My love/hate affair with dry hopping

[Kealia]

I transfer pretty clear wort from my pot to my fermenter. To get that I get a good boil, chill quickly for a good cold break and then rack off the top to get only the clearest stuff I can (which is a whole other discussion because some say that they get better tasting beer and better yeast attenuation by tossing it all in the fermenter....but I digress).

I pitch the right amount of yeast, control temps and usually let it ferment long enough for the yeast to settle out and have clear beer in my fermenter. All is good in the world.

Then, along comes the dry hop addition which mucks it up all over again. My once pretty beer is now opaque again and takes days to re-clear. *sigh*
If it wasn't for the wonderful aroma and the high that they deliver, I'd ditch those bastards.

Granted, I can get a lot of aroma with a hop-stand, which I do often, but I still like the 'freshness' that a good dry hop provides, too. Now, could I tell the difference between two exact beers where one utilized a hop-stand and the other used a dry hop? I doubt it. But since I know what I did to the beer I feel like I can tell the difference (experiment prejudice, I suppose).

Anyway, no real point here. I just checked on my Mosaic Pale Ale that was nice and clear on Sunday pre-dry hop. It now looks like pea soup.

[alb]

If it wasn't for the wonderful aroma and the high that they deliver, I'd ditch those bastards.

Have you tried hop tea, strained through a coffee filter? I use about 25% more hops, steep it about 20-30 minutes in a coffee press with water just off the boil, pour it off into pitcher, then pour normal tap water over the hops and repeat the steep. Then I put the coffee press in the fridge a day or two, pour that lot into the pitcher, then filter it through a coffee filter and put it in the beer. Works pretty well and doesn’t muck things up much.

[Beer-lord]

I'm going thru the exact same thing with More Hops Matter. I even used a secondary to keep it as fresh as possible and it's UGLY. With BIAB, it's usually dirty going into the fermenter and I lose some beer but that's why I brew 6 gallons at a time (I may move to 6.5 gallons soon).
I just let it sit in the keg longer and instead of getting the best of it at 7-10 days, it's more like 14-21 is when it's at it's best.

[Kealia]

I've not tried that Alb and while I'm sure it's simple since it's your procedure I'm not looking to change this process or add something new.
I know I can use more hops and then use gelatin to fine it quickly, but I'm also not looking to add more hops just to offset what gets pulled out with gelatin (in my experience anyway).

In the end this works. And I'm just bitching to bitch about something right now

Paul, I can only imagine how thick and soupy your MHM looks right now!

[Beer-lord]

An awful but quick pick of what it looks like now after 2 dry hops. Gonna start the chill down tomorrow night.
Alb, I've read for years about hop tea and everyone pretty much says that using plain water doesn't really work well and suggest using some wort if possible. Still, it's all a good idea but for me, dry hopping in the fermenter a few days before kegging is better than dry hopping in the keg. Keg hopping does help but more so with aroma and less on flavor and it takes much, much longer to achieve what I want though you can get away with less hops if you keg hop.
This is all stuff I'm still playing with in my beer journey.

[Kealia]

Yeah, that is what mine looks like as well. Baby poop green on top.

[BlackDuck]

How in the world could you hate hops??? They are the most wonderful thing to grow out of the ground!!!!

[Whamolagan]

Agreed, I will take a little cloudiness for the love of hops

[MadBrewer]

What about hop sacs? When I dry hop I use .50 cent knee highs from Walgreens in the little plastic ball. If dry hopping a lot, might need a couple of them in there at once, weighed down. Makes clean up easy, but if hard to use them if you use a glass carboy with a small neck.

[Kealia]

I've found (or convinced myself) that I get better utilization by not using hop sacks, bags, tea balls, etc.

In a few days I'll be in love again.

[bpgreen]

What about hop sacs? When I dry hop I use .50 cent knee highs from Walgreens in the little plastic ball. If dry hopping a lot, might need a couple of them in there at once, weighed down. Makes clean up easy, but if hard to use them if you use a glass carboy with a small neck.

I see a trip to Walgreens in my future.

[Beer-lord]

Agreed, I will take a little cloudiness for the love of hops

Don't ask me what I wouldn't do for hops.

[mashani]

Alb, I've read for years about hop tea and everyone pretty much says that using plain water doesn't really work well and suggest using some wort if possible.

I think it depends on what the definition of "work well" is. Which depends on what exactly you are trying to get out of the hops. The compounds extracted from hops are temperature and ph dependant. All the wort does is lower the ph. That simply changes the quantity and types of compounds that are extracted over a given amount of time at a given temperature. Some compounds are actually extracted more with a higher ph, others less (some *a even potentially a lot more*). And what compounds are in there in the first place are hop specific. Alcahol also does affect what is extracted, but the levels of alcohol in beer are small comparatively speaking to a true based alcohol extract. But steeping hops in vodka and making a "tincture" or "extract" as such is different then steeping them in water for sure.

So if the compound that has the flavor/aroma your looking for in your choice of hops happens to be one of the ones that doesn't mind a higher ph, your good with a straight up hop tea in water. Note that alpha acids - those like the lower PH - so bittering is not so hot. But that doesn't mean aroma or flavor compounds are not going to come out. The question is simply are they the ones you want. And I think that goes back to the type of hops. And basically "trying it" with different types and seeing what you like or not.

That said, if you have hops that tend to be grassy or vegetal, you might get more of those out of them in a tea. So maybe you don't want those hops if you are a "my beer is grassy yuck" type.