Dry Hopping Bottles

[Nick JD]

Hey All,

Just thought I'd show some pics of dry hopping bottles of a deliberately bland ale.

The beer was mashed in two 10L parts, the first had 2kg of wheat malt and the second 3kg of ale malt (Stovetop BIAB). The first batch was hopped with 20g of Pacific Jade for 60 min. The second batch was unhopped altogether and boiled for only about 15 min.

The second batch was added to the fermenter on day four of fermentation adding an extra 10L of 1.068 making up to 20L.

The bottles were marked with their respective dry hops and a pellet of each was added to the 2L bottles.

These four have a pellet of Nelson Sauvin each.

These three, Galaxy.

And the rest had Southern Cross - a pellet each.

Here's a bottle of iced coffee. Actually, no, it's the bottom 600ml of swirl at the bottom of the fermenter. I added a teaspoon of sugar and bottled the trub. It's marked with the yeast and the date and can simply be thrown into the next brew that requires this yeast. I've even used half of the bottle before with great results.

Since these are bottled into clear PET - your can see that after the shake to dissolve the priming sugar the hops have already settled where they can leech fruity goodness in the next few weeks.

A way to get variety into one brew.

:icon_cheers:

 

[Renegade]

man, your beers look like muddy water. What's happening there ?

 

[MarkBastard]

Is one pellet for 2L enough? Particularly with no late hops?

Interesting either way.

 

[Rod]

what you pay for is what you get

 

[staggalee]

Interesting and timely that this should come up as I was thinking of exactly the same thing a couple of days ago {dry hopping a few bottles as a trial} and couldn`t be bothered posting about it.
I don`t mind the odd hop in a beer.

stagga.

 

[Nick JD]

man, your beers look like muddy water. What's happening there ?

A rather flocculent yeast - I was hoping for more, actually.

 

[Nick JD]

what you pay for is what you get

You've never re-used a yeast?

 

[chappo1970]

I'm guessing that they will be gushers there Nick. Rmember a club member doing this as an experiment. Lets just say it went all wrong. You maybe ok thou I'm no expert on the subject of dry hopping bottles.

Chappo

 

[Nick JD]

Is one pellet for 2L enough? Particularly with no late hops?

Interesting either way.

They probably could have a little more, but you might notice that the hops I've used are the "smack in the face" hops - so I went easy.

Another aspect is you can't remove them so I've found when dry hopping bottles caution is the wiser option if unsure.

 

[Batz]

A bit more time in the fermenter to allow the brew to settle out would not go a stray. I think one pellet may have been a bit stingy as well.

Hope it works out for you.

batz

 

[Nick JD]

I'm guessing that they will be gushers there Nick. Rmember a club member doing this as an experiment. Lets just say it went all wrong. You maybe ok thou I'm no expert on the subject of dry hopping bottles.

Chappo

I've not found that. The hops get buried in the sediment.

 

[Nick JD]

A bit more time in the fermenter to allow the brew to settle out would not go a stray. I think one pellet may have been a bit stingy as well.

Hope it works out for you.

batz

I always bottle cloudy! Whether it clears in the bottle or in the fermenter doesn't bug me. Especially with a wheatie!

edit: this brings me to a point about "conditioning". I have a strong belief that the conditioning of beer is proportional to the amount of yeast in the beer. Bottling super-clear beer just means a way longer wait for it to condition nicely (where the yeast eat up all the nastier compounds they made during primary) and to carbonate. Try fining half your brew one time and leaving the other half cloudy - then taste the difference in a month when they are both clear.

Bottle conditioning is conditioned by the yeast. When it has to build a population back up from scratch with zero oxygen to eat enough sugar to make 0.5% alc ... will it be just like underpitching into a zero O2 wort? Probably. Stressed yeast trying to establish a viable population makes bad tasting stuff - when it should be actually clearing up the bad tasting stuff.

Bottle cloudy sometime. It'll clear.

 

[browndog]

Nick,
If you took a coke bottle of yeast from the bottom of a fermenter then added a teaspoon of sugar you would be creating an organic equivalent of a thermonuclear bomb if the lid is done up tight. Don't try this at home lest you want the contents sprayed over the ceiling in the vicinity of the point of opening. It's happened to me and a few others on this forum.

cheers

Browndog

 

[Nick JD]

Nick,
If you took a coke bottle of yeast from the bottom of a fermenter then added a teaspoon of sugar you would be creating an organic equivalent of a thermonuclear bomb if the lid is done up tight. Don't try this at home lest you want the contents sprayed over the ceiling in the vicinity of the point of opening. It's happened to me and a few others on this forum.

cheers

Browndog

I do this all the time. 600ml + 1 flat teaspoon = nicely carbonated (I'm not sure if you know about it, but the first law of thermodynamics might be a start ... the sugar in the system is responsible for the CO2, not the yeast). I keep my yeast bottles in the fridge. When I want a starter, I take it out of the fridge ... crack it (small fizzz like any bottle), retighten lid and set it aside to warm up to ambient. I only add the sugar to keep the yeast on its toes.

DISCLAIMER: If you don't think this stuff works ... don't do it. If you think it might work - be brave - it does.

 

[brotom7]

I did almost exactly this with my last batch of Kolsch and I think you might need a little more than just a single pellet in 2l.
I used about 2-3 cm of pellets in each Coopers long neck, I think they are about 65-70cl.
I used Saaz, Hallertauer and since I ran out of those two with 5 bottles left I chucked EKG in the last 5.
I just had a test taste of each the other day and was surprised that the hop aroma was so subtle, it's there but far less of it than I was expecting.
Think I would go with 5cm of pellet in each next time, obviously it depends on what hop you use and I have very little experience of the ones you used so they might stand out a bit more, on the other hand there isn't much malt taste to hide the hop behind in a Kolsch so... just my own experience.

 

[conradneilands]

I broke up some small pieces of a styrian goldings plug that i needed to get rid of, which i forgot to put in the fermeter. that one plug was more than enough for each bottle. I thought that i'd be picking the leaves out of my teeth for months. Anyway it turns out that the petals sit at the lip of the bottle and act as a filter for the yeast dregs. There have been no infections

 

[bcp]

1. Can the hop pellets be added after secondary fermentation? ie, if you find a completed batch you think could use more bite from the hops?
2. I imagine this way you get both aroma and bitterness? Or is the bitterness limited because you're not boiling?

 

[Nick JD]

1. Can the hop pellets be added after secondary fermentation? ie, if you find a completed batch you think could use more bite from the hops?
2. I imagine this way you get both aroma and bitterness? Or is the bitterness limited because you're not boiling?

To get bitterness from hops you need to actually chemically change the molecules in the hops that cause the bitterness by rearanging them slightly with water at, or close to boiling.

If you want more bitterness, boil for an hour your hops in 2L of water with 200g of sugar or LDME. Cool, and use as your priming sugar.

 

[Rod]

You've never re-used a yeast?

No


When you make a brew some wild nasties will also grow , remember we are sanitizing not sterilizing

when you make a brew with re-used yeast the chance of an infection are increased

 

[Nick JD]

No


When you make a brew some wild nasties will also grow , remember we are sanitizing not sterilizing

when you make a brew with re-used yeast the chance of an infection are increased

How would you know if you've never done it? Shall I call all the Breweries and tell them they must stop this dangerous practice?