first time dry hop in primary

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zodiak3000

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im gonna be doing an ipa this time. i wanted to attempt dry hopping in the primary. i wanted to know the easiest way to pull this off. im gonna throw out some options and maybe some of you can choose one or throw me of an opinion of a better option.

a. just throw them in, then when siphoning into bottling bucket just cover the siphon with some kind of sterilized filtering bag. im not sure what to use so if this option is best someone let me know what to cover the siphon with. (grain steeping bag?)

b. using a stainless steal mesh ball.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewi...stirring-straining/stainless-hop-steeper.html

c. putting the hops in a sterilized steeping bag and tossing that into the primary.
 
i've had great success with just tossing them in, waiting 10 days or so for them to drop out of suspension and then kegging, but i think bottling would be just fine also, or put into a secondary for a day or two, then bottle. a sterilized hop/grain bag will also help to filter out any in suspension (i haven't done this but i know others on here have). if you haven't heard yet, you can get paint strainer bags from home depot/lowes that work awesome for grains/hops/filtering. real cheap and you can use them over and over again.
 
I did an IPA a few weeks ago and just threw pellet hops into my secondary. When I went to bottle, I cut the foot out of a new pair of the cheapest pantyhose they sold at Target and ruberbanded it to the hose end of my siphon. No detectable trace of hops in my bottling bucket.
 
I've had awesome success dry hopping in the primary. I just did an English IPA and dry hopped with 2 oz. of Kent Goldings. The aroma is pretty awesome.

I'm definitely going to continue to dry hop in the primary.
 
I did an IPA a few weeks ago and just threw pellet hops into my secondary. When I went to bottle, I cut the foot out of a new pair of the cheapest pantyhose they sold at Target and ruberbanded it to the hose end of my siphon. No detectable trace of hops in my bottling bucket.

did you sterilize the pantyhose and rubberband?
 
i've had great success with just tossing them in, waiting 10 days or so for them to drop out of suspension and then kegging, but i think bottling would be just fine also, or put into a secondary for a day or two, then bottle. a sterilized hop/grain bag will also help to filter out any in suspension (i haven't done this but i know others on here have). if you haven't heard yet, you can get paint strainer bags from home depot/lowes that work awesome for grains/hops/filtering. real cheap and you can use them over and over again.

thanks for the heads up on the paint strainer bags.
has anyone had luck with the mesh ball or tossing a sterilzed steeping bag of hops directly into the primary?
 
So let me see if I have this rite. When you guys are dry hoping in the primary you wait for fermentation to settle down (say a week or so) and then just toss the hops (pellets?) in the primary and let them sit in there until you are ready to bottle?
 
The best dry hopping aroma I've got was dry hopping in the primary by just tossing in loose pellet hops. I waited until my FG was about 2 points away and tossed them in then. This small amount of remaining yeast activity gets rid of any oxygen that is in the pellets. After about ten days, my beer was just as clear as any of the others, but I had to be more careful with how I racked. There is really no reason for me to try other dry hopping methods at this point.
 
I just throw the pellets into the primary 7 days before bottling. Also, in my opinion straing through a bag, panty hose, etc. isn't necessary either. Most of the sediment stays when racking into the bottling bucket. I just believe in keeping the process as simple as possible. My beer seems clear enough.
 
So let me see if I have this rite. When you guys are dry hoping in the primary you wait for fermentation to settle down (say a week or so) and then just toss the hops (pellets?) in the primary and let them sit in there until you are ready to bottle?

You got it. I usually primary for 14 then toss the dry hops in, then another 14 days and I'm ready to keg.
 
I toss pellets right into primary. Give it a few days then cold crash to drop all the hops and remaining yeast. I then siphon through a paint strainer bag. The bag filters out the hops but also helps filter trub. Use a 5 gallon bag, sanitize it, then put it over the racking can and shove it in the fermenter. If you use the 5 gallon bags you don't need a rubber band or anything because the bag will hang out of the fermenter. Shove the cane all the way to the bottom down through the trub and start the siphon. You will get a little yeast at first but it will clear fast as the bag starts to filter. Put some thing under the carboy or bucket and tip it towards the bottom of the cane. Then you can walk away from it and you will get every drop of beer out with little effort.
 
In the past I've dry hopped in the secondary with pellets, but I'm thinking about trying whole leaf hops instead on a beer that is just about ready. If I get whole leaf I'm concerned about getting them out of the narrow neck of the Carboy. Therefore I'm thinking I'll Toss them in the primary.

All of that leads to my actual question, I have a 7 gallon bucket I'm using with 5 gallons of beer, should I be worried about oxygenation once I crack it open to throw in hops and lose my nice safe co2 blanket?
 
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