Home Brew Dry Hopping Methods Lots of home brewers are looking for ways to make the perfect IPA or even to add a touch of familiar flavor to beers that are typically less bitter because one thing is certain - the world's thirst for hoppy beers won't wane. Dry hopping is an easy extra step home brewers can take to infuse their brew with a little extra flavor. It takes very little added effort to dry hop a home brewed beer if you have the appropriate beer filter. What Is Dry Hopping? At its most basic, dry hopping is the act of adding extra hops to a beer’s secondary fermentation cycle. Because you are adding them after you’ve finished your boil, none of the oils in the hops are released into your beer. A beer's bitter flavor comes from the oils. Aroma is imparted into the brew in the dry hopping process. Because smell accounts for about 75% of a human’s perception of taste, these aromas are an essential component to a well-crafted beverage. People have come to associate strong citrus or floral notes with the IPA style and dry hopping is where this originates from. Some home brewers wait until only a few days before they want to bottle to add these extra hops. The fragrances will be as fresh and bright as possible in the finished beer when you wait this long. Other brewers do it around two weeks prior to bottling. The aromas have extra time to merge fully with the rest of the beer’s flavor profile when using this approach. It is important to have a filter that enhances the rest of your home brew setup regardless of your personal dry hopping strategy. Cornelius Keg A long, thin mesh cylinder which fits snugly into the opening at the top of the keg is a dry hopping beer filter utilized for a corny keg. A simple pull ring is generally located at the top of the cylinder, making it very easy to lower and raise. In order to allow an ample amount of the flavor to infuse into the brew with virtually no added sediment, a three hundred micron mesh is great for dry hopping. A food-grade stainless steel that won't react with the alcohol or other elements of your brew is used to construct Cornelius keg filters. Another Filter Choice Also made out of food-grade stainless steel and 300 micron mesh, dry hopping filters made for carboys are longer and thinner than their corny keg counterparts. It is possible to expose the most hops to the beer by stretching out the filter. This design also makes fitting the filter into and out of the thin carboy opening infinitely easier. Whenever you make use of a dry hopper in a carboy, it is essential to have a strategy for extraction. You can aid this process by attaching a string to the top of the filter prior to inserting it into the carboy. Custom If you need a filter that will fit specific carboy designs or that accompany home brewing starter setups, occasionally companies will make them. If you are in the market for a dry hopping system, it is worth checking to see if somebody has made a dry hopping filter that perfectly fits your current equipment. Utah Biodiesel Supply
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