use a bucket to dry hop?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

bguzz

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2008
Messages
134
Reaction score
8
I'm fermenting an IPA in a better bottle and will be moving it to secondary to dry hop. I have a 5 gallon carboy, but since I am using 3oz of leaf hops for dry hopping, I was thinking of doing it in a bucket to make the cleanup easier? it will only be for 7 days, any reason not to do it that way?
 
I've even used my bottling bucket as a secondary. But both my FV's are plastic,so they make this job very easy. I bag'em & toss'em in. No worries.
 
Because buckets are evil and the anti-christ. They store little beer killers in the crevices just waiting to attack your precious helpless beer at it's weakest moment, immediately after transfer. Here Beer is well known to be at it's weakest at this stage as it has just been relocated to a new home, where Beer doesn't know any of it's new neighbors. As it mingles and tries to meet it's new neighbors, these little beer killers, I'll call them Paul for short, will introduce themselves to Beer as a friend as a genuinely nice guy. He will invite them over for a BBQ and drinks, maybe offer to share his wife. However, after a few days with Paul as the Beer's new neighbor, a film begins to appear. This film is being created by Paul to trap the innocent newly moved Beer and begin to suffocate them. Paul will begin to tighten his grip on Beer, and as Beer begins to realize they are in trouble, it is too late and Paul has killed Beer and annihilated it's hopes for survival. Paul begins to twist Beer into a different type of being. One which is unidentifiable by the people who knew Beer in the past.

While many people will argue this is nonsense, as we place Beer in Buckets for Primary, they fail to realize that at this time, Beer is at his most powerful form. He is vigil in his worship to the Gods, praying repeatably and dancing in jubilation of his God's zest for life. However, after weeks of neglect by his God, he is downtrodden, and feels empty. Often looking for new highs to feel the now empty void once filled by the Beer's God. Typically, if Beer stays in this condition, he is safe as his God has protected him and set a powerful spell of protection around him (essentially a 6th level Globe of Invulnerability, one round last typically 2 weeks) which protects him from his evil neighbors like Paul.

Don't do it. Don't let Paul get your Beer.
 
Paul won't have a chance if it's infection that's the worry. Between the alcohol content and low pH of the beer ofter it's fermented, it's very resistant to infection. If you were going to dry hop for a month, you might have to worry about O2. But since I really doubt that's the plan, you'll be fine.
 
Yeah,I've always used pales/plastic FV's with no infections,let alone at dry hopping time. But I'm a stickler for cleaning & sanitizing every peice of every FV. I even use a lid when racking. And I don't use anything abrasive in my plastic FV's,nor do I stack them one inside the other. Take proper care of them,& no infection worries.
 
I'd recommend hops for dry hopping, in my experience buckets don't impart much aroma
 
Back
Top