Dry Hopping Bottles

[Cube]

I can't seem to get them to float. They sink almost instantly and are then buried under the sediment over the weeks of carbonation and clearing.

Zero fizzing issues. I wonder why mine sink? A second consideration is that their flavour/aroma comes out, then they are buried after about 4 days ... this might be why I also don't get grassiness.

Still looks the mud you bottled in the opening post mate. Is that a few days bottled or months old and ready to drink?

I'm interested because I prefer others to make the mistakes and I benefit from them. No offence intended - if you like it brew and drink your liver silly with your preferred poison. :unsure: We all do.

 

[Nick JD]

Still looks the mud you bottled in the opening post mate. Is that a few days bottled or months old and ready to drink?

I'm interested because I prefer others to make the mistakes and I benefit from them. No offence intended - if you like it brew and drink your liver silly with your preferred poison. :unsure: We all do.

I'll make this simple. Beer clear in glass. Beer not clear in bottle. Photo of beer in bottle probably only a few days in bottle.

No offence taken. I also used to be an ass on the internet. I learned from boorish and overtly critical people's mistakes. :icon_cheers:

Months old? Check the date of the first post.

 

[manticle]

I was thinking about doing this as the hop flavour and mainly aroma does not stay long in the bottles, good that there is some feedback.

Was also thinking of adding a hop tea at the bulk priming stage. Has anyone done this? or does it make nonsense....

I think a lot of people use french press method in various parts of secondary. No reason it would be nonsense.

 

[brotom7]

I did exactly this just a few days before your original post and my feelings are a bit mixed, actually I won't do it again.

I added 2-3cm of hop pellets in the bottle while bottling.

If the bottle is 6-7C or warmer when opened I get terrible gushers, served at about 3-4C then I can open the bottle with no gushing and pore a glass. There will still be specks of hops in the head that aren't too attractive and they give a little chewing resistance.

The second glass from the same bottle (coopers 650ml PET) is then very cloudy and contains heaps of hop residue, have to leave the last 2-3cm in the glass as it contains too much hop residue.

I made the exact same brew before this one without the hops in the bottle and I prefer it much more, though it contains less hop aroma of course.

Perhaps I did something wrong, if there is something special you did to avoid this then let me know and I will try it again but this first attempt wasn't very successful.

 

[browndog]

Well, the report on the magnum of APA. I believe this bottle was filled from a keg then hops added, so there is no yeast settling out and burying the hops scenario.

Cracked the lid with a nice standard hiss, poured the first schooner, noted it was quite hazy but had great hop aroma and flavour, though nothing that you would not get from dry hopping a fermenter properly.
Second schooner, haze changed to cloudiness, aroma and flavour still there, third schooner, there were bits of hops in the glass and getting to the bottom of the glass noted some green sludge. 4th schooner was pretty bad, hops floating in the head, had to leave it 10 mins to let it all settle and when I got to the bottom of the glass there was considerable sludge in the bottom.

Given we are talking about a magnum sized bottle so the hops on the bottom got shaken around a bit, but I thinkfor what it is worth, you can achieve the same results without the drawbacks by dry hopping in the fermenter.

cheers

Browndog

 

[Cube]

Months old? Check the date of the first post.

Give or take a day or two , yes a month old from your OP would be correct.

 

[Ross]

.....but I think for what it is worth, you can achieve the same results without the drawbacks by dry hopping in the fermenter.

cheers

Browndog

Exactly Tony.... If you add the hops to the fermented beer before bottling you'll get exactly the same effect without any of the drawbacks.
Will allow you to dry hop with flowers as well.

cheers Ross

 

[yardy]

imvho just forget the dry hopping altogether and plan your recipes to get the same end result (aroma) from the boil, HNY btw

cheers
Dave

 

[Nick JD]

Dry hopping the fermenter! What a brilliant idea!

Talk about missing the point. The whole idea was to be able to have a unique aroma in each bottle - a great way to try out flavour/aroma combinations without risking 23L. Can anyone say "Chinese Hops"?

Please accept my most humble apoligies if I have erred at all from your comfort zones. :huh:

 

[yardy]

doesn't seem to be any negative effect on my zone so far

seriously though, good on ya for having a go

 

[bcp]

Dry hopping the fermenter! What a brilliant idea!

Talk about missing the point. The whole idea was to be able to have a unique aroma in each bottle - a great way to try out flavour/aroma combinations without risking 23L. Can anyone say "Chinese Hops"?

Please accept my most humble apoligies if I have erred at all from your comfort zones. :huh:

On a scale of ignorance to knowing anything about beer i'm well down the list... but as someone who has spent my life pulling things apart to see how they work, i'm a big fan of your work here. From my reading beer brewing is originally based on well worn traditions that have been honed by science. Some really explore the science, some stay safely in the proven practice... but you really begin to understand something by messing with it, seeing how far you can push an idea... without that spirit we'd all still be following an almanac (if we'd even got to that stage).

Your experimentation and the dialogue it generated has taught me far more about what dry hopping is and does (traditional & experimental) and what can go wrong than reading the text books. thanks.

 

[Beer&Kebab]

When I tried adding a single hop pellet to 6 Grolsch bottles a while back I got major gushers. The rest of the batch was carbed nicely. I tried uncapping each of the remaining bottles to let some of the Co2 out and then recapping and letting them settle. I did this and then would try another a week later.. Same result.. I followed this untill the last couple were flat. The aroma was terrific though. I wont be doint it again. The nucleation as posted above is what did it. Maybe because your beer was pretty couldy the yeast covered the hops to stop this from happening.

 

[browndog]

Dry hopping the fermenter! What a brilliant idea!

Talk about missing the point. The whole idea was to be able to have a unique aroma in each bottle - a great way to try out flavour/aroma combinations without risking 23L. Can anyone say "Chinese Hops"?

Please accept my most humble apoligies if I have erred at all from your comfort zones. :huh:

Sorry for trying to help the newbies avoid ruining their beer Nick.

-BD

 

[Nick JD]

Sorry for trying to help the newbies avoid ruining their beer Nick.

-BD

No apologies necessary.

To all the newbies out there: look in the dictionary under "D". There's a word called, "decant". It's a process whereby the crap at the bottom of your magnum of beer won't be successively stired up and end up in your schooners because you left it behind by pouring the whole magnum in one go.

:beerbang:

 

[glaab]

imvho just forget the dry hopping altogether and plan your recipes to get the same end result (aroma) from the boil, HNY btw

cheers
Dave

I'm with Yardy. I get more than enough aroma from lats additions.
Garcon ! ! !, bring me a caraffe of your finest IPA, hehe,..

 

[browndog]

No apologies necessary.

To all the newbies out there: look in the dictionary under "D". There's a word called, "decant". It's a process whereby the crap at the bottom of your magnum of beer won't be successively stired up and end up in your schooners because you left it behind by pouring the whole magnum in one go.

:beerbang:

yes you are right Nick, by the time I had finished the magnum, I realised had I decanted it into a jug there would have been no probs with the hops, but I had no idea what too expect. I would guess the reason that my magnum of The Scientists finest pouring hop riddled beer is that he decanted it from a keg and there was no layer of slurry sitting on top of the hops to stop the hops from becoming neucleation points and being sent floating to the top of the bottle.

Cheers

Browndog