Help with dry hopping

[Old_Lonely]

I have done a few Dry Hopping using Coppers Pale Ale and all I did was drop the tea bag on top of the brew.
A friend says that he puts the tea bag in a muslin bag with a marble and gets it sink to the bottom.
So I was wondering is it better to just drop the tea bag in and let it float, or get it to sink to the bottom of the fermenter.
Cheers

 

[MickGC]

Not sure what is "better" but i prefer to put the hops in a stocking with a weight.Also make the stocking quite large so the hops can expand a lot.
My theory being when they float they have less exposure to the beer as half is not in it, not really any solid research
I also wait until the majority of the fermentation has completed before adding dry hops.

 

[barls]

im a let them run free sort of guy. they settle out and i don't have to sanitise extra things.

 

[bonk1972]

Yep just tear the tea bag open let them be free

 

[MickGC]

Also, little bit off the topic, but those tea bags, can be a rather un-economical way to get your hops.
Not sure if you have a brew shop local that sells hops in quantities such as 100g, im sure a few of the sponsors of this site do and likely will post to you. Not unusual to get 100g for close to the cost of a tea bag style.
and there is no such thing as having too much hops!!
Cheers
Mick

 

[droid]

^just to add to this - if you're doing a 20ltr brew and thinking of a 40gram dry-hop for example (2grams hops per litre) then if you use a stocking there's no concern about it floating, it'll also stretch under the wet weight of the hops

 

[droid]

leg it to your nearest coles...get it...or a supermarket
http://shop.coles.com.au/online/national/mix-pantyhose-control-brief-black-tall

$5.50 for a 4 pack of stockings, i cut them down to about 20cm and just tie the ends off, spray them in star-san or pop them in some boiling water for a sec

then if you buy your hops in larger packs you'll be better off in the long run...long run...get it...hehe

sorry for the slight threadjack - now back to your normally scheduled program

 

[Gigantorus]

I use a hop sock (tubular mesh sock that I tie a knot in each end of). I simply & carefully lower the sanitised & loaded hop sock onto the middle of the wort surface and let it go. It will sit on top for a while then might slowly drop - hop particle will fall from the sock and drop to bottom. So hop matter does penetrate the liquid.

As for amount of dry-hopping. All depends on your taste. My last American Brown Ale I used 150grams for the last 4 days before bottling (75grams each of Galaxy and Citra) . I generally work in a bracket of between 70grams to 150grams. Just depends on how much hoppiness you want.

Also have to agree that the tea bags aren't great economy or the freshest. I buy my hops in the 90grams pellet packs and store in the freezer.

Cheers,
Pete

 

[BDD]

I just throw mine in loose and let 'em swim around.

 

[Old_Lonely]

Thanks for all the feed back , will have to try some of them and will have to see if I can buy some hops in bulk. Cheers