To Stir or Not To Stir

I made a batch of IPA last night. The recipe said to add various amounts of Cascade hops and boil for various times. My question is I never stirred the wort after adding the hops each time because the recipe didn’t state too, was it necessary? It seemed like there was a lot more sludge when i poured the wort into the fermentation bucket.

I need to add some additional hops in 5 days, should I stir the wort after adding them??

Thanks for your help.

I will stir the wort on occasion but I really don't think it's needed. A good boil will do this for you. Perhaps this makes more of a difference with whole leaf hops as they tend to float but eventually they will work their way in.

Do NOT stir the wort in 5 days with your dry hop addition. It is now technically beer at this point and stirring it will only kick up the trub, flocculated yeast and you will risk oxidation.

I stir occasionally during the boil, but only to scrap up any hops that might have been left on the pot.

I would not stir the hops during your dry hop phase. I would actually wait longer to make sure that your primary fermentation is completed.

If you want some sort of "stirring action" you could rack to a secondary and rack on top of the hops. The light flow of the racking will stir the beer lightly.

Scut_Monkey said:

I will stir the wort on occasion but I really don't think it's needed. A good boil will do this for you. Perhaps this makes more of a difference with whole leaf hops as they tend to float but eventually they will work their way in.

Do NOT stir the wort in 5 days with your dry hop addition. It is now technically beer at this point and stirring it will only kick up the trub, flocculated yeast and you will risk oxidation.

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Thanks! That's what i thought but just needed another opinion.

FensterBos said:

I stir occasionally during the boil, but only to scrap up any hops that might have been left on the pot.

I would not stir the hops during your dry hop phase. I would actually wait longer to make sure that your primary fermentation is completed.

If you want some sort of "stirring action" you could rack to a secondary and rack on top of the hops. The light flow of the racking will stir the beer lightly.

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I am going to rack it into a second fermentation bucket so that sounds like a good idea to rack on top of the hops.

Thanks for the tip.

If you are going to transfer to a secondary for dry hopping, please do so at least two weeks after your brew date. give the yeast some time to ferment completely and clean up. You'll thank me.


Mike

mlg5039 said:

If you are going to transfer to a secondary for dry hopping, please do so at least two weeks after your brew date. give the yeast some time to ferment completely and clean up. You'll thank me.


Mike

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Wait 14 days from brew date for dry hopping then how long before racking into my keg?

If you are waiting 2 weeks before racking to a secondary then 4-7 days of dry hopping is typically adequate. At that point you can rack to the keg. These are general guidelines and not hard and fast rules but following them is relatively safe.

The other thing to think about is dry hopping in the keg with the hops within a nylon paint strainer bag. This is what I typically do and it requires less air exposure, less time and less clean up. It's a common technique used and definitely not something I invented. Just something to think about.