sfbayjay
Active Member
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!
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!