How do you dry hop your carboy?

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tlazaroff

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I've been using nylon bags, and they are a royal pain to get out of the carboys. I'm curious what everyone else uses. I was interested in buying this product, The Brew Infuser, but it gets terrible reviews.

Is there anything out there to make it easier?
 
I just dumped a bunch of pellets into the carbon before I racked the beer in. Only problem was that my siphon got clogged when I went to keg it, shoulda put cheesecloth around the end or something.
 
Drop them straight in, cold crash, then use that nylon bag over your racking cane, drink a beer
 
Dry hopping in a carboy is a fools errand IMO. The best option is to use pellets and wait for them to sink, then attach a hop sack to your auto siphon to filter them out. I've put leaf hops into a carboy, and lost about half a gallon of beer. I have a friend who doesn't seem to mind trying to claw swollen hop sacks out of the fermenter. The BEST way to dry hop (besides a randallizer) is using a bucket and putting them in a paint strainer bag. Then you can take the bag out easily, and squeeze all the hoppy deliciousness out.
 
Drop them straight in, cold crash, then use that nylon bag over your racking cane, drink a beer

This. Zero problems and I've done quite a few batches this way. My last IPA had 3oz of pellets in it, and after a lengthy cold crash, it was so clear you could read through it.
 
I use womens pantyhose for pellets and just throw in the leaf. Fill the pantyhose and tie is shut so that there is a 3-4" piece of the hose. When you dump the trub, the piece sticks out far enough to grab it and it comes right out. Makes a comical sound on the way out as well.
tom
 
Then you can take the bag out easily, and squeeze all the hoppy deliciousness out.


Is this a good idea? Can't you get an astringent/off flavors that way? I've always been careful just to let it sit there and drain out, without actually squeezing the bag...
 
stblindtiger said:
Is this a good idea? Can't you get an astringent/off flavors that way? I've always been careful just to let it sit there and drain out, without actually squeezing the bag...

Its a great idea, and has become standard operating procedure. When you think about it, what astringency could you possibly extract that boiling them for an hour wouldn't? I just did this with 4 ounces a few weeks ago, and the beer is amazing.
 
I just throw pellets in. Just rack after cold crashing. No grain bag over the racking cane. Very little hops get transferred and they come out in the first glass.
 
I rarely dry hop in the fermenters any longer, preferring to use a 3" tea infuser ball filled 1/2 full (to allow for expansion) of pellet hops, then added directly to the keg. Amazing aromas and minimal sediment. Of course, if you bottle this won't be of much help.
 
Its a great idea, and has become standard operating procedure. When you think about it, what astringency could you possibly extract that boiling them for an hour wouldn't? I just did this with 4 ounces a few weeks ago, and the beer is amazing.

Oxidation and infection both seem like possibilities.
Granted its a small amount of beer, but increased splashing and handling it makes me nervous.
I've been going straight pellets into the carboy and SS teaballs for keg hops. I don't use much leaf, but I use them the same way (nylon bag instead of teaball for keg).
I just suck up whatever hop sludge with the racking cane necessary during racking and pull a sample every day while carbonating to clear the sediment. I may start using gelatin or give the bag over the racking cane a try though since I am finding I like hop flavor but not hops in suspension.

The hard part is multi-phase dry hop schedules where you are supposed to remove additions, I tend to do the first phase in carboy (64f for 5-14 days) then cold crash and keg then do the second phase in keg @ 36f for the life of the keg.
 
Just my $0.02, but I've always tossed dry hop pellets or whole cones directly into the primary after the beer has dropped bright for a 5-7 days and then packaged. I am not a careful racker and have never had an issue.

Please to enjoy this anecdotal evidence.
 
HopHeady said:
If using a nylon bag over the auto-siphon do I still need to cold crash?

Cold crashing doesn't help with hop debris, it's for getting excess yeast and protein to drop, the size of which is much smaller than the holes in your nylon filter. Cold crashing lets you take clearer beer to the bottle, resulting in cleaner bottles of homebrew. It is always a worthwhile step.
 
Its a great idea, and has become standard operating procedure. When you think about it, what astringency could you possibly extract that boiling them for an hour wouldn't? I just did this with 4 ounces a few weeks ago, and the beer is amazing.

BB - check out this thread discussing this very topic....I'd be curious to hear more of your thoughts/experience.

I concluded through very unscientific tests that I didn't like squeezing the dry hop bag, but I'd love to be challenged on that.
 
I bought some polyester sheer fabric at the fabric store and sewed up a few sausage-shaped hop bags, about an inch wide and about 16 inches long. When dry hopping, I put a few glass marbles into the polyester sausages, followed by up to about 2 ounces of pellet hops, and then a few more marbles before closing them off with a sanitized rubber band. They are easy going in, but require a bit of maneuvering to remove after racking. This has worked out well for me, although I don't think it would be very easy loading the sausage-bags with whole hops.
 
hoppedupbrewer said:
This. Zero problems and I've done quite a few batches this way. My last IPA had 3oz of pellets in it, and after a lengthy cold crash, it was so clear you could read through it.

What do you mean when you say cold crash?
 

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