Hi me and my future wife are brewing a bunch of different beers for our wedding. Next up is an IPA so we are curious of how the dry hopping process works. I'm looking for do's and don'ts and also a description of the process from the fermentation until the finished product.
Here are some additional questions.
Any help is appreciated!
https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/beer-fermentation-hops-along/
Enzymes originating from the non-heated hops added during dry-hopping may break down starches previously unbroken by the mash and boil, thereby creating an excess of yeast food. My recommendation is to bottle, using the dilute syrup method (NOT PUTTING SUGAR CUBES IN YOUR BOTTLES) at the lowest level recommended for your particular style. You're gonna have to do some maths and research, but it'll be worth it :) EXCELSIOR!
Mosiac IPA
Brew closer to your wedding. Any reason you cannot keg and carbonate? If its for your wedding, nice fresh keg conditioned IPA would be better than bottles with the crap on the bottom. Bottles are usually poured with some finesse by the home brewer and not handed out at a wedding where guests may be drinking from bottle or just not used to sediment at the bottom.
Lighter pales typically should be drank within a couple months of brewing. So, plan to brew and dry hop about 6-8 wks before the wedding. These 5 months can give you time for some practice, trying out different recipes, hops to use (I like higher alpha hops for dry hopping, but then I dry hop for 2-3 weeks to let them settle out). For your wedding, I agree use a low alpha so it is more pleasant for your guests.
Dry hops are usually applied in the last 3-7 days of secondary fermentation.
Typically only "Aroma" hops are used, but any hop you're partial too can be used. Just use caution with high doses of high alpha acid hops, as you can actually also add bitter with dry hops.
Really the only other caution that comes to mind is the possibility of grassy off flavors, generally caused by high alpha acid hops and not enough time to rest out. Basically 7 days min for 10%+ AA.
One other draw back to dry hopping is they can take a lot of time to clarify. May want to consider a cold crash & gelatin or other fining.
Yes, you can still bottle condition. However keep in mind most IPAs are best fresh, so force carbonation is preferred.
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