Dry Hopping Hodgepodge IPA

This is the first time I used Chinook in an American IPA recipe. It was recommended by the local homebrew shop as what they use in their IPA. I was reluctant since I really don't like their house IPA, but I figured I'd give it a shot anyway.

I usually use Simcoe hops in my IPA since I love the clean woodsy pine taste, and Simcoe doesn't seem--at least to me--to have all the harsh resiny flavors. Chinook, I came to learn, is the forerunner of the harsh resiny hops, which I suppose is fine for hopheads, but I prefer having a more balanced IPA. With that said, I figured I'd explain a bit about hop usage and scheduling time.

The rule of thumb is that the earlier the hops go into the boil,  the more bitterness and less aroma they will impart. The scale tilts the opposite way as the hop is added toward the end of the boil. So a hop addition at 5 minutes left in the boil will add only those wonderful aromas we love when we pour a glass from the bottle or keg.

Dry hopping is the most effective method to make an aromatic brew. All you do is add fresh hops or hop pellets to the carboy after the fermentation has calmed down and let it sit for a few weeks. Apparently, in the past, dry hopping was used to help preserve beer, too.

I prefer to use whole hops because they impart the best aroma in my opinion, but many homebrewers hate using whole flowers because they're a pain to siphon out of the fermenter when the beer is ready to bottle or keg. Instead, they prefer hop pellets, which of course work well, too. I merely attach a bit of sterilized steel wool around the end of the siphon which acts as a buffer from the whole hop flowers and allows the siphon to flow without obstruction.