Choosing a Hop for "Dry Hopping"

First, remember that you are now hopping your beer for flavor and aroma, not for bitterness! Many hops are listed as hops that are typically used as flavor or aroma hops rather than as bittering hops and these are the ones that you will want to look to when dry hopping your home brew.

Most hops considered to be good aroma and flavor hops have low levels of alpha acids (around 6% or less). These varieties (there are others) include Cascade, Crystal, Fuggle, Kent Goldings, Hallertau, Saaz, Tettnang and Willamette.

Want to experiment? Feel free! That is what home brewing is all about! Any hop that you like the results of when using them in the last 15 minutes of the wort boil will most likely be ones that you will like the results of when dry hopping.

Tomorrow: At what stage in the lift of your home brew should you actually do your dry hopping?

Wine Tidbit: Many, many wines are purchased because of the bottle they are in or because of the label that is on the bottle! Why do you think we purchase beautiful blue bottles imported from France for our premier Once in a Blue Moon Riesling wine? If you are collecting bottles and labels then please, be my guest! A beautiful bottle and a designer label do not guarantee a superior wine! Read the label! If you are paying a premier price you should be getting a premier wine, not a pretty bottle.

Besides Once in a Blue Moon, BlueStem Winery markets many choice Iowa wines from our store in Parkersburg, Iowa. BlueStem has a gift shop which sells wine accessories plus gourmet foods, art, antiques, Amish quilts, and rare (and not so rare) books. BlueStem also features a complete line of home brewing supplies including fermenters, siphon equipment, dry malts, liquid malt extract, malted grains plus a complete inventory of bottles, cappers, grain mills and all of the necessities a homebrew enthusiast would need. BlueStem also features a complete line of wine making equipment, supplies, ingredients and both equipment and ingredient kits for your winemaking ventures. BlueStem features premium grade ingredient kits from both WinExpert and Cellar Craft and has the expertise to assist you with any winemaking question. Look for us on the web at www.bluestemwine.com.