Newbie question about Hops

[luvtinayothers]

Ok, I'm completely new to this Homebrewing business and I'll be asking a whole bunch
of stupid questions. Here's my first:

I understand the bittering hops, flavor hops, & aroma or finishing hops, but what does dry
hopping do? How is dry hopping different from the aroma/finishing hops?

Thanks!

[b3s]

adds more hop flavor and aroma, but not bitterness.

oh, and welcome to the board...there are no stupid questions.

[luvtinayothers]

But.......don't the hops that you put in during the middle of the boil add flavor
and the hops at the end of the boil add aroma? I still don't understand the point
of dry hopping :confused: Are the aromas and flavors different? More intense?

[b3s]

they just add to it, plus since dry hopping doesn't involve heat, more of the alphas come through, so more flavor and aroma without any bittering. the longer they are heated/boiled, the more bittering.

plus, with dry hopping, it's a longer exposure (during either secondary fermentation or casking) at a lower temp...it's just different.

the point is, more hop flavor without bittering.

[luvtinayothers]

Ok, I think I got it. Thanks!

[sallad]

theres some sort of science behind it that i can't exactly explain, but i basically boils down to this (pun intended!)

hops have oils in them that get bitter when they are exposed to heat for a long time. the heat also drives off the aromatic qualities from the hops.

so...
- hops for 60 min have the aromas driven off and the flavor turns bitter.
- hops for 30 min have the aromas driven off but they retain some flavor.
- hops for the last couple minutes retain most of their aroma and flavor.
- dry hops are completely saturated in the beer for a week or 2, so they have plenty of time to add lots of flavor and aroma.

[ehixon]

someone here directed me to this VERY helpful website:

Palmer's How to Brew (http://www.howtobrew.com/sitemap.html)


This covers a number of topics, beginner and advanced and goes into some detail of exactly how hopping- dry or otherwise- works as far as flavor and chemistry. You should definitely take a look. It's a valuable resource.

[Beerconnoisseur]

Originally posted by luvtinayothers
But.......don't the hops that you put in during the middle of the boil add flavor
and the hops at the end of the boil add aroma? I still don't understand the point
of dry hopping :confused: Are the aromas and flavors different? More intense?

I was in the bookstore the other day, perusing homebrewing texts... and found a compendium of some authors (all professional brewers), one of whom claims that adding hops to any boiling wort will evaporate off the delicate hop oils, which has an adverse effect on flavor/aroma.

I'll dig up the exact source, next time I'm there... however, as I have not yet dry-hopped any of my beers, I can't comment on what the precise difference is.

[brewmonkey]

Originally posted by Beerconnoisseur
I was in the bookstore the other day, perusing homebrewing texts... and found a compendium of some authors (all professional brewers), one of whom claims that adding hops to any boiling wort will evaporate off the delicate hop oils, which has an adverse effect on flavor/aroma.

I'll dig up the exact source, next time I'm there... however, as I have not yet dry-hopped any of my beers, I can't comment on what the precise difference is.

This is quite the truth, Without the volatile boil driving off essentials the hops can impart both flavor and aroma to the beer. The boiling does add some of those based on where in the boil you add the hops, but the point of the boiling is to isomerize the alpha/beta acids and derive bitterness to balance the sweetness. Without the boil, you get no bitterness.

British cask ales are a good place to look for sry hops.

[hemogoblin]

I dry hop all my beers now. The wonderful aroma and fruity, citrusy zing you get from dry hopping is one of my favorite things about beer.

If you use pellets, the effect tends to be more profound than with whole leaf.

I just drop the pellets into secondary, and after about five days they have all turned to mush and settled to the bottom. Then it's racking time (I use a little sediment filter on the intake of my racking cane).

Yum.

[toneyc]

What sorta sediment filter? Tell me more, tell me more!

:)
Toney.

[Fast_Eddy]

Originally posted by toneyc
What sorta sediment filter? Tell me more, tell me more!

:)
Toney.

I've read a suggestion to use something along the lines of steel wool on the end of the racking cane to help filter hop matter out.

[b3s]

don't you run the risk of particulates from the steel wool, then? i'd like something more porous than, say, panty hose...i was thinking one of those plastic scouring pads or one of those brass ones.

[Fast_Eddy]

Yeah - I said along the lines of steel wool. I don't remember if it was steel wool explicitly. I do seem to remember that it was something that was normally used for cleaning pots.

[BluesHarp]

There are scouring pads made of a plastic material rather than steel for use on non-stick cookwear...I think Scotch-brite makes something along those lines...that would probably work well.

[hemogoblin]

Originally posted by toneyc
What sorta sediment filter? Tell me more, tell me more!

:)
Toney.

Sure!
My house has a chlorine injection system for our well water, and there was an extra sediment filter for the chlorine tank (unused) when we moved in. It's like a little canister made of very fine plastic mesh that keep sediment flakes out of the chlorine pump's intake. I hot-glued it to a piece of racking cane and ... ta-da! You have to be careful not to stir things up too much tho, as it can clog when a lot of hop flakes are flying around in there.

Look for them at pump supply places, possibly even hardware stores.