WTF is DDH?

More and more we are seeing the letters DDH on beers we purchase. Especially when it comes to NE-style IPAs/DIPAs which happen to be some of our favorite styles. So what exactly does this mean? The simple answer is that it means double dry hopped, but WTF does that mean? I’ve seen this debated on the web more than once. There seems to be three main schools of thought along with various hybrids:

It simply means using twice as many hops as you would normally use for the same beer which you have brewed before. For example – ‘Beer A’ and then ‘DDH Beer A’. This is something we see quite often from Trillium Brewing Company in Massachusetts. Some feel the term has more to do with the number of dry hop additions and potentially the timing of those additions. However, one could also argue that it’s just a normal dry hopping process for many breweries and the beers should not receive any special designation such as DDH. Then there are those who feel DDH is purely a marketing tactic used to draw attention to a beer and make it seem new and interesting.

“I guess in the end the DDH helps the consumer prepare their taste buds for an increased amount of hop flavor and aroma…depending on the brewers intent it could mean twice the normal recipe amount….or twice what they usually use?…or they performed the act of dry hopping at two different times during fermentation and maturation.” – John Trogner, Brewmaster at Tröegs Independent Brewing

My Take on DDH

As a home brewer, I don’t really have standard beers that I brew regularly so I don’t have a ‘Beer A’ and a ‘DDH Beer A’. For me it has more to do with the number of dry hop additions and the timing of them. I always use the equivalent of about 2-3 lbs/BBL of dry hops in my IPAs and I add multiple dry hop charges. Does this make them DDH?

It’s now common practice for brewers to add at least 2 additions of dry hops (especially for IPAs) with one of those additions being added during primary fermentation (towards the beginning of fermentation when the yeast are very active). This technique is often used in those hazy, NE-style pale ales and IPAs that have been in the spotlight over the past few years.

However, brewers of non-hazy beers are also realizing the potential benefits of adding hops at different points in the brewing process and at different temperatures. It’s an area where there is a lot of research and experimentation going on.

What Do Other Brewers Think?

Instead of just babbling about what I think DDH is, I decided to reach out to a few professional brewers and get their take on double dry hopping to see what it means to them.

Albert Kominski – Owner of Pizza Boy Brewing/Al’s of Hampden, Enola, PA

“It’s not an actual number or poundage. It would be dependent on the brewery. So if we normally use 2-lbs per bbl, we’d then use 4-lb. But we would also stagger the hop additions with 2-3 days in between.”

John Trogner – Brewmaster/Co-owner of Tröegs Independent Brewing, Hershey, PA

“Up until about three years ago, I would have simply answered ‘double dry hopping’ is just that…double the amount of hops that you used on a recipe last time. However, now I don’t think it’s as simple as that. Pulling back and looking from a different perspective, I’m now leaning toward an answer that is linked to the brewer’s intent. I try not to get tangled in the debate about ‘how things should be or how they are identified.’ When we look at naming a beer, our hope is that somehow the name, logo, design, or description helps our customers understand a little better what is in the glass. So, If I take a recipe we are already rolling with like Perpetual IPA and use twice the amount (of dry hops), in my mind, that would be a DDH Perpetual IPA.

The other side of this could be a timing of hop additions and the thinking that this brings different sets of flavors and aromas depending on when the hops are added. We have definitely seen that timing of dry hopping can change fermentation quite a bit. Diacetyl uptake from the yeast can slow along with a terminal gravity shift if the dry hop timing during primary fermentation doesn’t match your yeasts needs. Of course a lot ties into this, yeast health, hopping quantities, ability to minimize oxygen pickup, fermentation temp…and the list goes on.”

John Stemler – Brewmaster/Co-owner of Free Will Brewing Company, Perkasie, PA

Photo Courtesy: Free Will Brewing Co. “My definition of DDH is just that: The beer has been made before and we are now remaking it with double the dry hops. It can certainly be a waste of hops if the saturation point is crossed sufficiently. The result of that is vegetative flavor and aroma pick-up from just the large quantity of plant matter in the beer. There was some room left in the DDH Cloudy for more aroma and flavor, so it wasn’t doing the recipe a disservice and we weren’t crossing the “too much” limit. It certainly reduced our yield though. 21 bbls on a 30 bbl batch even with a centrifuge kinda sucks. People ask why it costs so much. Well . . . tons of hops, rare and expensive hops, expensive labels, shitty yield. That pretty much sums the cost up. This is the first time we have done a DDH version of any of our beers, and I will probably do it again if the recipe can stand it.” “My definition of DDH is just that: The beer has been made before and we are now remaking it with double the dry hops. It can certainly be a waste of hops if the saturation point is crossed sufficiently. The result of that is vegetative flavor and aroma pick-up from just the large quantity of plant matter in the beer. There was some room left in the DDH Cloudy for more aroma and flavor, so it wasn’t doing the recipe a disservice and we weren’t crossing the “too much” limit. It certainly reduced our yield though. 21 bbls on a 30 bbl batch even with a centrifuge kinda sucks. People ask why it costs so much. Well . . . tons of hops, rare and expensive hops, expensive labels, shitty yield. That pretty much sums the cost up. This is the first time we have done a DDH version of any of our beers, and I will probably do it again if the recipe can stand it.”

JR Heaps – Brewer/Managing partner of South County Brewing Co., Fawn Grove, PA

“Double dry hopping is debated among brewers. To some it means the quantity used, expressed as a pound/BBL ratio and to others it can mean two distinct hop charges and cone dumps and/or both. For me, I lean towards the definition of pounds/BBL, which in my opinion is about 2lbs/BBL and up to be considered a DDH. Some brewers believe that two separate charges cumulatively layers the hop oils but I’m not sure that’s true versus just one large charge. It’s more about recirculation and contact. However, depending on ones equipment, two charges may be more manageable but often wastes more beer due to blowing the cone twice. There are also white paper studies that suggest any dry hop schedule above 3 lbs/BBL has a diminishing return based on gas chromatography results. People can only perceive so much dry hop saturation (aroma and flavor) much like IBU bitterness. We regularly dry hop between 2-3 lbs/BBL in our beer. Our Liminal Moment DIPA and Sound Machine Pale Ale being some of the highest.”

DDH = Delicious

The brewers I talked to seem to be in agreement that double dry hopping or DDH has to do with the quantity of hops per BBL where the amount should be double of what you’d normally use for the same beer. I would encourage you to try ramping up the dry hop additions in your next homebrew and make your own DDH beer. Regardless of what people think it means, I’ve found that double dry hopping can result in some pretty delicious brews!