Primary dry hopping !!

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jesseroberge

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Is it best to primary dry hop or should I absolutly rack to secondary and dry hop then ?

I realy like the idea of primary dry hopping because it's one step less and less beer loss fuller kegs :)
 
Wait till the beer reaches Fg & settles out clear or slightly misty to dry hop. I use sanitized muslin hop sacks with no more than an ounce in each for pellets. & days works great with pklenty of aroma as soon as you crack the bottle.
 
I almost always dryhop in primary. I wait until the beer is finished, and clear, and then dryhop for the last 5-7 days before packaging. I don't use bags or anything- I just gently drop the hops in so to not splash.
 
Yooper said:
I almost always dryhop in primary. I wait until the beer is finished, and clear, and then dryhop for the last 5-7 days before packaging. I don't use bags or anything- I just gently drop the hops in so to not splash.

Then if there is no hop bag, how to you get rid of the hops, so they won't go in the keg
 
The only thing I don't like about dry hopping in the primary is I usually cant see the liquid level. I started using 13 gallon containers to ferment in and they're too opaque to see anything through. So I usually just transfer the top half to the keg and the bottom half to a carboy and give it a couple days to settle out before bottling.
 
cold crashing after dry hopping will cause most of the particles to sink with the yeast and trub as well

careful racking or using a paint strainer bag will keep hop debris out of the keg or bottling bucket

if you rack in primary you def want to make sure active fermentation is over, the co2 will drive off aroma but also the yeast will bind with the hop oils
 
Another clearing method is gelatin or cold crashing. I throw the hops straight in the carboy and then do one of the two previously stated clearing tricks, and also put the beer through a couple one-gallon paint strainer bags on the way to my bottling bucket to make sure no shrapnel gets through. Works quite well. I imagine they'd work well for kegging too.
 
I tried using a hops bag over my siphon but that clogged up terrible so I quit doing that.

I'm an old winemaker, and very proficient with racking. I've never had any issues, whether using whole hops or pellets. My autosiphon has a black tip on it, and that catches the biggest chunks.

If I could give one tip, it's that some of the hops float (especially the whole hops) while others sink. I start my siphon in the middle of the fermenter, and then lower the racking cane as the level of the beer drops. When I hit trub, I back up just a tad and continue siphoning until the hops on top meet the trub layer, and no beer comes out. I do pretty well at this, and have had no issues with it.

Here are two photos of one of my batches using "wet hops" from my yard:
DSCF5840.jpg

DSCF5839.jpg
 
I tried using a hops bag over my siphon but that clogged up terrible so I quit doing that.

i had the same issue with the hop bags the LHBS sells but have never had any issues with a paint strainer bag - the hop bags are too soft and easily get sucked up and cause more problems than the hops
 
cold crashing after dry hopping will cause most of the particles to sink with the yeast and trub as well

careful racking or using a paint strainer bag will keep hop debris out of the keg or bottling bucket

if you rack in primary you def want to make sure active fermentation is over, the co2 will drive off aroma but also the yeast will bind with the hop oils

I dry hop in primary, cold crash, and don't use any straining method to rack. My clarity is very good.
 
More and more I find myself dry hopping in the primary, I crash to 50 to knock most of the yeast out suspension and then I dry hop for about a week per addition. I then crash to just a hair over freezing and transfer to the keg, where I sometimes dry hop some more!
 
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