Dry Hopping 101

If you are a craft beer veteran or just beginning your journey you have probably heard the phrase "Dry Hopping".  But what is dry hopping?  What does it do?  Should you consider this as a homebrewer?

Before we discuss what dry hopping is and how it works let's first discuss how hops affect beer.  Hops serve as a bittering agent to wort to create beer that is flavorfull and not too sweet.  Without hops beer would just be fermented sugar water.  The earlier you add the hops to your boil the more bitterness is pulled from them increasing your IBU's.  Late boil additions of hops are used for flavor and more importantly aroma.  By adding hops at 5 minutes left in the boil and at flameout (0 minutes) you add more flavor and aroma versus bitterness.

So what is dry hopping?  Dry hopping is the addition of whole or pellet hops to the fermenting beer as it is in the process of fermenting or during secondary fermentation.  Hops are placed in a sterilized mesh bag to keep particulates from getting into the final product and are typically added 5-7 days before bottling
or kegging.  A major error that homebrewers make when dry hopping is not adding enough hops.  Often times homebrewers will add only an ounce of hops during dry hop.  That small amount of hops in a 5 gallon batch will hardly make a dent to your brew.  Most professional brewers recommend 3-5 ounces of hops for proper dry
hopping.  A rule of thumb I hear from brewers is to begin with a 2 ounce dry hop 7 days before bottling/kegging and with 3-4 days before bottling/kegging add the remaining 3 ounces.  Typically IPA's and APA's utilize this technique to provide that maximum hoppy nose on the beer and to bring out the tropical resin flavors of the hops.

Should you dry hop? Absolutely.  The advantages outweigh the disadvantages.  You will do yourself and your beer a favor by boosting some aroma and flavor after fermentation.  Hops are naturally antibacterial so you do not need to worry about infecting your fermented beer.  You should always sterilize your hands and soak your mesh bag that is going to hold your hops in Starsan as an added precaution.  Since your beer has fermented the alcohol that was created by those wonder yeasts also make infection a low probability.

The downside to dry hopping is two fold. First, there is the added cost.  With the price of an ounce of hops hovering around $2.50 adding 5 additional ounces adds $12.50 to your brew bill...but it will be the best $12.50 you every spent if done right.  Pliney The Younger has four different dry hop additions.  Many brewers stuff a whole hop in the bottle by hand then fill the bottle and let it naturally bottle condition (carbonate).  The second downside is the cleanup.  If you are a novice like me you are still using a glass carboy.  Every with an awesome blog like Brew The Bend I still don't have my 15 gallon stainless steel conical fermentor all homebrewers dream about at night...that and getting a pint of Heady Topper! Ha!  With the small opening on a glass carboy it is difficult to get the now swollen bag of hops out.  Despite the added cost and extra cleaning dry hopping is worth it and will take your beer to the next level.

Cheers!