Dry-Hopping a Smaller Skunk

Ladies and gentleman, the skunk has left the building! Well, almost. Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to stick my nose over my primary's breathable bung to discover the aroma of pineapple and tropical fruits. This marked the first time I smelled anything inviting since the beer was skunked as a result of my impulsive and short-sighted fermentation maneuver, when I left my translucent primary bucket in the hot sun to warm up my Kveik yeast.

The skunk is still present, but it's underneath mountains of hops. After taking a reading that showed a gravity of 1.010 (finished!), I tasted the sample. It's exactly what I expect when fermentation goes right: flat, sweet and a silky bitterness. I decided then and there I was going to bottle the brew on the weekend ahead. I had one more step to complete, however.

I took .60 oz of Amarillo hops from the freezer, dropped a hops sock in 1 cup of boiling water in a pot on the stove to sanitize it, tossed the hops in the sock, sprayed it down with Starsan for good measure and walked down my basement where my primary awaited its next addition. I thought it might be possible to just remove the bung, but there was no way to squeeze the hops sock through the little hole, so I pryed off the lid and gently placed the sock in the middle of the brew, wading it through the liquid for a few seconds to immerse the hops. I let go, put the lid back on figured I'd give it about 4 days. I'll be very curious to monitor this batch further until bottling day. Will the dry hops mask more of the skunk? Will fermentation continue to remove the skunk naturally, as what seems to have occurred? I have no scientific data to back up that last assumption, but it definitely smells like the aroma has improved, and at 70-72 degrees F for several days now, the skunk smell went from being the primary aroma to now being only a secondary accent.

Update: It's been a day since I started writing this post, and I'm happy to report that the dry-hopping does appear to have done a lot of good. I'm just judging from outside of the primary, but I don't smell the skunk anymore. I plan to bottle this weekend, so I'll know for sure then. I'm excited to bottle this up and harvest the yeast, slurry and all. I'm working on a cream ale recipe with Cascade hops.