Hophazard
Well-Known Member
So I'm about to rack my second extract batch from the primary to the secondary, and I can't help but notice the surprising amount of hop sludge floating in the beer (much more than my first batch, which I assume is the result of using 2 oz of hop pellets as opposed to only 1 oz). Won't the majority of this sludge be transferred to the secondary?
My concern is that, even if this stuff settles in the secondary, when I add priming sugar in a few weeks and stir before bottling, all of this sediment will be stirred up and end up in the bottles. I decided against using a bottling bucket to avoid the extra oxygen exposure, but I'm starting to rethink that approach in light of the amount of sludge.
If it matters, I did use a tab of whirlfloc and a collander to strain the wort prior to adding it to the primary, but I think most of the pellet sludge made it through (I was also using a hop plug that I wanted to strain).
I was thinking about using a nylon bag over the tip of the tube when racking to the secondary (which I've read can clog), but first wanted to see whether anyone had any other suggestions other than cold-crashing or tips for reducing the amount of sludge next time. Do people just bottle this sludge with the expectation that it will compact at the bottom of the bottles during conditioning? Thanks.
My concern is that, even if this stuff settles in the secondary, when I add priming sugar in a few weeks and stir before bottling, all of this sediment will be stirred up and end up in the bottles. I decided against using a bottling bucket to avoid the extra oxygen exposure, but I'm starting to rethink that approach in light of the amount of sludge.
If it matters, I did use a tab of whirlfloc and a collander to strain the wort prior to adding it to the primary, but I think most of the pellet sludge made it through (I was also using a hop plug that I wanted to strain).
I was thinking about using a nylon bag over the tip of the tube when racking to the secondary (which I've read can clog), but first wanted to see whether anyone had any other suggestions other than cold-crashing or tips for reducing the amount of sludge next time. Do people just bottle this sludge with the expectation that it will compact at the bottom of the bottles during conditioning? Thanks.