Dry hopping is the process of adding hops to your beer during fermentation and conditioning, rather than during or before the boil or whirlpooling. Dry-hopped beers have a much greater hop aroma than their non dry-hopped counterparts. When you see a version of a beer that says “dry-hopped” or even “double dry-hopped,” you can be assured that this beer will smell much more hoppy than its less hopped original.

Arguably, the beer will taste more hoppy too. Our noses and tastebuds are intertwined, and smelling something basically means tasting it, and vice versa. Almost all of the world’s best IPAs are dry-hopped, and many other great beers are dry-hopped as well. If you are looking for an effective way to improve your beer, regardless of its style, dry hopping is a great option to consider.

But now, when exactly should you put those whole leaf hop goodies into your beer?

Simply put, the longer your beer sits with dry hops, the more hop aroma you will get. For my IPAs, I have typically added the dry hops 24 hours after first putting my wort into the fermenter, and gone on to ferment and condition for a total of 7 to 14 days. This leads to a total of 6 to 13 days of dry hopping, and a very strong hop aroma as a result, perfect for an IPA. While there may be a maximum amount of time you should dry hop (I have heard people say they get excessive grassy notes when dry hopping for too long), I have yet to get to that point; up to two weeks has worked perfectly for me.

For my latest DIPA (double IPA), I threw in my dry hops into the fermenter immediately. Yes, I literally poured my wort into my sanitized fermenter and tossed in whole cone hops as well. I have heard rumors that having these hops in your fermenter during active fermentation may lead to an entirely new level of hop dankness that has been previously unknown to my mortal tastebuds. Once it is bottled and tasted, I will return with the results. Or if I don’t, please assume that the hops have mutated into intelligent life and have held me hostage away from my blog.

For everything else, I would start with 1 week of dry hopping before your beer will be done in the fermenter, and see if you like it. If you have made a particular beer before without dry hops, try it with dry hops this time and see if you can tell the difference. It is always good to have a control when testing something out for the first time! In any case, due to the naturally sanitary nature of hops, there is almost no risk of anything going haywire in your beer.

For quantity, my rule of thumb is 1 oz whole cone hops per 2.5 gallons of beer. If you are making a 5 gallon batch, start off with 2 oz whole cone hops in your fermenter. You can certainly add more per gallon if you want even more hop aroma!

Cheers, and happy hopping!