Adam Makes Beer: Pro Brewer Explains How He Avoids Hop Creep 

I'm a home brewer and ran into this issue before it had a name. Nowadays, to avoid it, I use ALDC and "secondary" with hop oils. Keeps the frustration out. I whirlpool at 150F BTW. I love to see that sheen of oil on the cooled wort!

Love your videos man. I’m just a home brewer fantasizing about life with the big tanks, living vicariously through you. Keep up the good work.

Dry hopping after the completion of fermentation can lead to the issue of re-fermentation during transport or at the customers. To avoid this, we often use the hop-creep effect with bio-transformation yeasts and low-amount dry-hop(1-1.5g/L)during primary fermentation, and high amount(6-8 g/L)during later stages of fermentation(1.5-2plato before fg)

Hi. I haven't practiced all 3 solutions I'm about to write here... but this is the science I studied: If you leave any tiny amount of yeast in the beer, and you dry hop it while cold, then at any point of time if the temperature of beer raise (while in storage in the package) a second fermentation will occur ! This is due to tiny amount of sugars in hops (can be neglected), and mainly to enzymes contained in the hops that will hydrolyse some of the polysccharides / dextrins in the wort or in the young beer and turn them into fermentable sugars, so any yeast still present in the beer will find food to eat and go through a second fermentation. If this happen in the fermenter, then no problem, but if it happend in the package they it will result a problem mainly of over carbonation. So the 3 solutions I know are: 1- If dry hop was made at cold temperatures, you shall never allow the temperature to raise after packaging (not guaranteed because once the packaged beer leave the brewery you cannot really control the storage conditions at your distributors). 2- get rid of all the yeast completely through a sterile filtration or pasteurisation or a centrifuge (if you are allowed to use sterile filtration / pasteurisation. Centrifuge have other challenges with heat and oxygen ingress). 3- allow for a the hop creep by harvesting the yeast (optional), depending on flocculation abilities of the yeast. Normal harvesting after a cold crush will not get rid of all the yeast; some will remain in suspension, then dry hop before you reach the fg (and the temperature shall be adequate to the yeast to work, so it is definitely higher of the cold crush temperature). then you cold crush (again) to dump any remaining yeast and hops trubs resulted from the dry hop. This way you allow the second fermentaiton to happen in the fermenter before packaging. Again this is the science I leaned, I haven't tried to practice all 3 options so I cannot give practical details. (the way we do it is the third option, because for artisanal beer we are not allowed to sterile filter nor pasteurise) Cheers

A (soon to be pro) brewer friend of mine makes some of the BEST hazy IPA I've ever had. He adds a small % of maltodextrin to the boil (about 2.5-3%). So on homebrew scale that is 8 oz in the boil. It adds a fantastic mouthfeel to the beer. I had a hazy I wasn't happy with, and I actually diluted 8oz of maltodextrin in water and added it to the keg. It improved it a LOT. Not the ideal way, but I was desperate.

Hi Adam, i'm a new brewer (300 litres atmospheric) in the south of France and love your videos very much, i think you are very humble despite all of your knowledge and i dig it:) Question: what kind of volume shall i expect to drain from the bottom valve (conical tank) in % approximatively after my fermentation is done? (1 week, gravity1010) and is it harmful to keep a little yeast in tank during resting time? thank you for what you share and keep that smile:) best

I'll never be a brewer but I do enjoy your videos, seeing what really happens in a brewery and in the mind of a brewer

Almost viewer 666... Great info, you may have pushed me over the edge for getting the Janish book. Keep em coming!

Yes I have had that all be it in smaller volume, FG was good dry hopped and it started fermenting again I’m going to try this great idea

very juicy explanation, your first argentinian supporter.

Same here in Panama! Cold dry hop.

Great video. Subbed. Cheers from Boston ☮️

Try using at least 5% dextrose in your grain bill. Russian River uses 8% works like a charm. Cheers!

This is interesting! For me, i'd want to eliminate the chance of additional fermentation in the can if it gets warm again. I'd be likely to just let it re-ferment in the vessel after hopping, not sure what the down side would be to this, I guess it would take longer and possibly raise ABV a tiny bit?

That's just kicking the problem down the road. Unless you are filtering below 4um you are still going to end up with overcarbed beer. The limit dextrinase and amyloglucosidase work from 0-60c. Whilst it is a lot slower cold it'll still makes it into packaged beer. And if you're not filtering the second you stick cans in a 10c cold room for more than a few week that carbonation will creep up.

We use exactly the same process for our Hazy ipas.

Great info

So what is causing the hop creep? Are there fermentables being introduced from the hops?

Hey adam, hoy many days after the cool down do you leave your hops?

What do you think about doing this with an IPL?? Lets say I fermented at 50-52 degrees using Imperial L-13 global, I pull it off yeast and transfer it into a secondary and dry hop it, drop it even further below that fermentation temp? Like maybe 40 degrees or is that to cold??

Do you need to do anything for better extraction efficiency because of the colder temp? Thx!

would you say that at a homebrewer level we rack to a keg to get the beer of the yeast and then add hops ands then purge the kegafter at 58 deg?

I left with the doubt if you make Dry hop at 14°C until you finish it, or you during it down the temp gradually to 4°C(or cold crash). Thanks.

so you add the hops how many days before you remove them out of the brew?

What's your take on "biotransformation" where DH are added almost at high kraeusen? Do you find you get just as much aroma contribution doing yours late and cold vs. early and warm? Obvious side bene is that you can much more easily harvest yeast, but I'd be curious to hear your comparison, and opinion on "losing out" on the supposed conversion of geraniol to b-citranellol by only doing cold temp DH. Cheers, enthusiastic subscriber here.

I use the same technique with dry hopping too. Do you always have re-fermentation in package with this DH technique if being stored warm? Also, have you noticed, or heard that higher ABV IPAs doesn't have the same hop creep issue than lover ABV beers? Maybe that's because with 8-10% ABV, the yeast can't start the re-fermentation that easily?

Is this refermentation happening because the hops are breaking long chain sugars that the beer yeast can't eat into smaller chains? Like a mini mash extraction and fermentation at the same time?

Spunding solves many issues.

How long should the hops be in the fermenter after dryhopped them. For my neipa i would add the hops on day 7, but dont know how for how long.

Where did you get the hop doser, i have been thinking about getting something like that for the brewery I work at.

I am seeing brewers putting way too many hops in active fermentation to make haze... it's just making bad beer and they are using wicked expensive hops to get biotransformation. To get the bulk of your Biotransformation you need to track your gravity. Once you are within 50% of terminal that's when you hit it with your hops for biotransformation and you don't need to be dumping massive amounts in like most breweries are doing. You can get the biotransformation with fewer hops and cheaper hops because the VOCs blow off during active fermentation which to your will help create that perceived balanced mouth feel which from my experience people and my personal opinion people want it on the finish as presenting as dry or clean versus hop burn or putting our green beer ie. Trillium, Burial and on and on and then telling people that is how those types of beers should taste a lot like when sours had a moment and brewers were putting out THP bombs and telling people no that's how its supposed to taste.

Wouldn't it be simpler to just add some potassium sorbate to stop yeast reproduction?