Too late to dry hop?

Discussion on brewing beer from malt extract, hops, and yeast.
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brewt

Too late to dry hop?

Post by brewt » Tue Mar 08, 2016 8:05 pm

I brewed a Coopers English Bitter kit and added a tin of light LME, 200g Crystal and 28g fuggles pellets boiled for 10 mins. After 9 days in the FV I tested the SG and tasted the sample. I was surprised by the lack of hop flavour. In fact it tasted remarkably similar to a standard Coopers EB kit made with BE.
The crystal malt was in a sealed bag for 6 months, would it have lost its flavour?
Is it too late to dry hop to add a bit of zing? How much more fuggles should I add and for how long? (I hoped to bottle this next Sunday)

killer
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Re: Too late to dry hop?

Post by killer » Tue Mar 08, 2016 10:22 pm

Couple of things...

Don't forget that you are tasting a nine day old flat beer !
There is probably still quite a bit of yeast still in suspension which will kill the flavour of both the hops and the malt. Equally, the beer hasn't had time to condition properly - it's still a bit green. I've also found that most kits take a bit longer than AG to mature. Once the beer has fermented and matured and the yeast has dropped in the keg/ bottle, you'll have a bit of CO2 gas to give the hops a kick and the pH of your beer will drop slightly making it more pleasant to drink. Of course, in saying all that, there is nothing stopping you throwing another 25g fuggles in as a dry hop (assuming a 20L brewlength)

brewt

Re: Too late to dry hop?

Post by brewt » Tue Mar 08, 2016 10:39 pm

Cheers Killer,
if I did dry hop, would 5 days be OK?
My FV is up to the 23L mark so would 25g be enough for a little extra zing without being too intrusive ? (I'm not a fan of big hop flavours e.g. American IPA style)

killer
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Re: Too late to dry hop?

Post by killer » Wed Mar 09, 2016 10:12 am

5 days is fine.

Dry hopping can range from 2 days to 2 weeks with a lot of breweries (and home brewers) leaving them for about a week. Fuggle is not an intrusive hop and 25g is on the lower end of a typical dry hop. I'd say it's a good starting point and should give you some extra aroma.

dad_of_jon

Re: Too late to dry hop?

Post by dad_of_jon » Fri Mar 18, 2016 8:28 pm

Hi,

I tend to dry hop with 100g after 9 days and bottle on day 14 (or 21 if it's a strong brew) brew lenght is around 20-22 litres

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