stoby
Member
So I have been brewing a little while now, have made some good ales and started venturing into lagers. I always love researching brew techniques and advice from those that have been doing this a while. I have made a couple of IPA's that I have dry hopped in the past, I have always put the hops in the secondary (loose with whole cone, and pellets in a mesh bag) and racked the beer on top of them. I usually let them sit that way for four days to a week. The results have been great. As I have researched other threads and forums, I have read that this could be a horrible way to dry hop beer as it has the potential for the dreaded "oxidation". One guy even went on a rant about Low Oxygen Brewing that went way off course the original dry hopping topic. Anyway, my question is this....
How much of a real threat is there to oxidizing the beer. I dont use a closed system, and only rack using a siphon. This applies to dry hopping as well as going from carboy to keg. I take precautions to minimize exposure the best I can, and to purge headspace and all that good stuff. Obviously my beer is still being exposed, but I have yet to feel the ill effects of oxidation. Granted I drink like a fish and most my beer has a pretty short turn around, but some kegs have been around for months and usually the beer just gets better and better. Has the whole oxidation thing been overstated by the brewers that have invested a great deal of time and money in their techniques and methods, and therefore scare the bejesus out of newbies by making us think that our beer will be dog piss unless we do things their way. Right now I have a nice little APA I wanted to dry hop with an ounce of Cascade, but am second thinking it because I dont want to ruin the whole batch. If anyone has a rock solid method to dry hopping that reduces the risk of oxidation they could share it would be greatly appreciated....given it doesnt involve buying a bunch of new stuff.
How much of a real threat is there to oxidizing the beer. I dont use a closed system, and only rack using a siphon. This applies to dry hopping as well as going from carboy to keg. I take precautions to minimize exposure the best I can, and to purge headspace and all that good stuff. Obviously my beer is still being exposed, but I have yet to feel the ill effects of oxidation. Granted I drink like a fish and most my beer has a pretty short turn around, but some kegs have been around for months and usually the beer just gets better and better. Has the whole oxidation thing been overstated by the brewers that have invested a great deal of time and money in their techniques and methods, and therefore scare the bejesus out of newbies by making us think that our beer will be dog piss unless we do things their way. Right now I have a nice little APA I wanted to dry hop with an ounce of Cascade, but am second thinking it because I dont want to ruin the whole batch. If anyone has a rock solid method to dry hopping that reduces the risk of oxidation they could share it would be greatly appreciated....given it doesnt involve buying a bunch of new stuff.