Leaving hops in the fermenter

I made an Irish Stout. I transferred it to my primary and cooled it in the freezing temps outside. Brought it back in when it was about room temp (an hour). Took a reading and it was about 1.010. I immediately freaked. Seeing all of the residue on the bottom of my boiling pot I figured I would add it to the fermenter and swirl it around in hopes that it would raise the SG.

It didn't and then I noticed that my hydrometer had a crack and liquid got inside. You can stop laughing now.

Upon getting a new hydrometer, it read about 1.052, so all was good. But remember that residue? Well, that was all of the hops from the boil. Now I'm worried that leaving the hops in the fermenter will dramatically alter the taste. I had posted before and someone said that it isn't a problem it will just change the hop profile.

So, my question, is it really going to affect the taste that much leaving the hops at the bottom? I figure I've already boiled everything out of them so maybe they have nothing left to give/alter the taste. When I move it to the secondary and to my bottles I will leave these hops behind.

Or, should I look at transferring my beer to the secondary right now and let it finish fermenting there? The yeast has only been active for about 2 days. Using this method would I run the risk of not transferring yeast or some of the sugars to the secondary?

Thanks for all your opinions!

-Greg

IMHO, leaving the hops in the fermenter will not have any effect whatsoever...a lot of people just dump the entire contents of their brewpots in their buckets, and make plenty good beer that way. You're going to leave all of that stuff behind when you rack or bottle anyway.

i second El Pistolero. it won't hurt anything. just be extra careful when racking to secondary or to bottles. don't need the extra goo!

(side note EP - liked the Wee Heavy. finaly had a beer last night, and it was yours!)

DeRoux's Broux said:

(side note EP - liked the Wee Heavy. finaly had a beer last night, and it was yours!)

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Glad you like it...I finished the last of those earlier this week. But, my next Wee Heavy is three weeks in the bottle on Monday, so I won't be out long. And on a side hijack, two wee heavies, one with Irish Yeast, one with Edinburgh, and I really can't tell much difference in them.

Thanks for the votes of confidence, but now you have my interest peaked. I was planning on doing a wee heavy next. Please tell me your recipe of if it was a recipe kit, please point the way!