# Opening the Fermenter to Dry Hop



## Scobieb (16/3/14)

Hey guys,

Quick question, I'm following a recipe that calls for my beer to be dry hopped after 5 days in the fermenter. However my air lock is still bubbling and I'm wondering whether its a good idea to open it up when its doing this.

Should I wait till fermentation is over (or at least the airlock stops bubbling) before dry hopping?


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## Spiesy (17/3/14)

Prob good that it is still bubbling. Better chance that it's still undergoing fermentation, so the yeast will likely eat up any oxygen introduce during the addition of hops. 

Go for it.


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## Alex.Tas (17/3/14)

Agreed with the above. its good that its still fermenting.
My understanding is that you should dry hop once most of the fermentation is done. you dont want it to be fermenting too much as you can loose some of that aroma (which is what you are essentially trying to acheive through a dry hop). by adding too early. But you dont want to add too late because as spiesy says above you want the CO2 produced to displace the oxygen that you added to the top of the brew by opening the lid.
stress less, its gonna be good. I usually dry hop on day 5-7 depending on activity. I use glad wrap so i judge it based on what i see ie visually looking for foam.


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## Scobieb (17/3/14)

Thanks guys. It's been in since last Monday so dry hopping now fits with the 5-7 days.

Just dry hopped and the airlock is now going crazy, bubbling every couple of seconds whereas before it was every 30 seconds


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## Alex.Tas (17/3/14)

good good. 5-7 days isn't really a rule. more like guidelines, like the pirates code.
so long as the brew is still fermenting you should be right. but remember just because the airlock isn't bubbling, it doesn't mean your brew isn't fermenting.
have fun!


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## Yeastfridge (17/3/14)

Dry hopping usually gets my airlock bubbling away again for a little too, I'd guess because it displaces some of the dissolved CO2 in the fermenting beer.

Also, just in case you haven't read/found out yet, hops have some antimicrobial properties, so adding them isn't too risky in terms of the hops contaminating your beer.


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## Scobieb (17/3/14)

Thanks Alex. I've actually got a dodgy fermenter where the lid doesn't seal properly so I know all about fermenting but no bubbling


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## Alex.Tas (17/3/14)

try some vaseline, works for me.


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## jkhlt1210 (17/3/14)

Alex.Tas said:


> try some vaseline, works for me.


 G'day Alex not sure if you remember giving me the recipe for my coopers draught tin with a cascade and clusters boil? Anyway it's been bottled for two weeks so far I opened one yesterday... And holy f$&@ it tastes and smells unbelievable!!!! By far my best and favourite brew to date!! Thanks heaps for that mate!


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## Alex.Tas (18/3/14)

Sure do mate, glad to hear you like it. Enjoy your home made beer!


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## Nizmoose (22/3/14)

jkhlt1210 said:


> G'day Alex not sure if you remember giving me the recipe for my coopers draught tin with a cascade and clusters boil? Anyway it's been bottled for two weeks so far I opened one yesterday... And holy f$&@ it tastes and smells unbelievable!!!! By far my best and favourite brew to date!! Thanks heaps for that mate!


Care to share?


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## fletcher (22/3/14)

Scobieb said:


> Thanks Alex. I've actually got a dodgy fermenter where the lid doesn't seal properly so I know all about fermenting but no bubbling


don't even bother with the lid. use gladwrap. many on here do with better success than lid hassles. use elastic bands or the o-ring from your lid to seal the gladwrap on. it will let c02 out but not let oxygen in.


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## jkhlt1210 (22/3/14)

Nizmoose said:


> Care to share?


 Sure will share! It's nothing wild but simple a nd makes a beautiful beer. 
Coopers Draught tin
1kg LDME
Boil 500g of DME in 5 litres water
12g Cluster @ 25mins
12g Cascade @ 15mins
Put all in fermenter fill to 22 litres
Day 5 dry hop 12g Cascade
I ferment at. 20 degrees for 14 days.
Hope you enjoy!


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## Nizmoose (23/3/14)

jkhlt1210 said:


> Sure will share! It's nothing wild but simple a nd makes a beautiful beer.
> Coopers Draught tin
> 1kg LDME
> Boil 500g of DME in 5 litres water
> ...


Sorry for being a total noob and maybe going off topic but if you want to steep in speciality grain for example, can you do that in a small amount of water (eg 5L) then just fill the fermenter with your extract, 5 litres of 'wort', and then your 18 or whatever litres of water to make a 23L batch?


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## dicko (23/3/14)

Yes Nizmoose, you can steep your crystal grains in a litre or so of water then add that to the water that you will dissolve your dried malt extract in and then boil the lot for the time appropriate to the recipe and add the hops at the specified time, cool it and add it to the fermenter and top up as stated above.
You need to boil any liquid that you have steeped or mashed grain in to remove opportunity of infection spoiling your beer.

Cheers


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## Nizmoose (23/3/14)

dicko said:


> Yes Nizmoose, you can steep your crystal grains in a litre or so of water then add that to the water that you will dissolve your dried malt extract in and then boil the lot for the time appropriate to the recipe and add the hops at the specified time, cool it and add it to the fermenter and top up as stated above.
> You need to boil any liquid that you have steeped or mashed grain in to remove opportunity of infection spoiling your beer.
> 
> Cheers


Okay thanks, and then how much water do you boil your dried malt extract in? Can you theoretically just boil the water for steeping and steep, and then add the extract to the fermenter and then only put boiling water into the fermenter along with the steeped water up to 23L or is that a ridiculous amount of boiling? And if so do you just boil the DME and dissolve it, add that to the empty fermenter then top up with cold water?


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## dicko (23/3/14)

:icon_offtopic: Apologies OP

If you are adding cold water to the fermenter to chill the boiled wort down to ferment temps then use as little water as necessary to dissolve the DME.
In the recipe above the brewer states in the recipe that there is 1 kg of DME required but he only mentions 500gramms in the boil so I guess he justs dissolves the rest of the DME in the fermenter.
I prefer to boil anything that is going into the fermenter except for the tin of goo.

What ever way you choose to dissolve your DME is a personal choice, however you must boil a part of it to extract hop bitterness and flavour and you must boil the steeped grain wort after the grain is removed to ensure against infections in your brew.

I hope this helps without too much confusion.


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## Nizmoose (23/3/14)

Yep awesome thanks heaps and sorry OP off topic my apologies!


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## jkhlt1210 (23/3/14)

Nizmoose said:



> Yep awesome thanks heaps and sorry OP off topic my apologies!


 Hey bud yeah as stated above you can boil all the DME if you wish I just did 500 grams as I had an 8 litre pot. It seems a general rule of thumb is 1 litre water per 100grams malt ie. 10 litres water for the kilo. It is a very simple recipe for a really nice hoppy little beer! Please let me know how you go


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## Nizmoose (23/3/14)

jkhlt1210 said:


> Hey bud yeah as stated above you can boil all the DME if you wish I just did 500 grams as I had an 8 litre pot. It seems a general rule of thumb is 1 litre water per 100grams malt ie. 10 litres water for the kilo. It is a very simple recipe for a really nice hoppy little beer! Please let me know how you go


Will definitely try this next and will definitely let you know how it goes


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## indica86 (23/3/14)

Airlock activity does not mean fermentation is still going, just like no airlock activity does not mean it has stopped.
Opening the FV, if quick, and dry hopping after fermentation has ceased is not an issue if everything is well sanitised.
Increased airlock activity after dry hopping is not a sign of infection or fermentation.


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## Nizmoose (23/3/14)

This might be silly but could you just take the airlock off and shove the hops through the hole in the lid as opposed to taking the whole lid off to minimize co2 loss / o2 gain?


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## breakbeer (23/3/14)

I remove the lid to add dry hops in almost all my brews. In my mind, the reason for increased airlock activity is because the compressed pellets swell once added to the wort & displace the headspace, therefore forcing the kitten to burp


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## peas_and_corn (24/3/14)

I think it's more to do with the hops providing more nucleation points for the co2


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## Bizenya (26/3/14)

I would think that the CO2 should be pretty hard to dislodge, assuming that there are a few centimetres between the top of the wort and the inside lip of the fermenter- it's a heavier gas compared with oxygen, so it's not going to float out so to speak

As long as the hop tea or hops aren't put in to vigorously it shouldn't introduce more O2 to the wort

And if everything is sanitised / sterilised all will be good


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## heshtek (24/5/14)

I did exactly this tonight. First time dry hopping and I just poured them in today (day 7). Airlock starting going crazy. Boy the smell of those hops straight from the packet smell like nothing else on earth


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## Bribie G (24/5/14)

When you open the lid, or ease back the gladwrap, if you do it very gently there will still be a dense layer of CO2 over the beer, then chuck in the hops quickly and reseal quickly, you'll get a very minimal amount of oxygen into the beer. In many UK traditional breweries, and a lot of former European lager breweries the beer is / was fermented in open tanks and the layer of CO2 forms an invisible blanket that protects the beer from oxygen. To test, they would regularly lower a candle in a candleholder down towards the surface of the fermenting beer and if the candle went out, all good.


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## jaypes (24/5/14)

Alex.Tas said:


> try some vaseline, works for me.


Use proper food grade keg lube

Vaseline is petroleum based and will f%^k your o-rings in no time


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## Bribie G (24/5/14)

Has been known to disintegate rubber condoms for decades.
I bought a tube of keg lube in 2009 and at the current rate of usage should still be half full for sealing my coffin o ring.


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## Bizenya (24/5/14)

I've ended up grabbing a couple of those hop tea balls - sterilize em for five mins in boiling water take em out , add hops and then add them in .

I open the lid slowly, then use the little chain to slowly lower into the fermenter- stop the sudden drop splash and oxidize. Will swirl FV for next four days to infuse the hops then cold crash. Dry hop done.


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## ManVsBeer (12/6/14)

Hi all,

I've had a 5 year break from brewing for because of a spate of infections put me off. I'm now paranoid about everything and I want to dry hop with the fermenter lid on, dropping the hop pellets through the airlock hole. 

What's the chance of oxidisation dropping them into 20L from the height of a 30L fermenter?


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## Bizenya (12/6/14)

I would think even just opening the air lock is a risk, plus if your trying to drop in decent amounts of hops it's going to take awhile. I think a nice smooth opening of the lid, with hops at the ready, and smoothly but swiftly getting them into the wort without splashing is the key. Reckon takes me about 15 seconds to take lid off, and place the hop balls into the fermenter before the lid is replaced. Still a rush, but I think it's minimal.


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## Weizguy (12/6/14)

Bribie G said:


> Has been known to disintegate rubber condoms for decades.
> I bought a tube of keg lube in 2009 and at the current rate of usage should still be half full for sealing my coffin o ring.


Bribie, are you using keg lube on your condoms?
Sorry to hear about your current rate of usage, though.


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## ManVsBeer (12/6/14)

I was thinking a small hole compared to the whole lid off would not expose the wort too much. It wouldn't take long to drop 15g off pellets through it. I was more concerned about oxidisation with the hops splashing in. Maybe I should just man up and take the lid off, but I will have to take all the sticky tape off sealing the lid to the fermenter


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## Nizmoose (12/6/14)

Let's be fair, some beers used to be fermented without a lid at all, and the fact remains that carbon dioxide is heavier than air, if you take out the airlock or even the lid for a few seconds your beer is unlikely to see any of the oxygen you're worried about, it will have a layer of co2 and even after that depending on a few things, a healthy thick krausen. There's nothing to worry about if it's a minute or two


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## CrookedFingers (12/6/14)

MvB,
If you were going to go down the road of just taking the airlock off and dropping in to the hole, use a small funnel that fits the hole.
I have done it before and all it needs is a little jiggle once or twice to get them moving. 
I am a glad wrap user now however, but with a SS fermenter coming I might go back to using the funnel.

CF


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## vykuza (12/6/14)

If you get a lot of bubbling and blow off when you add your hops, it's not a reintroduction of oxygen that's doing it.

All those hop pellets when they break up, have a huge amount of surface area. The dissolved CO2 in your ferment will bubble off this huge surface area, causing more airlock action. Nothing to worry about.


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## ManVsBeer (14/6/14)

Cheers for the replies. I reckon I'll just open the lid and slide the hops in carefully. After experimenting with dropping seeds roughly the same size and weight into a bowl of water from height, they made more of a splash than I thought.


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## 3136 (16/6/14)

jkhlt1210 said:


> Hey bud yeah as stated above you can boil all the DME if you wish I just did 500 grams as I had an 8 litre pot. It seems a general rule of thumb is 1 litre water per 100grams malt ie. 10 litres water for the kilo. It is a very simple recipe for a really nice hoppy little beer! Please let me know how you go


So did you do two 5L boils?,or did you just put the other 500grams in the fermenter?

Re the OP's question, would it be an idea to have a pouch attached to the lid of the fermenter and some way to drop it in at a given point.
Perhaps even a little shelf, then the fermenter could be tilted a little to knock it into the mix?


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## peas_and_corn (17/6/14)

I think that's over engineering to solve a problem that doesn't really exist


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## pat86 (17/6/14)

Yes, highly recommend putting that idea on a shelf  

After the 5-10 days before dry hopping, they would be practically useless having been kept at fermentation temps instead of 0C. 

For anyone who finds this thread, the answers are above and in many other more informative dry hopping threads here. 

Just throw them in gently.


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## peas_and_corn (17/6/14)

The thing is, you're introducing more oxygen by bottling with bottles full of air, filling kegs full of air and filling a bulk priming fermenter full of air than you will ever introduce by opening a fermenter lid for a few moments. It amazes me how many home brewers try to be so specific in irrelevant areas when other parts of their process introduce huge variables that make the specificity irrelevant. It's like people who obsessively take mash temperatures in a mash tun that isn't continually stirred and thus obviously has cold and hot spots.


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## slcmorro (18/6/14)

Open lid, drop in hops, close lid. Simple. The amount of oxygen you're going to introduce is negligible, because in comparison to the volume of beer it's nothing. Also, if there's still fermentation going on, the oxygen will either be consumed by the yeast or pushed out of the FV by the CO2 still being produced, even in small amounts.

Don't fear the dry hop. Open, drop, close. Stop stressing! RDWHAHB!


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## Dan Pratt (18/6/14)

When I dry hop i try to get add them right at the end of fermentation while the yeast still has a few points to go. The reason for this is when adding the hops its obvious that oxygen is introduced to the beer but the yeast finishing fermentation scrubs that out with the production of C02.

Ive done it when fermentation has finished without any noticable effects to the beer, but if your worried about that small amount of O2, add when your near final gravity. Some may say you will lose some hop aroma to the yeast, which is correct ( due to hop resin being extremenly stick and attaching to the yeast cells) however the additions of dry hopping at 2-3g/L or more will not be noticable as a loss of aroma.


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## Spiesy (18/6/14)

peas_and_corn said:


> The thing is, you're introducing more oxygen by bottling with bottles full of air, filling kegs full of air and filling a bulk priming fermenter full of air than you will ever introduce by opening a fermenter lid for a few moments. It amazes me how many home brewers try to be so specific in irrelevant areas when other parts of their process introduce huge variables that make the specificity irrelevant. It's like people who obsessively take mash temperatures in a mash tun that isn't continually stirred and thus obviously has cold and hot spots.


Whilst I agree with your principle, kegs should be purged of oxygen.


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