What Is Dry Hopping?

A cold infusion technique (as boiling evaporates hop oils), dry hopping intensifies the taste of hops in a beer. It imparts aromatics that range from marginally to substantially different to those developed by the late hopping technique.

The bitterness hops give beer is due, in part, to the alpha acid components becoming isomerized (a-acids ® iso-a-acids) – but this doesn’t happen during the dry hopping process. The alpha acids remain insoluble, although taste test trials have shown beer tasters can still detect subtle bitter undertones in dry hopped beer.

YoLong Dry Hopping Equipment

Dry hopping using pellets is a popular hopping method. Pellets are produced using the entire hop flower finely ground into powder and extruded into shapes. The pellets are then flushed with an inert gas and vacuum-packed. During the milling process, the lupulin glands of the hops that houses the essential oils is ruptured. These contents are exposed to the beer in the dry hopping process.

The hop pellets break into tiny particles when they make contact with liquid. This is what ensures the development of the hop oil characteristics in the beer. The Hop Gun setup uses a blast of compressed CO₂ to blow hop pellets through a steel tube from a chamber, and into the waiting tank. Dry hopping using this method is highly effective.