiet down - no airlock activity
-Add dry hops (I like to use whole hops myself, as fresh as possible)
-wait another 7 days or so, then rack straight to bottling bucket and bottle.

The biggest key I think was waiting until there was no activity - I used to add the dry hops as soon as it was in secondary, but I think a lot of my hop aroma was being lost with the Co2 that gets knocked out in the transfer. If the beer is still fermenting a bit, that would also tend to scrub out your hop aroma.

 

[sfbayjay]

Thanks for the input, guys. Glad to hear that I may get to experience that awesome hop blast again when I crack a bottle of this beer in a couple of weeks! I was hoping I wouldn't lose ALL of the aroma during bottling. I've had commercial "dry-hopped" bottled beers before, and they did seem to pack a little extra hop whollop, but I'm sure they have a different process. I think I've read about them using an in-line hopback when transferring beer from the fermenter to a bright tank.

I think my first attempt a dry-hopping will be a success. My process was basically to add hops (cascade pellets) to the fermenter after about 7 days, once airlock activity had stopped. I put the pellets in a hop-bag, weighed it down with some sanitized glass marbles, and suspended the bag/hops/marbles in the beer using a piece of sanitized fishing line that I ran up through the airlock hole. Seemed to work like a charm. I left the hops in for 10 days before bottling the batch.

Can't wait to taste one of these! My first attempt at a "clone" beer -- shooting for an approximation of Deschutes Mirror Pond.

 

[oberon567]

Some people choose to add the hops before fermentation is complete, maybe while there is still 20% of fermentation left or so, under the auspice that it gives the active yeast the opportunity to scrub clean any residual oxygen or whatnot that may be added as a result. They do have to add more hops, though, to make up for what is being lost via the CO2 emission. The few I have heard who do this swear by it...

I think, ultimately, it doesnt matter when you dry hop. What matters is that you get to know what flavors and aromas will be produced by which hops at which temperatures at which stage of the process and for how long... So dry hopping with 1 oz of type X hops for 10 days at 65 degrees starting on day 4 is going to taste different if the conditions were the same but they were added at day 10. Both will work, they will just be different. Play around and figure out what works for you...

 

[carl spakler]

Devil's advocate here...

Assuming you do dry hop prior to bottle carbing and as some claim the aroma is lost, where does it go? The bottle is sealed and the liquid is under pressure (preventing? additional hop oils from evaporating?). Any aroma cannot escape the bottle, thus when you pour you will get the hop aroma. It may dissipate sooner than a kegged beer, but you should get a strong hit upon opening and pouring. Right?

 

[oberon567]

It just fades... I dont know where it goes, its a beer mystery...

The worry of CO2 carrying off hop aroma isnt in the bottle conditioning, though, as you're right, it is a closed system. It is when you dry hop in an active ferment and are still getting blow-off/action in your airlock.

But hop flavors and aromas do fade in time... relatively quickly, actually. Maybe one of the scientists around here can say where they go, I dont know. I just know that they fade, the settle down. Just like some alcohol flavors will settle out, just like some roasty, toasty and burnt notes mellow out or meld as the beer ages, hop flavor and aroma dissipate, closed system or not.

 

[dinertime]

I am a scientist but this is really just a guess. I think oberon is pretty much right, things mellow out over time. The compounds in the beer react with each other and with residual oxygen (there is still an ever so small amount in there). As for hops itself, the major flavor component humulene is a triolefin, which, while it doesn't appear to be very reactive, it most certainly can/will react with sugars, oxygen, and even other hop compounds. Humulone and cohumulone (the primary alpha acids in hops) and their isomerized forms are all much more reactive and could probably lead to the loss of the humulene aroma/flavor.

I was going to really geek out on the organic chemistry but I tried to restrain myself. :cross:

 

[david_42]

as some claim the aroma is lost

If you don't believe hop flavors and aroma fade with time, I've got some IIPA Brut I'll sell you at cost: $12/bottle. (That's a fifth, not a bomber.)

 

[Schlenkerla]

There is no question it dissipates. Test it on Sierra Nevada Bigfoot.
​

Buy some 2008 or 2009 if its available. Try one right off the bat and one at six months. The bitterness on the fresh one will do this.

​

6 months later this, just slightly less HoPpY!

 

[Saccharomyces]

I'd call the half life of hop aroma from dry hopping about two or three months. So after three months the aroma will be about half as strong as it was at bottling. Knowing this I'll try to drink up my hoppy beers pretty fast and keep those malty beers for drinking when the hoppy beers run out.

I've decided I don't like the grassy character from dry hops in a pale ale, but I do like it in an IPA sometimes and dry hopping is a necessity in a IIPA. The minus of not dry hopping is it takes much larger late kettle additions to get the aroma, so I end up using MORE hops than if I were to dry hop.