What I am wondering is this: did I defeat the purpose of dry hopping by leaving it in the carboy too long?Meaning, is there a limit to the mount of time you can dry hop? A point at which the process tapers off and then starts to fade?
I'm interested to see how this one tastes, if it turns out "like the others", I think its time for a switch of some sort, either with process or ingredients. What do I mean by "like the others"? Perhaps the beers are too young, my mature batch having only been in the bottle for a month and a half (bottled 11/14/2007).
I've tried a bottle of each of the other brews and while they are both still quite young: a month in the bottle for the Imperial Steam and less than three weeks for the IPA.
After tasting my Steam beer, Dave talked to me about his use of liquid malt extract and the flavor issues he had using it. We also talked about priming with corn sugar versus dry malt extract.
That leaves me with two variables to improve (at least), but I'm thinking I may hold off on brewing again to see what these current brews turn out like.
That being said, there's no reason I can't keep charging forward, improve on those two aspects and see what happens.
3 comments:
Regarding dry hopping. Can you keep it in too long? People say you can. I left some in the secondary for many many months and it tasted great with my imperial IPA. I think there were some vegetal/herbal tastes that diminished after a week in the keg. So the short answer is I don't know for sure, but, watch out for vegetal tastes and the stronger flavored beers can mask it.
Regarding the diminishing effects of dry hopping over time. Well, I think it begins to mellow immediately after you rack the beer off the hops. I couldn't prove this though.
While reading about cask conditioned ales I tend to think dry hopping is best enjoyed in beer that is going to be consumed in short order.
All in all dry hopping is a work in progress for me. I have had pleasant experiences the few times I've tried it. FWIW I've only used whole leaf homegrown hops.
Thanks for the reply Adam. I've dry hopped twice, both times using Cascade pellets.
Hopefully the results will at least be drinkable.
Dude, dry hopping is the shizzie. The IIPA that Justin did had such an intense aroma , much more than any other beer I've made. As for "too long", yes and no. No, you're not going to ruin the beer. Yes, because if you leave the beer on the hops too long, the aroma with start to dissipate, which defeats the purpose. A month isn't going to hurt anything, but if you'd have gone a bit longer, then you may star to lose aroma. If you're planning on leaving the beer in secondary for an extended period of time to bulk age, then you should add the hops later. Th IIPA had like 10 days on the hops after bulk aging for 5 or so weeks. Just my .02.
PS, I"m looking forward to the Impy Steam on Tuesday.
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