Opening the Fermenter to Dry Hop

[indica86]

Airlock activity does not mean fermentation is still going, just like no airlock activity does not mean it has stopped.
Opening the FV, if quick, and dry hopping after fermentation has ceased is not an issue if everything is well sanitised.
Increased airlock activity after dry hopping is not a sign of infection or fermentation.

 

[Nizmoose]

This might be silly but could you just take the airlock off and shove the hops through the hole in the lid as opposed to taking the whole lid off to minimize co2 loss / o2 gain?

 

[breakbeer]

I remove the lid to add dry hops in almost all my brews. In my mind, the reason for increased airlock activity is because the compressed pellets swell once added to the wort & displace the headspace, therefore forcing the kitten to burp

 

[peas_and_corn]

I think it's more to do with the hops providing more nucleation points for the co2

 

[Bizenya]

I would think that the CO2 should be pretty hard to dislodge, assuming that there are a few centimetres between the top of the wort and the inside lip of the fermenter- it's a heavier gas compared with oxygen, so it's not going to float out so to speak

As long as the hop tea or hops aren't put in to vigorously it shouldn't introduce more O2 to the wort

And if everything is sanitised / sterilised all will be good

 

[heshtek]

I did exactly this tonight. First time dry hopping and I just poured them in today (day 7). Airlock starting going crazy. Boy the smell of those hops straight from the packet smell like nothing else on earth

 

[Bribie G]

When you open the lid, or ease back the gladwrap, if you do it very gently there will still be a dense layer of CO2 over the beer, then chuck in the hops quickly and reseal quickly, you'll get a very minimal amount of oxygen into the beer. In many UK traditional breweries, and a lot of former European lager breweries the beer is / was fermented in open tanks and the layer of CO2 forms an invisible blanket that protects the beer from oxygen. To test, they would regularly lower a candle in a candleholder down towards the surface of the fermenting beer and if the candle went out, all good.

 

[jaypes]

try some vaseline, works for me.

Use proper food grade keg lube

Vaseline is petroleum based and will f%^k your o-rings in no time

 

[Bribie G]

Has been known to disintegate rubber condoms for decades.
I bought a tube of keg lube in 2009 and at the current rate of usage should still be half full for sealing my coffin o ring.

 

[Bizenya]

I've ended up grabbing a couple of those hop tea balls - sterilize em for five mins in boiling water take em out , add hops and then add them in .

I open the lid slowly, then use the little chain to slowly lower into the fermenter- stop the sudden drop splash and oxidize. Will swirl FV for next four days to infuse the hops then cold crash. Dry hop done.

 

[ManVsBeer]

Hi all,

I've had a 5 year break from brewing for because of a spate of infections put me off. I'm now paranoid about everything and I want to dry hop with the fermenter lid on, dropping the hop pellets through the airlock hole.

What's the chance of oxidisation dropping them into 20L from the height of a 30L fermenter?

 

[Bizenya]

I would think even just opening the air lock is a risk, plus if your trying to drop in decent amounts of hops it's going to take awhile. I think a nice smooth opening of the lid, with hops at the ready, and smoothly but swiftly getting them into the wort without splashing is the key. Reckon takes me about 15 seconds to take lid off, and place the hop balls into the fermenter before the lid is replaced. Still a rush, but I think it's minimal.

 

[Weizguy]

Has been known to disintegate rubber condoms for decades.
I bought a tube of keg lube in 2009 and at the current rate of usage should still be half full for sealing my coffin o ring.

Bribie, are you using keg lube on your condoms?
Sorry to hear about your current rate of usage, though.

 

[ManVsBeer]

I was thinking a small hole compared to the whole lid off would not expose the wort too much. It wouldn't take long to drop 15g off pellets through it. I was more concerned about oxidisation with the hops splashing in. Maybe I should just man up and take the lid off, but I will have to take all the sticky tape off sealing the lid to the fermenter

 

[Nizmoose]

Let's be fair, some beers used to be fermented without a lid at all, and the fact remains that carbon dioxide is heavier than air, if you take out the airlock or even the lid for a few seconds your beer is unlikely to see any of the oxygen you're worried about, it will have a layer of co2 and even after that depending on a few things, a healthy thick krausen. There's nothing to worry about if it's a minute or two

 

[CrookedFingers]

MvB,
If you were going to go down the road of just taking the airlock off and dropping in to the hole, use a small funnel that fits the hole.
I have done it before and all it needs is a little jiggle once or twice to get them moving.
I am a glad wrap user now however, but with a SS fermenter coming I might go back to using the funnel.

CF

 

[vykuza]

If you get a lot of bubbling and blow off when you add your hops, it's not a reintroduction of oxygen that's doing it.

All those hop pellets when they break up, have a huge amount of surface area. The dissolved CO2 in your ferment will bubble off this huge surface area, causing more airlock action. Nothing to worry about.

 

[ManVsBeer]

Cheers for the replies. I reckon I'll just open the lid and slide the hops in carefully. After experimenting with dropping seeds roughly the same size and weight into a bowl of water from height, they made more of a splash than I thought.

 

[3136]

Hey bud yeah as stated above you can boil all the DME if you wish I just did 500 grams as I had an 8 litre pot. It seems a general rule of thumb is 1 litre water per 100grams malt ie. 10 litres water for the kilo. It is a very simple recipe for a really nice hoppy little beer! Please let me know how you go

So did you do two 5L boils?,or did you just put the other 500grams in the fermenter?

Re the OP's question, would it be an idea to have a pouch attached to the lid of the fermenter and some way to drop it in at a given point.
Perhaps even a little shelf, then the fermenter could be tilted a little to knock it into the mix?

 

[peas_and_corn]

I think that's over engineering to solve a problem that doesn't really exist