Brewer's Log - 8.29.2010: Dry Hopping the C'z IPA

WHAT I DID

- Dry hopped a 4-gallon batch of "C'z IPA" that had been in primary since 8/7/2010 and was transferred to a Better Bottle carboy for secondary fermentation on 8/23/2010.

WHAT I LEARNED

- After having underwhelming results from dry hopping a beer in the past, I did some homework this time. I read posts I found via a Google search, I listened to the Dec. 8, 2009 episode of the "Brew Strong" podcast about dry hopping techniques and I read an article in Brew Your Own magazine's September 2010 issue in which brewer Mitch Steele of Stone Brewing Co. offered tips for "amplifying your hops." While there are multiple valid methods for dry hopping a beer, I settled on one that varies from the IPA recipe I was given. Instead of 10 days of exposure to 1 oz. of Bravo hops (as the recipe stated), I'm splitting the additions to be roughly .5 oz. of Bravo hops for five days, then siphoning the beer off of that initial 5 oz. and into a clean, empty Better Bottle, and adding the remaining .5 oz. of Bravo to this new vessel and letting it sit for five more days. The goal here is to avoid any grassy or vegetal off-flavors that could possibly be contributed by prolonged exposure to hop material.

PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED

- I find myself wishing I had a couple smaller vessels and another 1 oz. of Bravo hops so I could split this batch and experiment a little: compare the taste and aroma of 1 oz. of hops in the vessel for 10 days with the taste and aroma from two five-day sessions with .5 oz. of hops. Undoubtedly they will taste at least slightly different. The question is which would be better. I plan to acquire some 3-gallon Better Bottles to allow for such experimentation (with hops, yeasts, other additives) in the future.

PERSONAL BESTS ACHIEVED

- Nothing, aside from improved quality/production value for the associated video.