Dry hoped Lager

[GAM]

I have done this and want to know how long to leave the hops in. 5-10 days for ale works.

Sandy

[GuingesRock]

I think it would be the same, you are still dry hopping, or will it be at a different temperature? I dry hop ales for 3 days. What hops? it's sounding delicious.

[GAM]

One Sazz and one Hallerter. They are for summer and I have time to let it go as long as I want. I'll clear and keg in a month or two.

[CPR]

I've done a few hoppy lagers now, and I tend to condition/lager for however long it needs 'til it's tasting good, then I dry-hop for the last seven days before bottling. Hoppy lagers FTW!

[Jimmy]

I've done a few hoppy lagers now, and I tend to condition/lager for however long it needs 'til it's tasting good, then I dry-hop for the last seven days before bottling. Hoppy lagers FTW!

This makes the most sense to me.

Lager like you normally would and save the dry hopping for as late as possible so you don't lose hop profile from the lagering period.

I'd also raise the temp up to 68ish for the dry hop period...but that's just me

[mmbrew]

Question on the process of dry hopping of a lagered Pils (Czech Pils with Saaz): do you pre-boil the hops 10-15 minutes before added to the lagered pils to kill off any potential contaminants?

Just asking, since when I dry-hop ales, I am at the tail end of fermentation (about 4 points from FG) at room temperature and have still have fermentation activity to strip away the aroma oils. In the case of a Pilsner after 6-8 weeks of lagering, I will close to FG and may not have any viable yeast (S-23) activity left.

My proposed process: After lagering perios, boil 125 mL of water per 28g of hops in a SS tea ball for 10 minutes. After cooling below 30C, add the tea ball and remaining hop juice directly to keg, reseal with CO2 and lager for 7 days at room temp (as per Jimmy) and then chill before serving.

Any suggestions

[jason.loxton]

Dry hopping time is temperature dependent, so if you're hopping cold, you'll want to increase the contact time beyond what you do for an ale. (You don't have to hop cold with a lager though.)

If you're planning on this for a summer beer and you want maximum hop aroma, I'd hold off till closer to consumption time: you're going to lose a fair bit of aroma over the coming months.

Jason

[jason.loxton]

The method you're proposing is a 'hop tea'. It has the advantage of adding some flavour component, but with a loss of aromatics (that's my understanding anyway). People do it, but I never have, and can't really see the point.

You should sanitize your tea ball if you're using one, but you don't ever have to sanitize hops. Hops have natural anti-microbial properties (that's one of the principle reasons they're added to beer). Just add them straight to you keg or carboy. If you're adding to a keg, you want to contain them in something, e.g., your tea ball, so that they can be removed if you're not going to drink the keg rapidly and, more importantly, to avoid clogging your dip tube. When dry hopping in a fermenter with whole hops, I don't contain them, and find they settle out pretty nicely. That's just me though...

Here's a podcast to answer all your dry hopping questions! http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/Brew ... ry-Hopping" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mmbrew]

Thanks Jason... Makes sense - better safe than ruining a great beer