I brewed this beer two months ago in an effort to clear up some hops stored in my freezer. Although they were kept cold and in the dark, they were exposed to oxygen, and is most likely the reason why my hop-bursted Back to Basic’s IPA had lackluster hop character. I’m expecting more of the same with this beer. However, I added 2 ounces of fresh whole leaf hops to make up for hop character. There is some debate as the best way to dry hop, with some homebrewers advocating in the primary while others suggest to rack the beer and then dry hop. I prefer the latter, but I dry hop very cold in the keg for a long period of time (basically all of my beers – whether it is a barleywine or pale ale – gets lagered). While it takes a long time to extract hop oils and aromas, I never find any vegetal flavors that can occur with warm temperature dry-hopping. A keg that has been dry-hopped for 2 months simply bursts with hop aroma and flavor, with the last pint having the most character.
Appearance: Pours a light golden hue with some orange highlights. Although the picture says otherwise (condensation from the glass), the beer pours clear with a slight haze. Good head retention that quickly retreats to a thin lace. Thought adding some carapils would help in this department.
Smell: Huge hop nose. Sugar coated oranges and passionfruit. Guava and mango comes to mind. Slightly resiny with a wood like profile, but I can’t get any pine. Some biscuit and cracker-like malt character, but its subdued.
Taste: Firm bitterness that is not harsh. The taste is where I get plenty of pine. Resin and soap-like character is very strong followed by tropical fruit undertones. Very fruity. Maris Otter Malt supplies a biscuit and toasted cracker flavor. Prickly carbonation and an average body/mouthfeel.
Overall: Not bad, but I wonder how much of the hop character came from the dry hops as opposed to the older hops. I think the fruit-like character is coming from the hops as opposed to the yeast. As far as hops go, and from judging from this beer, it is no wonder Simcoe has gained in popularity. I absolutely get the pine and the tropical fruit notes. That being said, I feel Simcoe is also a great blending hop to provide depth of hop flavor.
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I also have found that dry hopping in the keg for even extended periods of time doesn’t end up with harsh or grassy notes. I do however, think I get much better hop character when I dry hop warm (say, 55-70) versus at serving temps (40s)
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you can get the same great dry-hop character at either temps. Just at lagering temperatures it will take much longer. I agree with you on the lack of grassy notes at cold temps.
J
I would like to add my $0.02, I dry-hopped my APA not long ago at 45F with 1 oz of Amarillo for a several weeks and I didn’t get any vegetable/grassy notes at all. I also dry-hopped my Pilsner and I got a great floral/spicy notes from the Saaz. I had a bad experience with dry-hopping in the warmer temps last year. But then again, maybe it has something to do with the gravity/ABV/malts used/hops used. Great post though!
also this blog is well worth a link, I shall put one on my blog.
I have to agree that dry hopping is better when added to the secondary. I just stumbled upon your blog and will be grabbing your RSS feed. Thanks!
when you dry hop in the keg, how do you contain the hops, and do you use whole leaf or pellets? Fwiw, I dry hopped w/ pellets in secondary, then racked to a keg, and am still getting green floaties with damn near every pour.
AO
I’ve used both pellets and whole leaf (preferring whole leaf). I just use a mesh bag tied really tightly. This is hung within the keg with flossing string. Strange that you are getting floaties. Check for rips in the bag?
J
thanks. Yeah, I didn’t bag the dryhop in secondary, I just let them float freely, thinking racking wouldn’t suck up too much, I guess I wasn’t careful enough. I’d optimally dry hop with leaf, but you take what you get when it comes to amarillo, simcoe, and citra these days.
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