Author: Ray Found

I’ve really come to appreciate good IPA as being more than just bitter bombs hellbent on the destruction of palate and tooth enamel, and as such have started brewing this style much more often. I initially struggled to nail the aromatic intensity I perceived in fresh commercial examples and began poking around for ideas how I might accomplish this. In researching homebrew IPA recipes, I noticed many were loaded to the brim with boil and flameout hops then hit with a relatively paltry dry hop charge of about 6-12 grams/gallon, puzzling to me since this technique is known for being a huge aroma contributor. I figured the pros must be doing things differently, so I dug a little deeper and ended up discovering they commonly dry hop with somewhere between 225-450 grams/BBL, equivalent to roughly 7-14 grams/gallon, almost exactly the same as the homebrew recipes I was finding.

I began playing around with multiple variables in my quest to achieve hop aroma nirvana, focusing on things like the interplay of certain grains and hops, unique techniques for kettle hopping, different water chemistry profiles, and dry hop dosages. Finally, I was making IPA bursting with all of the tropical fruit aroma I’d been craving, it was great! But I couldn’t help but wonder, what actually made the difference? With all the tweaks I made, it was impossible to nail down if it was one variable or many that was responsible. In my mind, the increased dry hop dosages seemed the most likely reason for the improved aroma, as I started adding upwards of 36 grams/gallon. But maybe this wasn’t it, perhaps I’ve merely been wasting money by loading more hops in the dry hop than is actually beneficial. Is there a limit, a point at which dry hop additions no longer impart their delectable aromatic qualities? Only one way to find out!

| PURPOSE |

To evaluate the differences between 2 batches of the same beer hit with drastically different amounts of dry hops, one receiving 60 grams and the other 180 grams.

| METHODS |

For this xBmt, I chose to brew what has become a regular on tap at Fandhaus Bräu, MACC IPA. This was my first batch since acquiring my Barley Crusher mill and, as is often the case with firsts, I fucked up a little bit. Expecting to achieve better efficiency milling my own, I used the “scale” feature in BeerSmith to adjust my grain amounts assuming 75% efficiency, an 11% increase over what I was getting with my LHBS’ crush. It actually worked, my assumption was spot on, but only after the wort was boiling did I realize BeerSmith had adjusted all of my grain proportions, which threw off my percentages– rather than 5% Honey malt, this batch ended up with 7%, which had me worried the beer might end up a bit sweet. Only time would tell.

MACC IPA

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM OG FG ABV 11 gal 60 min 79 7.0 1.066 SG 1.010 SG 7.4 %

Fermentables

Name Amount % Domestic 2-Row 21 lbs 1 oz 79.6 Munich (10L) 3 lbs 8 oz 13.3 Gambrinus Honey Malt 1 lbs 14 oz 7.1

Hops

Name Amt/IBU Time Use Form Alpha % Magnum 25 IBU First Wort Addition FWH Pellet 12.6 Mosaic 100 g/16 IBU Flameout w/ 15 min stand Boil Pellet 11.7 Centennial 40 g/5 IBU Flameout w/ 15 min stand Boil Pellet 10.2 Citra 111 g/21 IBU Flameout w/ 15 min stand Boil Pellet 13.9 Amarillo 100 g/11 IBU Flameout w/ 15 min stand Boil Pellet 8.8 Mosaic 20 g or 60 g Dryhop 5 Days Dry Pellet 11.7 Amarillo 20 g or 60 g Dryhop 5 Days Dry Pellet 10.2 Citra 20 g or 60 g Dryhop 5 Days Dry Pellet 13.9

Yeast

San Diego Super Yeast White Labs 090 84% 66°F

Water Profile

Ca Mg Na SO4 Cl HCO3 pH 81 ppm 0 ppm 0 ppm 141 ppm 42 ppm 0 ppm 5.3

When brew day arrived, I used BeerSmith to calculate the proper strike temp in order to hit my target mash temperature.

When the 1 hour mash was complete, I collected the sweet wort and transferred it to the kettle where it met a charge of first wort hops. The boil commenced. When the 60 minute boil timer beeped, I cut the flame and added the rather massive flameout hop addition, allowing it to steep for 15 minutes.

The wort was then chilled to just above my target pitching temp with the assistance of my bother-in-law, Robert, who used proper techniques to accomplish the task quickly and efficiently.

I then filled 2 carboys simultaneously using a doohickey I designed to ensure equal distribution of kettle trub to each fermentor.

The filled carboys were placed in my fermenation chamber and allowed to finish chilling the last few degrees to my preferred 66°F, after which the yeast was pitched. Big, healthy krausens appeared less than 24 hours later, we were off to the races!

After 5 days of fermentation that included a ramp in temp to 74°F, it was time to introduce the xBmt variable. The difference in volume the hops took up was rather striking, 60 grams looked like nothing compared to the 180 gram charge.

A few days later, FG was verified for both batches, WLP090 had been on the chew, turning in a nicely dry 1.010 FG.

Both beers were cold crashed and fined with gelatin prior to being packaged. When it came time to keg, the observable differences in trub between the batches was striking.

Both beers were force carbonated in my keezer where they sat a few days to allow particulates to settle out. The 60 gram beer appeared to clear slightly more than the batch hit with 180 grams of dry hops. The picture below exaggerates the difference a bit due to condensation (and poor lighting).

| RESULTS |

Participants for this xBmt included a mix of beer drinking friends and family, as well as an awesome group of tasters organized by Rob Neuhaus, a dude I met on the homebrewing subreddit, who I sent samples to. A huge thanks to all who lent their palates to beer science!

In all, 27 people participated in this xBmt, a sample size that would require a minimum of 14 people to accurately identify the odd-beer out in order to imply significance. Tasters, who were blind to the nature of the xBmt, received 1 sample of the beer dry hopped with 180 grams and 2 samples of the beer dry hopped with 60 grams. In the end, 15 people (p=0.007) were capable of correctly identifying the odd beer out, a result greater than what we might expect by chance, which suggests a beer dry hopped with a large amount of hops be distinguishable from a similar beer receiving a smaller dry hop charge.

The qualitative data from those participants who were correct on the triangle test yielded surprisingly boring results, with the large majority rating aroma, flavor, and mouthfeel between the beers as being somewhat similar or exactly the same, while no one experienced them as being not at all similar. In terms of overall preference, which was determined prior to the nature of the xBmt being revealed to participants, a slight majority (60%) chose the 60 gram batch over the 180 gram batch. Finally, when asked to select the beer that was dry hopped with 180 grams, 13 of the 15 tasters chose correctly.

My Impressions: My experience mirrored that of the panelists who were correct on the triangle test in that I could easily and reliably distinguish the beers by aroma alone. I found the 180 gram batch to have an extremely juicy hop aroma, while the 60 gram batch, still very aromatic, didn’t have the same saturation level. On a few occasions, when someone else was serving me a pint, I was easily able to tell which beer I was being handed, even without a comparative sample. Interestingly, after over a month in the keg, the aroma of the 60 gram batch had greatly diminished while the 180 gram batch maintained substantial hop punch.

As a quick aside, I ended up entering the 180 gram version of this beer into the Norco Fair Homebrewing Competition where, despite the BeerSmith mess-up, it placed 1st in the IPA category and 6th in the Best of Show round! I like to think it would have fared better in the BOS round with my intended grainbill, but that may very well be wishful thinking on my part.

| DISCUSSION |

It was absolutely clear to me on this that the batch dry hopped with larger quantities resulted in a beer with greater aromatic intensity. From a face-value perspective, this just makes sense, more hops equals more aroma. Taking into acccount the results of this xBmt, the comments of others, and my own personal experience, I’m comfortable saying dry hop amounts make a qualitative difference, with larger quantities producing a beer with more hop character, a beer that for my preference is a better IPA, full stop.

This xBmt left me curious about the extent to which kegging plays a role in hop aroma. In my opinion, most beer styles (with some exceptions) are best consumed fresh, IPA doubly so. Even with the 60 gram batch dry hopped at fairly low levels, I was pleased and quite impressed with the aroma when it was fresh. However, fast forward a month and the hop character had greatly diminished. Alarmingly, this timeline puts it really close to when bottle conditioned beer is just starting to be consumed for many brewers. If I was trying to create a really dynamic bottle conditioned IPA , I’d be inclined to use an extremely large dry hop charge in hopes the beer would retain more aroma by the time it was carbonated and ready for serving, as the 180 gram batch did seem to hold up better over time.

While far more data is required to say for certain whether there’s a certain limit where adding more dry hops leads to diminishing returns, I’m confident if that point exists, it’s somewhere higher than 12 grams/gallon… at least when using the hop varieties I did in the IPA recipe I did.

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