Dry Hopping Advice

[WarmBeer]

I'm about to dry hop a LCPA clone tomorrow, using 12g Chinook into my secondary fermenter.

I know the wiki article says "use a hop bag or sock", but can I just chuck the pellets straight into the fermenter and let it all settle into the trub over the week?

Also, will I need to slosh it around a bit to get the aroma through all the beer, rather than just the bottom of the fermenter where the pellets have settled?

Cheers.

 

[QIK86]

I tried using a tea ball to dry hop, but found it seemed to "strangle" the hops a little bit as they swelled. I now prefer to just throw the pellets in loose and let them settle out in their own time. That way I know I'm getting everything out of them.

And no need to slosh it around. The aroma will make its way through the whole brew.

 

[bradsbrew]

I'm about to dry hop a LCPA clone tomorrow, using 12g Chinook into my secondary fermenter.

I know the wiki article says "use a hop bag or sock", but can I just chuck the pellets straight into the fermenter and let it all settle into the trub over the week?

Also, will I need to slosh it around a bit to get the aroma through all the beer, rather than just the bottom of the fermenter where the pellets have settled?

Cheers.

I would be using a hopsock in secondary. If you havent got a hopsock just pinch and boil some stockings off the misses(just be sure to steal a pair). If you theow the hops in before transfer to the container that should be enough to get mthem mixed in.
I recently threw in 12g of amarillo pellets and 15g of willamette flowers(no sock) just before pitching yeast. When fermentation was complete i transferd to secondary and the tap was a bit clogged, it made it a slow process but there was very little hop sludge in the secondary container. I let that sit for 2.5 weeks at 17 deg before bottling. It was so nice a drank 3 pots of it while i was bottling it.

Cheers Brad

 

[bradsbrew]

I tried using a tea ball to dry hop, but found it seemed to "strangle" the hops a little bit as they swelled. I now prefer to just throw the pellets in loose and let them settle out in their own time. That way I know I'm getting everything out of them.

And no need to slosh it around. The aroma will make its way through the whole brew.

Ive had the same problem with the tea ball. Only done that once.

 

[Ross]

I'm about to dry hop a LCPA clone tomorrow, using 12g Chinook into my secondary fermenter.

I know the wiki article says "use a hop bag or sock", but can I just chuck the pellets straight into the fermenter and let it all settle into the trub over the week?

Also, will I need to slosh it around a bit to get the aroma through all the beer, rather than just the bottom of the fermenter where the pellets have settled?

Cheers.

Just throw them in loose, far better than restricting them in any bag or ball. No need to slosh about, just leave in the brew for minimum 5 days.

Cheers Ross

 

[Bribie G]

+1 although I have modified that slightly, I make a pellet brew to about a litre in a pan using warm but not boiling water, let it cool and pour that in so it disperses fairly instantly into the brew without leaving a ring round the fermenter.

The one and only ESB 3kg tin I made had heaps of pellet in it and I got a duckpond green crust on top of the brew which I broke up half way through the fermentation and it sank eventually.

Dry hopping with pellets is a third of the price of using hop teabags and works great.

 

[Pumpy]

I'm about to dry hop a LCPA clone tomorrow, using 12g Chinook into my secondary fermenter.

I know the wiki article says "use a hop bag or sock", but can I just chuck the pellets straight into the fermenter and let it all settle into the trub over the week?

Also, will I need to slosh it around a bit to get the aroma through all the beer, rather than just the bottom of the fermenter where the pellets have settled?

Cheers.

This was 28gms of Styrian Golding flowers the pellets will sink to the bottom when the fermentation finished


Pumpy

 

[KGB]

Yep, I just chuck them in loose as well. Usually I make up a 'tea' similar to bribie.

 

[sid]

I chuck my hops straight into the fermenter when I dry hop...........but, when I bottle I hook up a NETA water filter from the garden store($10) and run a pipe off either end before it goes into the bottle and it catches most of the hops. Then I just screw it apart and it's easy to steralize and clean.

 

[WarmBeer]

Thanks for the tips guys. When I said I was looking for advice from the pro's, I never expected to really get the cream of the crop (thanks Ross )

 

[Jase71]

If one was intending to re-use yeast from a previous batch, would dry-hopping with loose pellets render the trub unusable - ie would the hop flavour go strange while storing the yeast in a fridge?

 

[mwd]

If one was intending to re-use yeast from a previous batch, would dry-hopping with loose pellets render the trub unusable - ie would the hop flavour go strange while storing the yeast in a fridge?

Interesting Question

I would think you might have to 'wash' the yeast as described in a couple of 'reusing yeast' threads to get rid of the residue before storing.

The yeast should go into suspension and crud sink to bottom or vise versa

 

[Bribie G]

If one was intending to re-use yeast from a previous batch, would dry-hopping with loose pellets render the trub unusable - ie would the hop flavour go strange while storing the yeast in a fridge?

The spent hops shouldn't have too much flavour left but might theoretically affect the subsequent brew if you are storing say a litre of yeast cake for the next brew. Same goes for saving say a litre of cake from a stout brew and then pitching it into a pale ale next brew :unsure: So washing the trub with a litre of sterile water would be the go.

I've gone much smaller in my saved yeast samples now that I'm into liquid yeasts and don't expect any problems in this department.

 

[buttersd70]

If one was intending to re-use yeast from a previous batch, would dry-hopping with loose pellets render the trub unusable - ie would the hop flavour go strange while storing the yeast in a fridge?

Never had a problem with this myself, and never really bothered too much with rinsing the yeast. But that being said, for a particular yeast strain that I use, the recipes will have similar flavour profiles, and the small amount of hops in the yeast from one batch will either have the same variety in the next, or another hop which is fairly complimentary to it anyway. eg if I get a bit of EKG sludge into my next brew with fuggle/styrian, I don't lose any sleep on it, because EKG, fuggle, and styrian all work together anyway. If I had something that didn't compliment the hops in the current batch, chances are I would be using a different yeast variety anyway.

But as bribie said, it can be rinsed...once the sludge settles in the bottle it is collected in, pour off the excess liquid, add cooled boiled water, resuspend everything...as it starts to settle down, the hops will drop to the bottom quicker than the yeast. Decant of the suspended yeast, leaving the heavy matter behind. This will get rid of most of the hops. As I said, I don't even bother with this.

 

[raven19]

It was so nice a drank 3 pots of it while i was bottling it.

I like that dedication... No bottle conditioning required! :lol:

 

[bradsbrew]

I like that dedication... No bottle conditioning required! :lol:

SWMBO did not see it like that, conversation went something like this,
Wife: Are you filling your glass straight from that container thingo
Me: Yes but i am using a clean glass each time to avoid infection
Wife: You've got a problem
Me: Yes I do, there wont be any bubbles in this beer for at least 2 weeks
and i will be lucky if there is any left by the time it is conditioned.
Wife: Silence and you shit me stares

:icon_chickcheers:

 

[philipwebb]

If one was intending to re-use yeast from a previous batch, would dry-hopping with loose pellets render the trub unusable - ie would the hop flavour go strange while storing the yeast in a fridge?

You could always avoid the issue and dry hop in secondary.

Cheers

Phil

 

[mfdu]

hey you!

first time i dry hopped, i just ossed them in with a casual flick of the wrist. good aroma,lots of sediment.

since then, i've made a tea (as mentioned) and then strained the liquid, but i think the straining out of the heavy materials took away the goodness - that batch isn't as hoppy as i hop(p)ed.

hmmm. gotta get more hops.

mfdu

 

[flattop]

I would recommend a hop bag for 3 reasons.
1) I just dry hopped and the last 2 bottles filled with green bits as they didn't sink even with finings.
2) the hops can block the tap
3) it will leave the yeast cake mostly free

 

[mouapp12]

hey you!

thanks man i now have "gay bar" stuck in my head



but seriously when talking about dry hopping ive noticed that people will only talk about the aroma, would this mean that you do not get the hop's flavor as well?

it seemed a silly question at first but the more no one says it the more suspicious i get