bobbrews

Recipes 

True. Utilization would be an okay word for it if "hop utilization" wasn't already a common homebrewing phrase related to the isomerization of IBUs in hot wort. Type "hop utilization" in the search on this website and you'll see what I'm saying.

ThickHead

Recipes 

Type "dry hop utilization" and do the same.

My point is that utilization is a pretty broadly used term to express value related to efficiency. Isomerization of alpha acids for IBUs in beer doesn't hold a lock on the franchise. There is no "right" or "wrong" here. Utilization is a common expression used for both techniques. I (as an American) use different English words for certain things than my British friends, but in the end we are all speaking English and we understand each other perfectly well.

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Chad

"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer."

-Abraham Lincoln

JohnK93

Recipes 

Thanks for the replies and tips. The screws I used are short stubby machine screws, not pointed screws, so I'm not worried about them puncturing the bag. Although at this point, that might be a good thing...the hops swelled a lot more than I thought they would and the bag looks pretty full. If I could I'd take them out of the bag altogether. Oh well.

I used pellets. For my last dry hop (I just remembered this was my second dry hop, not my first), I just threw the pellets in but that beer ended up with a LOT of sediment so I wanted to try dry hopping in a sack.

There's no way I could fish it out now anyway...it's swelled so much I don't know how I'm going to get it out of the carboy! I tried giving it a poke with a sanitized rod, but I've decided to not mess with it anymore and let it ride. I probably won't get the most out of the hops, but lesson learned for next time.

I'm planning on bottling next weekend, so the dry hop will have been two weeks...maybe they'll sink by then.