Dry hopping? When and how much?

when dry hopping how much leaf hops should I use per 5g batch?

which would give the best results? dry hopping in the primary or secondary? If I do it in the secondary should I put the hops in and then rack or rack and just drop in the hops?

Depends on how hoppy you want the beer to taste/smell. An ounce of leaf hops will give you plenty of flavor and aroma, but you could go to 2 or even 3 ounces for an IPA. Add them to the secondary. I like to add them before racking, but you can do it either way.

thank you, that was what I needed.

I will go for the secondary with 1 once and add it before I rack it over. Is there anything that I am missing?

This is for an Extra Pale Ale? Get yourself a Muslin or Nylon (easier to clean) bag and throw 1-2 ounces of hops into it. Tie it shut and tie some string (or fishing line) to the bag and throw it in the secondary. Make sure the string is tied off to something outside the carboy. Leave it in for as long as you want. The longer it sits the hoppier it gets!

FYI, for IPAs you dry hop between 2-4 ounces (depending on IPA, DIPA, IIPA, TIPA, etc) for dry hopping. Bell's Two Hearted calls for 2 ounces of PELLETs for dry hopping.

I don't like the bag method. Not as much extraction. But it is certainly easier come racking time.

And there is a limit to mizzoueng's "the longer it sits the hoppier it gets" statement. After awhile (a month maybe) you stop getting any flavor/aroma extraction from the hops, and they start to impart an undesirable grassy flavor. I'd recommend no more than 2 weeks for an extra pale.

FWIW - I've only dry-hopped once and it was with pellets in an IIPA. It was an absolute nightmare racking that into my bottling bucket. If I remember correctly it took me almost an hour because my racking cane kept getting clogged up with hops. I'm doing to be dry-hopping my 'Hop Kolsch' tomorrow, with 1.5 oz of Hallertau (I love Hallertau for aroma) and I'll be using a muslin bag somehow or another to avoid the experience that I had the last time.

ohiobrewtus said:

FWIW - I've only dry-hopped once and it was with pellets in an IIPA. It was an absolute nightmare racking that into my bottling bucket. If I remember correctly it took me almost an hour because my racking cane kept getting clogged up with hops. I'm doing to be dry-hopping my 'Hop Kolsch' tomorrow, with 1.5 oz of Hallertau (I love Hallertau for aroma) and I'll be using a muslin bag somehow or another to avoid the experience that I had the last time.

Click to expand...

With whole hops they usually won't clog the autosiphon so it is less of a problem. With pellet hops they eventually settle out of the beer. If you keep your racking tube above the sediment slowly lowering it to get the bottom of the carboy you can rack most of the beer into the bottling bucket or keg without getting clogged. If I'm careful I can get pretty much every thing before it clogs and once it does I stop.
Craig

I am going to use full hops not pellets or plugs, I don't think I will use the bag as I am comfortable with racking over with little to no clogs. Besides I drink other beer while working on new beer so the longer it takes the more fun it is. (standard brew time of 3 hours - I could do it faster but why?).

One other reason for using a bag, most of what can be extracted from the hops will be in a week or two. If you want more aroma, you should remove the old hops and add fresh ones.

ohiobrewtus said:

FWIW - I've only dry-hopped once and it was with pellets in an IIPA. It was an absolute nightmare racking that into my bottling bucket. If I remember correctly it took me almost an hour because my racking cane kept getting clogged up with hops. I'm doing to be dry-hopping my 'Hop Kolsch' tomorrow, with 1.5 oz of Hallertau (I love Hallertau for aroma) and I'll be using a muslin bag somehow or another to avoid the experience that I had the last time.

Click to expand...

Give this a try. 1-gallon paint strainer from Lowes. I suggest using a small zip tie around the end instead of htis clamp...makes fitting through the neck of a glass carboy easier.

I've used this in the secondary for both pellets and whole leaf hops. I dry hop my kegs now so...different process.

Concerning using a bag, what about sanitization? A concern?

I tried just tossing the an ounce of hop pellets into my secondary and racking over to the bottling bucket was a complete nightmare. I let them sit in there for a week and while some did settle out, there were lots still in suspension. I now use a small muslin bag from the LHBS. I sanitize the bag by dipping it into sanitizing solution, pour my hops into it and then pour in a handfull of sanitized marbles. Its a bit tough forcing the bag into the neck of the secondary, but it does work. I wish someone made a tall thin and round stainless mesh tube that would fit into the neck of a 5 gallon carboy so that you could load it up with hops and easily slide it in. Maybe some day

Greg

Double post - HBT was a bit slow and I kept clicking!

Sorry, double post.

Evan! said:

... Add them to the secondary. I like to add them before racking, but you can do it either way.

Click to expand...

This is how I've always done it. IMHO, adding pellets gets you very little hop aroma. I did it once and was dissapointed with the results. Stick to whole leaf hops.

Evan! said:

I don't like the bag method. Not as much extraction. But it is certainly easier come racking time.

And there is a limit to mizzoueng's "the longer it sits the hoppier it gets" statement. After awhile (a month maybe) you stop getting any flavor/aroma extraction from the hops, and they start to impart an undesirable grassy flavor. I'd recommend no more than 2 weeks for an extra pale.

Click to expand...

I use a bag and use plugs or whole hops. I like the bag because it eases cleanup. I also like to push the racking cane tightly into the bag as I rack. It pulls the beer throught the hops and bag to filter and further impart aroma.

Pirate Ale said:

I use a bag and use plugs or whole hops. I like the bag because it eases cleanup. I also like to push the racking cane tightly into the bag as I rack. It pulls the beer throught the hops and bag to filter and further impart aroma.

Click to expand...

Say, thats a great idea. I am going to try that on my next batch.

Greg