Dry Hopping: Free or Bag?

gubby · 10-29-2009, 07:28 PM

I am planing to dry hop for the first time and I would like your thoughts on how to implement it. If I'm dry hopping with pellets should I let them "freeball" or use a hop bag? If I free ball, I would get good utilization, but I'm afraid I would get a bunch of hop sediment when I racked the secondary to the bottling bucket. What do y'all recommend since I don't have the option to cold crash?

jlpred55 · 10-29-2009, 07:53 PM

Freeball with plenty o time to settle out. Cold crashing helps as well. If I Freeball them I usually just throw them in after primary has stopped and let it sit 2 weeks. Vegital flavors be dammed. Then about 3-4 days before cold crash it I also move the fermenter a little as possible before i rack. I've tried hop tea etc to avoid sediment and this is the best method I have found to get great aroma and avoid sediment.

kanzimonson · 10-29-2009, 09:22 PM

I think we just have to put aside our greed as homebrewers and accept that we're going to have to leave some beer behind when you dry hop with pellets. They will either fall to the bottom or float on top, so just stop the siphoning early enough.

I generally prefer pellets because you can clearly see them get soaked in beer and you know they're distributing their goodness. I've dry hopped with whole cones and sometimes it takes a week just for the last few to soak into the beer. However, one thing I like about dry hopping with cones is that I frequently reuse the hops as bittering hops in my next batches... yeah, sounds crazy but remember that greed thing I mentioned above? Well that also means saving money on ingredients whenever possible. I just rack the beer off the dry hops (and usually bottle), rinse the hops, and then toss them into the brew kettle. I anticipate a little less utilization, but I still do the calculations as if they were fresh hops and then settle for less bitterness in the final beer.

**Pappers_** · 10-29-2009, 09:41 PM

I dry hop with organic whole leaf or plugs and I use a hop bag because its just easier.

waldoar15 · 10-30-2009, 12:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pappers

I dry hop with organic whole leaf or plugs and I use a hop bag because its just easier.

I usually just dump the pellets in and rack over them. I've contemplated using a hops bag, but wondered how I'd fish it out of the carboy.

**Pappers_** · 10-30-2009, 12:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by waldoar15

I usually just dump the pellets in and rack over them. I've contemplated using a hops bag, but wondered how I'd fish it out of the carboy.

Well, I use a long, thin bag and after racking the beer from the carboy to the bottling bucket, I turn the carboy on its side so that the bag comes down to the opening, reach in with my fingers, grab the string and pull. I usually have it work it out a little bit.