Dry hopping: getting whole hops into the carboy

Getting whole hops into a carboy is quite a challenge. (I've always dry-hopped with pellets before.) I had oak chips and whole columbus to go into my IPA--I was going to try a hop bag, but there was just no way I was going to be able to jam that bag into the carboy.

I ended up sanatizing my big funnel anbd dumping the hops and oak chips in there that way. Now I'm celebrating by polishing off just about the last of the last batch of IPA.

I sanitize my hands and just shove them down the neck of the carboy.

Kai

oh thank god I'm not the only one that had trouble getting hops into the carboy! Mine's in a hopbag, but I ended up twisting that badboy in slowly until it finally popped in. Now I have NO idea how I'm going to get it out.

The one and only time I've tried it I made a hell of a mess in the family room. Hop flowers everywhere!

I like putting them in a hopbag, and then just throwing the bag in my keg. Keeps that hop aroma goin' strong.

I put Marbles in a hop bag ( large steelies work best) soak the bag and marbles in star-san.. Add the hops, and shove the bag in the carboy.... It then sinks to the bottom and I walk away.. after bottling I turn the carboy upside down.. Grab the marble end of the bag that easily goes to the hole.. and pull the bag out, cut the bottom, extract my marbles and toss the rest in the trash.

I Blame Dude for getting me away from pellets and into leaf hops.

Do you guys sanitize the hops prior to dry hopping?

I don't..

I do sanitize my hands and everything that comes in contact with the hops.

My local Dr. of Hoppology told me that there is something in hops that resists bacteria.

Now I have NO idea how I'm going to get it out.

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a pair of long handled sponge hemostats works well

I had the same concern after spending 5 minutes trying to squeeze my hop bag into the carboy and realized that there was no way it would ever come back out. Sounds like the marble tip would work well! I aborted the attempt and tossed the hops, but with a week left in the secondary, I'll make a trip to the HBS to pick up more hops and give it a try!

Thanks!

I first tried dry hopping about 20 years ago.

I wondered how I would get the hops into the carboy.

Then I wondered how I would get them out again.

Then I wondered how I could make space for 1 oz of whole hops

Then I realized why hop pellets were invented.

-a.

I prefer to just drop a measered dose right through the top.

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I bottled this batch last night. The loose floating whole hops were a PITA. I rigged a mesh bag + hose clamp strainer over the end of the siphon hose in the bottle bucket, but siphoning was excruciatingly slow due to all the hops clogging up the works.

Next time I dry hop with whole hops, I'm definitely putting them in as many small bags as it takes (I have a bunch of them).

cweston said:

Thread bump:

I bottled this batch last night. The loose floating whole hops were a PITA. I rigged a mesh bag + hose clamp strainer over the end of the siphon hose in the bottle bucket, but siphoning was excruciatingly slow due to all the hops clogging up the works.

Next time I dry hop with whole hops, I'm definitely putting them in as many small bags as it takes (I have a bunch of them).

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I hear you. Whole hops require bagging at every phase of their use in my system, not least of which is dry hoping.

Are you doing primary in the carboy or just secondary?

I usually don't do secondaries, but all of my fermentation takes place in carboys. I exclusively use pellet hops, but a friend bought all the ingredients needed to do a IIPA -- including 3 lbs of whole hops.

My plan is to coarsely grind up the hops in a food processor, add them to a length of sanitized nylon stocking, then cram them down the neck of a secondary fermentor with my sanitized hands and rack the beer on top.