Over time, I’ve tried a wide variety of beer styles. And during that time, I’ve also been curious about how the brewing process impacts the final beer’s taste, aroma, and appearance. The term dry hopping is a term I’ve often heard and wanted to learn more about. And recently, double dry hopping, aka DDH, has become extremely popular. But what is a DDH beer?
What Is Dry Hopping?
Luckily, the process of dry hopping is easy to understand and define. Dry hopping is the process of adding hops to a beer post boil; aka on the cold side of brewing. This can be during primary or secondary fermentation.
The hot side of brewing is the first stage where the ingredients are boiled. This process achieves a number of things including creating sugars that will be converted to alcohol as well as using hops to add bitterness, aroma, and flavor. The cold side of brewing includes the fermentation process where the addition yeast of changes the liquid into beer.
Traditionally, hops are used during the boiling portion of brewing. But in the 1970’s the idea of adding hops after the boil gained popularity. And was eventually called dry hopping.
Dry hopping is primarily used when making IPAs but this method can be used with any style of beer where extra hop flavor is desired.
The goal of dry hopping is to add more hop aroma and flavor to the beer without the bitterness. In the modern craft beer world, big hop flavor without increasing bitterness has become very trendy which means dry hopping has continued to evolve.
Learn More About New England IPAs
What Is A DDH Beer?
Unfortunately, double dry hopping isn’t as easy to define dry hopping because it can be interpreted a number of ways.
At some point, we started adding the term Double to the term dry hopping. Many would tell you that it came about because of the iconic Pliney The Elder. This West coast IPA is a craft beer fan favorite and set the IPA standard for a number of years.
The idea of saying it was double dry hopped provided an explanation for why it had so much more flavor than other IPAs that were simply dry hopped.
Today, almost any beer that has a hop forward profile is dry hopped. But what makes a beer DDH?
That is where things get confusing. The world double should mean one of two things: twice the amount of hops or dry hopping twice. But rarely will a definitive answer be given on what the double means in DDH.
If it is twice the amount, then what was the original amount? If there isn’t a base amount of hops to reference then it is hard to say what is double. And if the process is repeated then the same question can be asked about the total quantity used.
And if brewers could agree on this then we wouldn’t have to ask “what is a DDH beer?”. But it isn’t that simple. For most brewers, it means more hops (not necessarily double). While others will dry hop a beer multiple times to achieve the result they are looking for.
Is It Just Marketing?
In many ways, DDH has turned into a marketing term. Adding these three letters (DDH) to a beer description can instantly create hysteria among craft beer enthusiasts. DDH has become extremely popular with the New England Style IPA (aka Hazy IPA). This style relies on huge hop aromas and flavors while have nearly no bitterness which is achieved through the dry hopping process.
What is a DDH beer? While there is no way to guarantee how this term is defined for each beer, DDH simply means that the beer has been dry hopped with a lot of hops and the consumer should expect increased flavors and aromas from those hops.
Hops Continue To Change Craft Beer
There is no doubt that hops continually change and define craft beer. The IPA dominates as the most popular beer style and hops are driving the IPA evolution.
There are new varieties of hops and formats; including Lupulin Powder, With all of the different types of hops, breweries are wise to use them to sell their beer. But can be taken too far as terms are used that confuse more than help.
DDH should be easily understood but continues to muddy the water since there is no clear definition outside of “lots of hops used” – which still isn’t very clear. Either way, these beers are increasingly popular and delicious so I doubt this term gains any clarity. Instead, we see it become more unclear as the term Triple Dy Hopped (TDH?) becomes more commonly used to describe the hop content of a beer.
I often wonder if the Brewers Associations will attempt to regulate terminology in the beer industry. Until then, hops are fun, tasty, and help describe a beer’s flavor so there’s no doubt that they will continue change and define craft beer.