When to add Galaxy hops

[martycon]

Should one wait a few days for fermentation to slow? If so why and how important.

[DavidM]

Some Coopers recipes suggest that you wait or add hops after 3-7 days of fermentation.

Which would be after fermentation has slowed

As for why or how important, no clue.

For me, I dry hop my easy drinking brews, one or two days before bottling.

Lots of different ways to do it.

[Kegory]

39 minutes ago, martycon said:

Should one wait a few days for fermentation to slow? If so why and how important.

I'm no expert but I have been reading about hops (and other stuff). It sounds like you are dry hopping if you are adding them after fermentation has started.

The reason, as I understand it, to add the dry hops after fermentation has slowed is because if you leave the hops in too long they will create unwanted flavours. And the thing is, once you add them you don't want to have to remove them because that may result in exposing the beer to oxygen which can lead to oxidization producing other unwanted flavours.

Also, as fermentation has only slowed, not yet finished, the yeast will still be producing CO2 so your beer will be protected from oxidization.

If you have a look around the forum @Back2Brewing recently posted a picture of a "hop grenade" that he made so that he can add the dry hops to the brew without opening the lid and exposing it to oxygen. I lack B2B's engineering nous but I recently invested in some silicon coated (sous vide) magnets so that I can add my dry hops without lifting the lid, too.

[Classic Brewing Co]

3 hours ago, Kegory said:

I'm no expert but I have been reading about hops (and other stuff). It sounds like you are dry hopping if you are adding them after fermentation has started.

The reason, as I understand it, to add the dry hops after fermentation has slowed is because if you leave the hops in too long they will create unwanted flavours. And the thing is, once you add them you don't want to have to remove them because that may result in exposing the beer to oxygen which can lead to oxidization producing other unwanted flavours.

Also, as fermentation has only slowed, not yet finished, the yeast will still be producing CO2 so your beer will be protected from oxidization.

If you have a look around the forum @Back2Brewing recently posted a picture of a "hop grenade" that he made so that he can add the dry hops to the brew without opening the lid and exposing it to oxygen. I lack B2B's engineering nous but I recently invested in some silicon coated (sous vide) magnets so that I can add my dry hops without lifting the lid, too.

I have tried every method known to man over the years & now I always do the same - chuck in 50gms in a muslin bay 4 days before kegging, it is sometimes 25gm of 2 different hops but any less & too me it's a waste of time (& hops)

This has given me by far the result ever. 

Lifting the lid for a few seconds is not going to hurt your beer.

[Pale Man]

I use a stainless steel hollow ball for dry hopping. It opens up, add your hops and close it. Its a thing of beauty.

[Pale Man]

6 hours ago, martycon said:

Should one wait a few days for fermentation to slow? If so why and how important.

Its not really rocket science. 4 - 5 days after fermentation starts is all good. A day either side will be all good too.

[martycon]

Thanks to all, I now know where I am going and why

[Pale Man]

2 minutes ago, martycon said:

Thanks to all, I now know where I am going and why

The only thing to really worry about, is just be as sanitary as you were when you prepared your brew to start with.

Spray some star san around before you open the lid, wash your hands thoroughly, sanitise them. Sanitise your cloth if thats what you are adding your hops to, that could jut mean boil in water. As @Classic Brewing Co mentioned earlier, lifting the lid isnt going to hurt for a few seconds if you dont stuff about too much. Theres a lovely layer of C02 on that beer. 

[Classic Brewing Co]

4 minutes ago, Pale Man said:

The only thing to really worry about, is just be as sanitary as you were when you prepared your brew to start with.

Spray some star san around before you open the lid, wash your hands thoroughly, sanitise them. Sanitise your cloth if thats what you are adding your hops to, that could jut mean boil in water. As @Classic Brewing Co mentioned earlier, lifting the lid isnt going to hurt for a few seconds if you dont stuff about too much. Theres a lovely layer of C02 on that beer. 

Yeah, I assumed everyone should know to spray Star San around the place, on your hands etc. I always a couple of spray bottles around when I am working.

[ChairmanDrew]

7 hours ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

I have tried every method known to man over the years & now I always do the same - chuck in 50gms in a muslin bay 4 days before kegging, it is sometimes 25gm of 2 different hops but any less & too me it's a waste of time (& hops)

Just came in to disagree with this. I've dry hopped with 25g (in a 20l brew) and it's definitely still worth doing. I'm actually yet to dry hop the whole 50g in one go, so maybe I'm missing out, but 25g still adds a little something (not nothing).

Edited August 21, 2023 by ChairmanDrew

[Classic Brewing Co]

42 minutes ago, ChairmanDrew said:

Just came in to disagree with this. I've dry hopped with 25g (in a 20l brew) and it's definitely still worth doing. I'm actually yet to dry hop the whole 50g in one go, so maybe I'm missing out, but 25g still adds a little something (not nothing).

Swell, you can disagree all you like, I have been  brewing for over 40 years plus & this is the best hopping method I  have come accross, it not only works, tastes great but I have had praise from people who sell beer for a living.

50gms in a brew is bugger all as most AG brews I/we add 60-100gms anyway. 

It also depends on the style you aew brewing. 

 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by Classic Brewing Co

[Kegory]

6 hours ago, ChairmanDrew said:

Just came in to disagree with this. I've dry hopped with 25g (in a 20l brew) and it's definitely still worth doing. I'm actually yet to dry hop the whole 50g in one go, so maybe I'm missing out, but 25g still adds a little something (not nothing).

If I'm not mistaken, which, of course, I often am (but not always), you've been concentrating on brewing lagers @ChairmanDrew.  I reckon a 25g dry hop would indeed make an agreeable impact on a light lager.

I've only dry hopped twice so far. Both times were 25g but they were both in small batch craft recipes from the Recipe section. Although one of them was a lager they were both based on the Mr Beer Bewitched Amber Ale. The MBBAA has a very strong flavour of it's own and I think in those brews a lesser amount of hops would struggle to make their presence known.

[ChairmanDrew]

21 minutes ago, Kegory said:

If I'm not mistaken, which, of course, I often am (but not always), you've been concentrating on brewing lagers @ChairmanDrew.  I reckon a 25g dry hop would indeed make an agreeable impact on a light lager.

I've only dry hopped twice so far. Both times were 25g but they were both in small batch craft recipes from the Recipe section. Although one of them was a lager they were both based on the Mr Beer Bewitched Amber Ale. The MBBAA has a very strong flavour of it's own and I think in those brews a lesser amount of hops would struggle to make their presence known.

I have been doing a bunch of lagers recently. But I even did a dark ale where I put a teeny tiny dry hop in. It wasn't a great combination, but the point is, it was there and noticeable. Maybe 50g dry hops are superior, but there is also surely a reason a lot of the Cooper's recipes only call for 25g of hops (for the more conservative amongst us).

[Kegory]

8 minutes ago, ChairmanDrew said:

I have been doing a bunch of lagers recently. But I even did a dark ale where I put a teeny tiny dry hop in. It wasn't a great combination, but the point is, it was there and noticeable. Maybe 50g dry hops are superior, but there is also surely a reason a lot of the Cooper's recipes only call for 25g of hops (for the more conservative amongst us).

Because that's the size of their hop packets and the ROTMs are designed to a price point? All the recipes I've looked at in the Recipe section use hops in increments of 25g.

I've been looking around at recipes on other forums. Often they call for 1oz of hops. 1oz = 28g or thereabouts. So I think there's a strong case to argue that hop amounts are expressed in convenient units.

It doesn't matter at all, though. The most important thing is to have fun, IMO. Learning is right up there, too.

People have different sensitivities to aromas and flavours, too. When I took my first two brews to the local homebrew club everyone who tasted them remarked on the acetaldehyde. I couldn't taste or smell it at all. The chloramine twang overwhelmed just about everything else for me but they barely took notice of it. (It took a longish conversation over several beers to nail that down.) However, none of my friends noticed the chloramine twang, even when I told them it was there. They've definitely noticed that it's gone now, though.

[Classic Brewing Co]

19 minutes ago, ChairmanDrew said:

I have been doing a bunch of lagers recently. But I even did a dark ale where I put a teeny tiny dry hop in. It wasn't a great combination, but the point is, it was there and noticeable. Maybe 50g dry hops are superior, but there is also surely a reason a lot of the Cooper's recipes only call for 25g of hops (for the more conservative amongst us).

Most of the Coopers DIY beer recipes would be aimed at the basic home brewer who just wants to make beer at home & there are others that require additions such as grain & specialist hops.

Different yeasts are also recommended. The average person wouldn't like an extremely over hopped beer, but it also comes down to personal taste. If you are happy with 25gm, stick with that.

There are always new brewers coming along to take up the hobby/pastime & in time they will develop new skills & try adding & experimenting with their recipes.

The aforementioned recipes are mostly made with pre-hopped malt, so it is up to the individual to add more hops if they want to.

All Grain Brewing is a whole new ball game & it usually requires around 20gms of up to 2-3 different varieties of hops at different intervals totaling 60gms of hops, & at times much more.

There are so many recipes & variations it is hard to nominate a fixed amount of hops each brew.

[Kegory]

@martycon, you can see @Back2Brewing's hop grenade towards the end of this thread. It is a thing of beauty, watch the video.

[Kegory]

Having a look through the Cooper Recipe Spreadsheet the number of recipes marked Intermediate and Advanced dwarf the number of Easy recipes aimed at the basic homebrewer.

There are 46 Easy recipes (plus another 4 with discontinued ingredients).

There are 102 Intermediate recipes (+6 discontinued). These are where grains and hops are being introduced to the brew.

There are 134 Advanced recipes (+2 discontinued). These typically seem to involve multiple steps involving grains and hops.

There are also 24 Expert recipes. Often the only thing in the recipe that requires expertise is yeast harvesting, but the recipes also allow for the option of using the can yeast. The can yeast option makes those recipes pretty easy.

[Pale Man]

On 8/21/2023 at 3:52 PM, Classic Brewing Co said:

I have tried every method known to man over the years & now I always do the same - chuck in 50gms in a muslin bay 4 days before kegging, it is sometimes 25gm of 2 different hops but any less & too me it's a waste of time (& hops)

This has given me by far the result ever. 

Lifting the lid for a few seconds is not going to hurt your beer.

Agreed. 50 grams for a dry hop is bare minimum if you're putting the effort in to do it. 

[Classic Brewing Co]

41 minutes ago, Pale Man said:

Agreed. 50 grams for a dry hop is bare minimum if you're putting the effort in to do it. 

Yep, the only way = Aroma = Flavour.