Beer Forum

I know this question has been repeated on the forum before but I have a question about how much hops to dry hop with and for how long. I am brewing a Premium Bitters(og was 1.048), I know its on the cusp of being an esb but bare with me. To get an appropriate english level of hop aroma for the style how much hops( I have whole ekg's 5%) should I use to dry hop? Secondly, how much contact time with the beer. And thirdly at what temp is best. My plan was to rack to a glass carboy after 2 weeks in primary(or once ferment it finished and yeast has couple days to clean up). I was going to leave the glass secondary at fermentation temperature for another week dryhopping before I transfer to keg and chill. Is this optimum? Should I use a quarter oz of hops...a third? Help me out guys.

This is probably the best answer to your question.

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/Brew-Strong/Brew-Strong-12-08-08-Dry-Hopping

I just listened to that show yesterday and for that style I think you want 1/2 oz for 3-7 days.

I usually do a 0.5 oz dose for my 5 gallon batches, and it does the trick well. I dry hopped my blonde with 0.5 oz cascade for a week, and the aroma is sweeeeeet! It made me change the name from Slutty Blonde to Hop Ambition, because the aroma was too prominent and wonderful to neglect mentioning in the title.
I haven't done a bitter yet, but read up on the style guidelines for them and pitch accordingly.
All the best!

So I just re-listened to the dry hopping show. I think I will go with 1/3 oz of whole ekgs for about a week in secondary before I keg. I know the guys on the show say to use pellets because they stay fresh longer, but for the first time dry hopping it seems more conservative to use whole flower as it is an english ale and only needs a little background aroma. And a bit easier to keep out of the keg. Plus I already bought the hops for this purpose and the only english pellets I have are Challenger which I am saving for a later project.
Maybe im being too timid, oh well. Ill still drink it.