Last week I decided to try my hand at brewing an Imperial I.P.A., which is a strong, ridiculously hoppy beer. When I tested the secondary gravity it was right where I wanted it, coming in about 9.3% ABV. When finished, the IBUs should be 104. That is bitter, but the idea is to have the bitterness counteract the strong alcohol.
It tastes amazing and has a dry finish, which is good for showcasing the hops. It’s really bold. Besides the excessive hop addition in the boil, I’m adding 3 oz to the secondary. This is called “dry hopping” and I’m doing it to give it a strong, hoppy aroma to match the intense, bitter flavor of the beer.
This is the secondary carboy, with ale being racked upon 2 oz Cascade (5.5) pellet hops and 1 oz Amarillo (9.3) fresh hops.
Things seemed good with the airlock intact, but as the hops started expanding, CO2 was forced out of solution causing beer to fill the airlock and overflow.
Problem solved with a small blow off tube. I will leave this alone for two weeks, then bottle.
That was my first dry hop experience. Besides the expanding hops and overflowing airlock, all went well. I could consider racking to a larger carboy when excessively dry hopping, as in this case, to make room for expansion.
