Dry Hop Question

MoshMan

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I have an IPA I brewed and let sit in the primary for 3 weeks. I took gravity readings and fermented all the way down to 1.010 from 1.062. Everything went great and the sample I took tasted great. I moved it to secondary and let it sit for a week, then dry hopped 5 days ago. After adding the hops I appear to have activity in the air lock again and even the beer appears to have activity in it (I can see the hop particles swirling) like it's fermenting again.

Has anyone seen something like this? I dry hop all the time and haven't seen this before! I was hoping to bottle but I'm afraid to create bottle bombs if there is some kind of activity but I wont have that fresh hop aroma/taste I was going for if I wait much longer. I'm going to take a new gravity reading tonight to see if that has changed as well.

Any suggestions? Does anyone know what could cause this and if I should wait to bottle?

Thanks!
 
Hops have some sugar in them - there could be a bit of fermentation going on but it's nothing to be concerned about. And no, it won't create bottle bombs.
 
Since hops have quite a lot of surface area they also create nucleation points for the dissolved CO2 to bind to , my airlock usually bubbles when hops are added as well but don't think i've seen the churning / swirling
 
Maybe the action of the hop pellets breaking up as well:rolleyes:.
 
When I use WLP007 and dry hop, this is a common occurance. I just dry hop for my normal length of time and crash cool it.

I just did a beer that did that, and tasted it just tonight and it turned out awesome. When it first happened, I thought I had an infection. But, it was a very good beer despite the beer coming alive after dry hopping.
 
Thanks everyone for your input. I tasted it last night and it was great. The gravity reading hasn't moved so it's got to the hops breaking up and Co2 or something from them. I've done several batches and dry hopped a lot of times but this was the first time I've seen this kind of activity from it. I guess that's why this is so fun, there is always something new for me to see, taste and learn!

Thanks again and cheers!
 
"After adding the hops I appear to have activity in the air lock again and even the beer appears to have activity in it (I can see the hop particles swirling) like it's fermenting again."

By chance, did you check wort pH before fermentation and at the time when you assumed fermentation ended and again when the beer was dry hopped? It isn't a bad practice. Then, if something unusual occurs especially, if it involves fermentation you'll have a baseline to work from. A type of bacteria strikes during second fermentation, Gram-Neg type. It kicks up the beer. It might be coincidental that bacteria struck when the hops were added. If a pH test was utilized a determination could be made. If pH continued to reduce to a level that wipes out yeast and the beer is working, Gram-N bacterium is the culprit. Besides, yeast needs O2 for it to work and beer is void of O2 when it's that far down the line, until hops are added. Then, the O2 in the hops causes the beer to stale. When beer is sugar primed, yeast strips the oxygen molecule from sugar and uses it as the oxidizer and that's OK.
Since, the beer was dry hopped after one week in the secondary fermentation vessel, how are you sure that fermentation had ended before hops were added? Do not assume that a stable hydrometer can determine when fermentation ends. The test was performed during a single snap shot in time.
If by some wild chance that some maltose was released by Beta during the brewing process and since the beer was left on the yeast for three weeks before transferring to second fermentation vessel. This is what occurred; yeast during primary fermentation burns up all of the simple sugar, Glucose, and the majority of alcohol is produced during that time. After Glucose was wiped out yeast began to work on complex sugar. The beer being already in second fermentation for a week was transferred to secondary for one week before it was dry hopped. During second fermentation yeast absorbs maltose through cell walls and enzymes within yeast convert maltose, a complex sugar back into glucose, a simple sugar and fermentation continues because Glucose is yeast fuel. All of that stuff should have ended when the hops were added. If yeast restarted, something is out of balance. But, it might be OK, this time.


"don't worry about it its just oxygen releasing from the hops"

Yes, and it causes staling of the final product. That's why Randall's are manufactured. Besides, the pH level of beer is too low to extract hop aroma that sticks to the final product.
It's not a bad idea to look at the Beta number on the hop bag. It's there for a reason. The closer the Beta-Alpha number, the finer the hop. It is balanced.



"Hops have some sugar in them"

100% correct. There is a special type of sugar in hop flowers but, it doesn't affect fermentation. There is nothing in beer that is capable of extracting the sugar. If the sugar could be extracted during dry hops I am not sure if the sugar would be complex or simple type. It would be a factor to consider when dealing with fermentation. Yeast can only use simple types of sugar for fuel. Basically, don't get spool up over fermentation during dry hopping, unless it occurs. If it occurs, it shouldn't have.
 
Thanks everyone for your input. I tasted it last night and it was great. The gravity reading hasn't moved so it's got to the hops breaking up and Co2 or something from them. I've done several batches and dry hopped a lot of times but this was the first time I've seen this kind of activity from it. I guess that's why this is so fun, there is always something new for me to see, taste and learn!

Thanks again and cheers!
The learning curve slows down but it never stops. Glad it worked out for you! Just a friendly note: The number one thing to remember about beer is it's kind of hard to screw up as long as you keep sanitation in mind! Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew. It's a mantra.
 
A type of bacteria strikes during second fermentation, Gram-Neg type. It kicks up the beer.
This could be true. But I have seen this affect in at least 6 pale ale/IPA's I have brewed. All were fermented with WLP 007. I too thought I had an infection, but there was no sign what so ever in the finished beer to indicate an infection. A good majority of those beers were brewed for competitions and they went on to receive either a gold or silver. I kept some of those beers for a month or more with no sign of infection.
Yes, and it causes staling of the final product. That's why Randall's are manufactured. Besides, the pH level of beer is too low to extract hop aroma that sticks to the final product.
This is also true and it should be noted that "staling" can have several effects, loss of hop presence/flavor, loss of malt character and in severe cases, cardboard. But IPA's and pale ales are brewed to be consumed fresh and although it will introduce O2, the yeast is usually still present to scavenge the O2 and in an addition to that, oxidation requires some time for it to be noticed. As far as the pH being to low to extract any lasting flavor, then there are a lot of people who are wasting hops, me included. Finish pH varies with yeast, Chico strains land @ 4.4-4.6 and this may play a role in flavor extraction (German Alt yeast will finish @3.9-4.1) I believe a lot of flavor/aroma can be extracted, but it does have a limit.

It's not a bad idea to look at the Beta number on the hop bag. It's there for a reason. The closer the Beta-Alpha number, the finer the hop. It is balanced.
That is a characteristic of a noble hop (usually of German origin). But I would never dry hop an American IPA with noble hops. Amarillo, Citra, Centennial, Mosiac, Galaxy, etc. all have high alpha acids and low beta acids and work very well as both a dry hop and for whirlpool/ late additions.

I'm trying to argue with you, but many brewers use methods that have been reported to not work or worse yet, ruin the beer and have come out with fantastic results. Try different methods and see if they work or not.
 
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The massive surface area of pelleted hops creates a massive amount of nucleation sites when added to finished beer. What you are seeing is dissolved CO2 outgassing as a result. (Remember, finished beer at room temperature will contain about 1 volume of dissolved CO2. It is why priming sugar calculators ask you for the beer temperature before calculation how much sugar to add for a desired final volume level of CO2.) It is nothing to worry about.
 
The massive surface area of pelleted hops creates a massive amount of nucleation sites when added to finished beer. What you are seeing is dissolved CO2 outgassing as a result. (Remember, finished beer at room temperature will contain about 1 volume of dissolved CO2. It is why priming sugar calculators ask you for the beer temperature before calculation how much sugar to add for a desired final volume level of CO2.) It is nothing to worry about.
That makes sense i try not to sweat the small stuff. But is suppose after youve invested so much time sweat and energy into a beer irs hard not to:rolleyes:.
 

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