Dry Hop in Fermenter Advice

[Wall]

Hi folks, looking for some advice on a small issue I am having.

Last night I added 120gm of pellet hops to 23L of a Rye IPA I have in the fermenter at present.
I've not often added this level of dry hop for a long time but my method with smaller amounts is usually just to throw the pellets in loose and transfer to keg with a stocking over the hose to catch any hop particulate.
Or else I throw into the keg in a stainless mesh ball.

The problem I am having is that all of my hops this morning are sitting in a thick cake over the top of the beer rather than dropping back into the mix.
Should I give this one a stir (really reluctant to do so due to O2 and infection threats) or have faith and let time sort it out?
If worst comes to worst I can pull the glad wrap and put a lid back on to hook up CO2 and try to get a blanket over the top before I stir but I'm not sure this will really help much and there's still infection issues, looking to dry hop for 4-5 days longer yet.

Looks like I have got down to final gravity (1012) but I added a small amount of DME mix along with the dry hop to try and scavenge any oxygen from the dry hop addition. (unfortunately work tends to mean that I'm often not home at the ideal time to add dry hops, shift temps etc).
Can't see there being enough sugar left for yeast activity / krausen to stir this up.

Hopefully someone with experience of this has a suggestion.

FWIW the hydrometer sample I took tastes and smells amazing so don't wanna screw this one up.

 

[Andy_27]

If you only added them last night, wait another day or two and they should sink. I've never only dry hopped for 12 odd hours. If you cold crash, this will drop most of it out too.

 

[damoninja]

Dry hop for such a short time is a bit of a waste, not enough time!

My last batch I dropped something stupid like 450g, I gave it a good cold crash but I also siphoned from the top to prevent as much crap as possible getting out of the FV and in to the keg.

 

[Wall]

Dry hop for such a short time is a bit of a waste, not enough time!

My last batch I dropped something stupid like 450g, I gave it a good cold crash but I also siphoned from the top to prevent as much crap as possible getting out of the FV and in to the keg.

How long do you recommend? 4 - 7 days usually seems enough for my tastes.

 

[2cranky]

Yep 4 days. I also put something under the fermenter to lift tap side about 10-15mm so the tap clears quicker. I pour the first 250ml into a jug then straight into the keg though disconnect onto the beer out.
Makes minimal difference to the yield from the fermenter but stops the hops sticking up the disconnect or getting in the keg.

 

[manticle]

I'd leave.

 

[Tony121]

I think the point is being missed here, seems the OP is concerned that the hops are not being utilised as they are sitting on top of the wort/beer (what is the correct term for wort that is being fermented but not finished beer??).

So to answer that, don't be concerned, hop oils will be absorbed by the beer. As Manticle said, leave it, more damage done by stirring than what it is worth.

Edit - And if I'm wrong (as could well be the case) and it is related to hoo matter dropping out before bottling/kegging, then cold crash will sort it out as others have said.

 

[damoninja]

I leave my hops 5-6 days but no longer, I always dry hop when I know I have time to keg at the end of that window.

Tapped one of the kegs with this beer in it, first glass was a hoppy mess, second was clear (black) and so delicious.

 

[Schikitar]

I use hop socks and make sure I only fill them about a third at maximum to allow them to freely expand and breathe in the wort. You can throw some marbles or weights to keep them submerged, but my last lot spent the whole time floating on top and it still worked a treat. Although, I could then remove the socks (and hence the hop material) before bulk priming for bottling so you'll need to be careful when doing your transfer to whatever is next in your process so you don't carry that material over..

PS. I gently squeeze the bags when I remove them, don't judge me.

 

[pcqypcqy]

+1 for hop socks with weights. I usually have some spare stainless parts laying around that I santise and put in there with the hops. It won't sink them, but keeps them more or less submerged.

+1 for squeezing them, sometimes.

 

[Osty]

If you're really concerned about the hop material not mixing and settling out, you could hook up a CO2 line to the outlet tap and give it a few blasts with the airlock off. This really stirs things up and the risk of oxygenation is low.

 

[Wall]

I went for leave, it slowly dropped out then cold crash finished it off.
Was surprised how little got as far as the transfer hose. I covered the end with stocking to catch any bits was probably 10gms worth of hops in there at most.
Trub was a big ol lump of green slop, smelt amazing going on the veggie garden.

Smells and tastes great with no grassy vegetal tastes going on so 5 days seems to have done the job and sitting on the surface for a while doesn't seem to have harmed.

 

[husky]

I find they always settle on the top for a day or two then drop. Since I use a conical I like this aspect since once they drop there's not a lot in contact with the beer and sometimes pump C02 into the cone to rouse them up again. So on the surface = good I rekon as you have good contact surface. If you are worried gentle swirl of the fermenter will see them all drop.

 

[koshari]

i put about 12g ea in little muslin drawstring bags,

 

[Doctormcbrewdle]

Check out the Brulosophy exBeeriment about dry hop length. 2 days gave the freshest aroma whilst longer was much more subdued