Ben Stange on April 10, 2015 29 Comments Dry hopping is a process in which, after the beer has completed primary fermentation, hops are added back to the beer to steep. This process is very much like making tea by steeping tea bags in room temperature water. It is a slow process, and it contributes huge amounts of aroma to your beer without significantly increasing the bitterness. All of your favorite IPAs and many of your favorite pale ales are brewed using this method, as it is a great way to add depth to beers with significant bitterness. There is little risk of contamination through dry hopping, as hops have significant antimicrobial properties which help prevent infection. There are many ways in which hops can add flavor and depth to your homebrew. When added early in the boil, they add bitterness. When added later, they can add flavor. If they are barely boiled, they add flavor and aroma. Dry-hopping eliminates the driving off of aroma compounds by the boil, meaning you retain the maximum amount of aroma without contributing added bitterness. The reason the contribution provided by hops alters through the brewing process is that boiling hops changes them. It reduces delicate aromas by driving off the volatile compounds that make them up. Even when boiled only slightly, the effect is a reduction of these precious aroma compounds. As a result, the only way to truly capture a hop’s aroma is to dry hop. Photo Credit: Clexow / Flickr How to Dry Hop The basic process of dry hopping, and one of the most common methods, is to simply siphon your beer out of your primary fermenter into a secondary fermenter and add hops. It is typically best to place your hops in a hop bag or other strainer in which they can be contained and still be in contact with your beer. If your hops are whole cone hops, you can add them directly into the beer and siphon them off later, but doing so with pellet hops can result in excess hop matter being siphoned into your final packaging. That’s the basic method. We’ll get into some fun variations here in a minute, but first we need to talk hop selection and dry hop duration. Choosing the Right Hop Variety The best way to choose the right hop or hops for dry hopping is to use the hops added to the recipe as aroma hops to begin with. So, if your latest hop addition in the beer was Centennial hops, try dry hopping with Centennial hops. Alternately, you can dry hop with a complimentary hop. Again, if your last hop addition was Centennial, you can try another “C” hop, such as Cascade or Citra. The citrus aromas will work well together without clashing. If your pale ale uses three different hops late in the boil, you can blend them when dry hopping. Finally, for best results, you should dry hop with lower alpha acid hops when possible. Higher alpha acid hops tend to have a lower percentage of the delicate aroma oils you are going for, so using lower AA hops is really just more efficient. You can get great results with higher AA hops, however, so this is a guideline, not a rule. How Long to Dry Hop? Dry hopping is a fantastic way to get the aroma into your beer, but how long is long enough? How long is too long? Hops added to secondary post fermentation can add significant levels of aroma in 24 hours, and it improves for at least 48-72 hours. After that amount of time, you will still get added aroma, but not as quickly. Some brewers will leave hops in their fermenters for the entire secondary fermentation, but if this will be more than a couple of weeks, this can result in vegetal flavors, such as “grassy” notes or other off flavors. You can leave hops in the fermenter for a week or two before the off flavors really start to develop. You won’t get a significant increase in hop aroma over the first 72 hours, but if you just can’t get to packaging in that time, it won’t hurt the beer. After 2-3 weeks, it’s really time to get the beer off your hops or you’ll start to see the bad flavors develop. So, the ideal amount of time is about 48-72 hours. After that, package it up. 4 Common Ways to Dry Hop Your Beer Now that we’ve outlined the basics, let’s talk about some variations on the theme. There are a lot of ways to “dry hop” your beer, and some of them are pretty cool and fun. Some are not very practical, but are fun for the novelty. The French Press This dry-hopping technique is not the ideal method, but it can be a quick way to determine what aroma compounds will work with a certain type of beer. Let’s say you have a pale ale you brewed that you are considering dry hopping next time. Add some pale ale to some pellet hops in your French Press and give it some contact time. Then, press the plunger and pour the beer. It will be slightly flatter, as the pressing will excite some carbon dioxide out of suspension, but you should be able to get a good idea of what that specific hop will contribute to your next batch. Keg Hopping This is a good variation on dry hopping in which the hops are added to a hop bag or tea strainer and added directly to the keg. This method really imparts significant hop aroma, as the strainer will sit right next to the beer uptake and some of the beer will pass right through the bag on its way to your glass, resulting in a very fresh taste. Unfortunately, this method means you really need to consume the beer within a 2-3 week period or you’ll start to taste the grassy and vegetal notes we discussed earlier. This method is fantastic for parties and one time events, though. The Randall Pioneered by Dogfish Head Brewing, The Randall is a device that hooks to your tap lines and allows you to push your beer directly through a sample of whole hops. The concept is that you have a chamber in which you add dried or fresh whole cone hops which seals well. The beer line runs into this chamber on one side and out of the chamber on the other. The beer comes in direct contact with the hops on its way to your glass, taking delicate aroma compounds with it. This system does work well, but requires a kegerator and specialized equipment. You can build your own Randall if you have a kegerator or you can order one from Dogfish Head on their website. Dry Hopping during Primary Most homebrewers’ first reaction to this is that it is not as efficient as dry-hopping in secondary. The theory is that dry-hopping in primary allows carbon dioxide bubbles to carry off the aroma compounds from the beer. The truth is that, while hopping in primary does change the aroma profile, the true mechanism for why that happens is not yet completely understood. The aroma compounds from hops are contained in the hop oils, which are not volatile enough to be carried off by CO2 bubbles. The only reason they dissipate in the boil is because they are, well, boiled. This process is being experimented with some at the homebrew and commercial brewing levels, but has not yet caught on in full. The anecdotal evidence seems to point to this method changing the aroma compounds contributed, but does not necessarily reduce them. Now that you have a little more info on the methods of dry-hopping, it’s time to give it a try. Experiment with your dry-hopping techniques and see what works best for your recipe. So, maybe the next step will be to brew a batch of beer and split into two batches. You could dry hop one in primary and one in secondary, then bottle them up and taste them with friends. After all, that’s the best way to taste beer.
Joe Valade says April 17, 2015 at 2:40 pm I read about it, but never tried it. I am going to try it now that I better understand the process of dry-hopping. Thanks Reply
Thanks says April 27, 2015 at 9:58 pm Great tips for dry hopping. This was one of the main questions I had when I started brewing. Reply
Jake says May 8, 2015 at 10:32 am Good tips, and one of the other things to keep in mind is that people are doing multiple dry-hop additions. Dry-hopping in primary, and doing another addition in secondary will increase the oil content in the finished beer even more. I have a single-hop IPA sitting on dry hops right now. I’m hoping to package it today or tomorrow, and i can’t wait to taste it. Reply
Andrew says August 30, 2015 at 12:30 am what a timely article! I’ve just dry hopped at primary on a best bitter and suddenly thought I’d karcked it up! The hops were on the older side, so probably not that full of aromatics. Primary seems to have finished after a week, so I’m planning to check if FG has been reached and get into my barrel. Thanks for the info. Reply
Aleman says December 9, 2016 at 12:30 pm Add it at the end of the secondary fermentation instead of the beginning. Reply
John Graham says August 15, 2020 at 2:54 pm You need to be careful as you run the risk of ‘hop creep’ which could result in overcarbonation in final pack. You also run more risk of oxygenation if you have no yeast transferred over from primary to eat the O2 up. This will obviously vary depending on each individuals set-up so what works for someone may not for another. Reply
Rick E says February 19, 2016 at 8:24 am I just dry hopped my first IPA two days ago in secondary. How do I remove the muslin bag with the hop pellets in the next day or two in a sanitized manner in order to continue secondary for a couple more weeks (total of 2 to 3 weeks)? Thanks. Reply
buck naked says June 3, 2016 at 12:19 pm When I had dry hopped my last brew (IIPA) I used pellets. The process was good and the flavor outstanding, what I realized is the final rendering of beer was affected by the pellets absorbing more than was expected. I used 2 ounces. Any thoughts. Reply
Matthew Jordan says September 10, 2016 at 10:15 pm Thank you the article. You have taken my beer knowledge to a new level. Reply
Justin says October 6, 2016 at 12:38 pm “Unfortunately, this method means you really need to consume the beer within a 2-3 week period or you’ll start to taste the grassy and vegetal notes we discussed earlier.” I’ve not found this to be the case, even after 6-8 weeks. Reply
Ian V Banham says April 29, 2020 at 7:17 am I also have never had off flavours from leaving hop bag in fermenter even after three months. Reply
Beavis says October 25, 2016 at 8:22 pm Lame instructions. You say 24-48 hrs is optimal. But you also say that hop aroma won’t be significant increase in hop aroma in the first 72 hrs. Reply
Rex Remes says February 8, 2017 at 7:04 pm The author stated “the ideal amount of time is about 48-72 hours.” And he explained this by saying “Hops added to secondary post fermentation can add significant levels of aroma in 24 hours, and it improves for at least 48-72 hours.” You may have been confused by his statement that “You won’t get a significant increase in hop aroma over the first 72 hours”. He means AFTER or BEYOND the first 72 hours. Reply
Phill Wallis says October 21, 2018 at 1:32 am read it correctly before you make an ass of yourself and post a negative reply Reply
Matt says December 13, 2018 at 3:15 pm The author’s statement is confusing and I actually went to read through the comments to see if anyone else saw that same issue. If you “read it correctly”, the author is essentially implying the duration of time during which not much aroma is released would be the first 72 hours. “You won’t get a significant increase in hop aroma over the first 72 hours…” should read: “You won’t get a significant increase in hop aroma BEYOND/PAST the first 72 hours…” “Over” implies during, covering, etc… not finished, complete, done… Reply
Pon says December 22, 2016 at 8:26 pm Great info. I’ve also recently heard of dry hopping in the primary can be effective. Tons of old articles would say no to this. Anyway, I will try it and see how the beer turns out. Reply
Tofu CJ says January 6, 2017 at 6:39 pm Hi all. I am a very new home brewer and am looking to dry hop a cascade pellet hop into a nz home brew set. I am wondering if using a larger stainless steel tea pot strainer for the last 72 hours of secondary could or would affect the final taste? Comments of any sort would be appreciated. Cheers all Reply
Josh says May 4, 2017 at 10:42 pm Using stainless steel tea balls works well – just don’t overfill them. The first time I used a tea ball, the hop pellets almost tripled in size when wet and forced the ball open. You can buy larger 80mm or 100mm tea balls online, which are great for dry hopping. Reply
GaijinCyn says January 13, 2017 at 7:52 pm I’m liking the level of detail in your article — snotty comments aside with regards timing before drinking (there really just is no pleasing some folks!) — we live in Japan, with its burgeoning craft beer community, and find that many of the local brews are more suited to the refined palates of the Japanese, whereas our pallets have been used and abused for long enough to welcome a crash of hops to the nose etc. I’m going to pick up some hops at the local supply shop and give the French Press approach a bit of a go (appreciating its limitations – but heck, no experimentation, no innovation)! Reply
Rich says February 17, 2017 at 12:17 pm You comment about dry hopping in the keg producing grassy or vegetal flavors is simply not true at typical kegging temperatures. In fact, it may be a month before the aroma peaks. Also, for the majority of us who have been at this for a while(35 years for me), only use primary fermentation, not secondary, except in the case of aged beers. One can simply dry hop in primary(glass carboy for me) once active fermentation has slowed. Reply
Rusty says January 10, 2020 at 11:07 am Thanks for the information about Primary. I have a IPA in glass Carboy 2 weeks and have dryhopped centennial pellets. Hope it comes Out ok. Reply
Olav Njaastad says January 14, 2018 at 3:01 am This is true Rich…. also for me. The use of the word “secondary” in many discussions might as well be understood as “during the storage period” … which is easy to grasp in the keg-hopping-example… Reply
Jack and JJ says December 26, 2018 at 12:52 pm Great info and overview, especially the split batch approach. About to start another brew and dry hop some Mosaic hops so the primary vs secondary hopping will definitely be in order for comparison. Tks and Merry Christmas. Reply
Paul says January 24, 2019 at 4:48 pm I have dry hopped in the keg and over time I get tea like, and grassy off flavors. So I agree with this author on what he says about dry hopping too long from my personal experience. This time I am dry hopping in the secondary for 3-4 days before kegging. Reply
