Ballardinho
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Pellets or whole leaf?
Mesh bag or no mesh bag?
Mesh bag or no mesh bag?
A couple dry hop questions...
- Thread starter Ballardinho
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Heavywalker
Well-Known Member
I use pellets if they are available, but will use whole leaf if that is all I can get, I think pellets are easier to work with, take up less room in the freezer and soak up less beer.
I do not use a hop bag but have gotten pretty good at racking from making wine.
I do not use a hop bag but have gotten pretty good at racking from making wine.
I did whole leaf no bag on my last APA. Beer turned out really good but couldn't get them all to sink (maybe half) by cold crashing which made siphoning to my bottling bucket a little more challenging. Next time I'm going to try pellets. My guess is they'd cold crash out for a cleaner easier experience.
Whether I use whole leaf or pellets for dry hopping,I use muslin sacks to keep things cleaner. Muslin grain sacks for the whole leaf,as 1 oz of them takes up more space than 1 oz of pellets.
CTownBrewer
Well-Known Member
I don't like using whole leaf hops because they soak up a lot of the beer for a pretty similar result. I just throw pellets straight into the primary once fermentation completes & the krausen/yeast starts settling out...usually in two equal stages. I go 5 days with dry hop #1, then add dry hop #2 for another 5 days. Crash cool for 48 hrs, then bottle/keg. I think pellets in general will leave you with a more hazy beer if you're using a lot, but if it's an IPA, IMO it's supposed to be a little hazy unless you filter.
FWIW, the ideal way to dry hop is to remove the yeast before adding the hops. The yeast in suspension can coat the hop particles & drop them out of solution, essentially rendering them ineffective. I just use more hops to account for this possibility. If you can get the yeast out of there & rouse the hops with CO2 a couple times during the dry hop process, you're golden. This isn't something many homebrewers, including myself, can accomplish without a conical fermenter though.
When I started brewing, I was in favor of secondaries. Now, my pallet is becoming more sensitive to oxidized flavors, so I leave it in primary for dry hopping to reduce oxygen pick up during a transfer.
Check out the Blichmann Hop Rocket if you're looking for boosting hop aroma. Using it as a hop back is a great way to lock in late hop character. You would run your hot wort through the Hop Rocket on the way to your chiller, which would immediately cool the wort to near pitching temperature, thereby locking in hop aroma compounds into solution. It works best with a plate chiller though.
FWIW, the ideal way to dry hop is to remove the yeast before adding the hops. The yeast in suspension can coat the hop particles & drop them out of solution, essentially rendering them ineffective. I just use more hops to account for this possibility. If you can get the yeast out of there & rouse the hops with CO2 a couple times during the dry hop process, you're golden. This isn't something many homebrewers, including myself, can accomplish without a conical fermenter though.
When I started brewing, I was in favor of secondaries. Now, my pallet is becoming more sensitive to oxidized flavors, so I leave it in primary for dry hopping to reduce oxygen pick up during a transfer.
Check out the Blichmann Hop Rocket if you're looking for boosting hop aroma. Using it as a hop back is a great way to lock in late hop character. You would run your hot wort through the Hop Rocket on the way to your chiller, which would immediately cool the wort to near pitching temperature, thereby locking in hop aroma compounds into solution. It works best with a plate chiller though.
