Dry hopping time length?

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by DaveONan, Apr 24, 2012.

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  1. DaveONan

    DaveONan Initiate (0) Sep 26, 2009 North Carolina

    Is it exponentially better to dry hop for 2 weeks verses 1 week? Back story, I've brewed my first all-grain batch and I want this to be my best tasting beer ever, to show my wife the value of the new brewing equipment I bought. But on the other hand I would like to taste this beer as soon as possible, to validate to myself my equipment purchases, and the extra brew time.
    So if dry hopping for a week gives you X flavor and aroma, will dry hopping for 2 weeks give you 2X the flavor and aroma.
    If it matters, I brewed a Northern Brewer Surly Furious Pro Kit which comes with something like 8.5 oz. of dry hops, including 5 oz. of Simcoe.
    I want the best tasting beer, but if I can drink it a week sooner without sacrificing flavors I would go that route.
    TIA for any advice that can be offered.
     
  2. LeeryLeprechaun

    LeeryLeprechaun Savant (1,094) Jan 30, 2011 Colorado
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  3. OddNotion

    OddNotion Pooh-Bah (1,853) Nov 1, 2009 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society

    7 to 10 days seems to be the most widely used range and find it to work just fine. I will say though, if you are bottling, I have never found a beer to really hit its stride until week 4-5 in the bottle so no need to rush it. I keg now and am becoming more and more guilty of drinking my beers too soon. I know its tempting but give it a little time then have at it!
     
  4. Pnell316

    Pnell316 Initiate (0) Aug 16, 2010 Pennsylvania

    Wow 8.5 oz of dry hops at once! How big's your batch? I do 5-5.5 gallon batches and don't use more then 2 oz. At first I would do 2 dry hop additions but found I was losing too much beer, now I only do one. I still get phenomenal aroma, and have more beer. I can't imagine how much beer is lost in 8.5 oz of dry hops.
     
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  5. DaveONan

    DaveONan Initiate (0) Sep 26, 2009 North Carolina

  6. rinhaak

    rinhaak Initiate (0) Jun 23, 2009 Massachusetts

    Hmm. Making me wish I had dry hopped my APA a little differently.
     
  7. OddNotion

    OddNotion Pooh-Bah (1,853) Nov 1, 2009 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society

  8. Naugled

    Naugled Pooh-Bah (1,882) Sep 25, 2007 New York
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Interesting article... I definitely get more intense aroma from dry hopping with pellets. But I've probably never had super fresh hops to compare to. But compared to the average age leaf hop, pellets give me more aroma. And for smaller beers, like PA's I'll pull out the dry hops after 3 or 4 days because the dry hopping becomes too intense for me. It's hard to believe there is such a thing, huh?
     
  9. toastw

    toastw Initiate (0) Aug 16, 2008 Texas

    I doubt you'll get a definitive answer on the board. I've read that there's a point of diminishing returns when dry hopping, where it actually begins to do more harm than good. But I've always been lazy and just dry hop in my keg & leave it in there 'til the keg floats. I've asked the board a couple times about opinions on how much time is too much time to dry hop, and there's no consensus. Personally, I think two weeks is better than one week, but I also think when you're talking 8.5 ounces, you're gonna get some good results even if you pull 'em after a week.
     
  10. Longstaff

    Longstaff Initiate (0) May 23, 2002 Massachusetts

    In my experience it depends on hop variety. Some varieties like simcoe and citra seem to explode with flavor within 2-3 days, while others like amarillo, centennial, and chinook take 7-14 days to reach their potential.

    With as many hops (and variety) as you have, I would check the beer after three days and wouldn't let it go longer than 7-10 days as you will risk vegetal flavors with that many dryhops if left too long.
     
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  11. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Below is Mark Garetz’ opinion on this topic:

    “A rule of thumb is to leave the pellet hops in the beer for at least a week before bottling. This gives them time to settle and time for the aroma to become infused. “

    “ …may take a week or two to get a decent amount of oils released when using whole hops.”

    http://www.byo.com/stories/article/indices/37-hops/572-dry-hopping-for-great-aroma

    Cheers!
     
    DaveONan likes this.
  12. BushDoctor

    BushDoctor Initiate (0) Oct 27, 2007 New York

    Damn. I did 5 oz of dry hops and thought that was a lot.
     
  13. mnstorm99

    mnstorm99 Initiate (0) May 11, 2007 Minnesota

    Looking up on Hopville "NB Furious clone" I am seeing 2 z. Sicoe and 1 oz. Amarillo on three different recipes. I haven't brewed it, but I am confused none-the-less.
     
  14. epk

    epk Pundit (813) Jun 10, 2008 New Jersey

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  15. AlCaponeJunior

    AlCaponeJunior Grand Pooh-Bah (3,326) May 21, 2010 Texas
    Pooh-Bah Society

    :grimacing:

    (my italics)

    I almost spewed beer all over the computer screen. :rolling_eyes:
     
  16. mnstorm99

    mnstorm99 Initiate (0) May 11, 2007 Minnesota

    Wow!!! I drink Furious alot (as early as two days after canning), and would say I am extremely suprised at this. I have easily gotten bigger aroma out of dry hopped beers with 3-4 ounces of dry hops (obviously not a controlled experiment).
     
  17. HappyHourHero

    HappyHourHero Initiate (0) Jul 8, 2003 Indiana

    I read that too and was preparing to dry for for 4 hours until I got to this part "
    Second, the rapid extraction rates were likely influenced by the temperature of the solution (23.3C, which may not be representative of real world conditions), and the hops were continually stirred"
     
  18. GreenKrusty101

    GreenKrusty101 Initiate (0) Dec 4, 2008 Nevada

    Kegging (temperature and CO2 envelopment) is probably the single biggest factor for dryhopping...it doesn't seem to matter how long you leave them as long as they were decent hops to begin with and you can kick a keg in less than an election season.
     
  19. RoryVear

    RoryVear Initiate (0) Mar 10, 2012 Canada (BC)

    I think it was Mitch Steele from Stone that said 3-7 days for dry hop. After 7 days the hops start giving off more of a grassy smell. I shoot for 5 days, every time I do so, I feel that I get everything that I expected out of the dry hop process. I just made a CDA with 2.5 oz. of dry hops and it was an amazing hop bomb on the nose.
     
  20. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,611) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah Society

    23.3 C is 74 F. The stirring would be a little more difficult.

    I have done some British Bitters that had good hop aroma with 3 to 4 days. That is about how long the dry hops would have been in the casks that I have had.
     
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