What is Dry Hopping?
During the brewing of my first batch of home brew, I heard the term dry hopping. I didn’t remember what this really meant, so I looked into it a bit.
Dry hopping refers to putting hops into beer after fermentation. This means that the hops aren’t cooked during the boiling stage, when making wort. Some brewers worry about contamination, but apparently it’s not too much of a risk.
Beers like IPAs or pale ales are typically dry hopped, which lends to a more distinct, fresher taste of hops in the beer. The hops are placed directly into the fermentor after fermentation is pretty much complete, and they should rest for a couple weeks. I can see how this would really give the beer a very fresh hop flavor.
