Dry Hopping - How To Use Hops When Home Brewing
Jorge Zarate
There are different ways to use hops when brewing beer. Originally, hops were used as a preservative to keep beer for longer periods of time. In fact, the beer style IPA was born because it was made to be exported and in order to survive long sea voyages it was heavily hopped.
Over time, hops have become so popular, it's hard to think of beer without hops.
The only beers you see with little or no hops are normally wheat beers, but aside from those, you'll be adding hops to just about everything you brew.
There are three things hops do for your beer which if you understand you'll make better use of them.
The first thing hops do for you is to bitter your beer. Bittering hops, are usually added at the beginning of the boil when you are cooking your malt extract.
Hops have Alpha Acids, which is what bitters your beer. These alpha acids need to be boiled for 40-45 minutes so they become soluble and provide bitterness. The problem with boiling hops for that long is that the oils virtually evaporate and you lose the aroma and flavor. This is the reason why you use finishing hops 5-15 minutes before the boil.
By waiting till the end, you don't lose the aroma. Now, finishing hops sometimes are not enough, especially for us hop heads.
If you really like hops and want your beer to smell and tasty more hoppy, then you can do what's referred to as dry hopping.
Dry hopping is normally done after the beer is done fermenting and ready to go into the conditioning phase.
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