Dry Hopping - When to add?

BUDFORCE

Hi,

When adding dry hops to beer kits, some, for example the Festival kits say to add the hop packet at least 5 days before you are due to bottle and that it may need a further day or 2, where as the Youngs Kit's say 2 days before but emphasise that later is better if in doubt.

I remember reading somewhere that the timing can change how the beer will taste, either the longer the hops are left in, the more hoppier it will be (kinda makes sense?) but also seem to remember something like if they are left too long they just build up acidity and if anything the beer will be less hoppy the longer the hops are in there.

There is of course the point that they tend to settle a bit better if given a good few days before bottling.

But as you can probably tell, I am really not sure on the pros and cons of whether to add early or late so does anyone know more about this?

marko

Hi,

There are lots of different ideas out there on dry hopping, what I find to have given me the best results and have read in forum posts is that 3 days before bottling seems to be the most popular period for dry hopping.

Here is a good article I've read, which includes experiments with temperatures as well as how long to leave em.

http://www.grainfather.com/#!weekly-mash/cetx/post/7794079947901492110

If you've done a Festival kit you'll have the nylon bag with a pull chord. I find it works better putting your hops into the bag and then adding it to your brew, rather then putting them in loose. You don't need to worry then about leaving them in too long then either, if it's not ready for bottling you can just pull them out. Plus it makes a lot less mess.

Mattleeds34

I've only done the Youngs kits with hops so far and I've found 2/3 days is plenty unless you want a very hoppy brew!