Hey froth heads, I'm am Aussie addicted to American style ales and ipa. (actually I'm presently drinking green flash palate wrecker which I found here in Melbourne!). I have been brewing ag in a bag and kegging with force carb. However, I haven't yet dry hopped. My next brew is a Pliny the elder clone and I want to try it. since I'm not using a secondary what should I do? It will be hop pellets with a hop bag. Thanks in advance, and God bless American beer (particularly the west coast).
dry hopping advice please
- Thread starter sudsey
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You can dry hop in your primary fermenter. I just like to make sure fermentation has subsided fully. And for your pliny clone you're going to need a lot of extra space. Most of the clone recipes I've heard about use a ridiculous amount of hops to finish the beer so all that extra space in your primary is a benefit. But it is as easy as just tossing your hops in there.:rockin:
Double_D said:
Thanks mate, do you think this method is much better than hopping in the keg? Also, how do you know when fermentation has fully stopped? Obviously when the bubbles have ceased completelyis a good sign. But I have been reading about letting primary go for one month. Usually the texts just say two weeks and my bubbling will often stop after one week.
Xpertskir
Well-Known Member
A few things:
1. Always make a yeast starter, use mrmalty to know how much yeast you need.
2. Letting the beer sit in the primary is about more than just converting sugar to alcohol, it's about letting the yeast clear up the beer and eat some of the off flavors that's may be present.
3. Dry hop in the primary, you could use a bag but its not necessary.
4. Here us my average 1060 ish OG ferm shedule. 20 days in primary check gravity to ensure fg has been reached then dry hop for 10 days in primary.
5. If you like beers like palatte wrecker you'll need to dry hop with at least 3 oz. some beers have as much as 8 oz of dry hop in a 5 gallon batch.
6. Palatte wrecker is one of my favorites and its hard for me to find, I'm jealous.
1. Always make a yeast starter, use mrmalty to know how much yeast you need.
2. Letting the beer sit in the primary is about more than just converting sugar to alcohol, it's about letting the yeast clear up the beer and eat some of the off flavors that's may be present.
3. Dry hop in the primary, you could use a bag but its not necessary.
4. Here us my average 1060 ish OG ferm shedule. 20 days in primary check gravity to ensure fg has been reached then dry hop for 10 days in primary.
5. If you like beers like palatte wrecker you'll need to dry hop with at least 3 oz. some beers have as much as 8 oz of dry hop in a 5 gallon batch.
6. Palatte wrecker is one of my favorites and its hard for me to find, I'm jealous.
It's not ideal but it will work in pinch. 1 w/ starter is what I did for years.
The keg hopping is something I've been meaning to try. I think people usually weigh the bag down and use some fishing line or something to keep it from going all the way to the bottom and getting sucked up the dip tube.
Absolutely do a starter. Can you ferment with just the pack? Yes, but you will get much better results with a starter. I've never had Pliny because I rarely buy beer, but if your OG is much over 1.060, you may not be able to get a full fermentation.
I have been dryhopping in the keg for years, and the hop bag has never gotten stuck in the tube. I often don't weigh it down, though you do more immediate results that way.
I use whole cone. But that's pretty much that. Just throw them in. Same with pellets.
Xpertskir
Well-Known Member
The hop pellets won't dissolve, they will break up. I cold crash all my beers so that really helps the hops drop and I would highly recccomend it. If you don't have the capability to cold crash, you can swirl the carboy, trying not to splash, to help break surface tension and get the hops to settle out.
Cold crashing is exactly what it sounds like. Put your fermenter into a fridge, or ice water bath, to bring the temperature down very quickly. It helps stop any remaining yeast activity, drops yeast and other particulates out of suspension, and helps clear your beer.
graduate
Well-Known Member
I have dry hopped both ways. When I dry hop in the keg I have put a microgear clamp on the poppet boss on the bottom of the keg lid. Behind the clamp I hang a stainless wire hook. From the hook I hang a hop bag filled with hops. Pellets or leaf. As the beer is consumed the hop bag hangs in the keg. If you choose to remove it after a few weeks you can easily remove it.
Overnight cold crash is all that it generally needs, just long enough to drop the temperature down.
As for dry-hopping in the keg, I don't think a bag of hops will get stuck in the dip tube--I've had kegs cough with a hop bag in there several times and never had one get clogged (YMMV). Also, I am not convinced that you need to add weights to a hop bag in a keg that's under CO2 pressure. The pressure of the CO2 pushes the bag into the beer. In those occasions where I want to remove the hop bag from the keg, if I bleed the pressure and pop the top off quickly, I can see the hop bag float up to the surface, which leads me to believe the pressure pushes it down. Another advantage of no weights is that it's easier to retrieve. Dry-hopping in the keg makes for a nice aroma but it can leave some lupulin and teeny hop bits in your glass. For that reason, I tend to dry-hop before the beer reaches the keg and go commando style without a bag.
The keg dry-hopping is great for parties when the beer (like an IPA) is lacking in hop aroma and people are drinking it in plastic cups (i.e., not clear glass, if you care about the clarity aesthetic).
As for dry-hopping in the keg, I don't think a bag of hops will get stuck in the dip tube--I've had kegs cough with a hop bag in there several times and never had one get clogged (YMMV). Also, I am not convinced that you need to add weights to a hop bag in a keg that's under CO2 pressure. The pressure of the CO2 pushes the bag into the beer. In those occasions where I want to remove the hop bag from the keg, if I bleed the pressure and pop the top off quickly, I can see the hop bag float up to the surface, which leads me to believe the pressure pushes it down. Another advantage of no weights is that it's easier to retrieve. Dry-hopping in the keg makes for a nice aroma but it can leave some lupulin and teeny hop bits in your glass. For that reason, I tend to dry-hop before the beer reaches the keg and go commando style without a bag.
The keg dry-hopping is great for parties when the beer (like an IPA) is lacking in hop aroma and people are drinking it in plastic cups (i.e., not clear glass, if you care about the clarity aesthetic).
sudsey said:
Off topic, but what do you pay for American craft beer in AUD? Its it easy to find? I'm just curious.
BTW - we've been getting a lot of the Aussie and New Zealand hops lately. Good stuff.
I don't use anything to hold the bag- just put the sanitized bag in the keg and then rack onto it. I did it just today in fact! It takes a little longer at fridge temperature to get all of the dryhop aroma and flavor than at room temperature, but I leave the bag in there the whole time and have no issues with grassiness. As the level of the beer drops, so do the floating dryhops. As long as the hops are in contact with beer (even floating), it works great!
I have only dry hopped twice. It was the same S.N. clone. I added the pellet hops to secondary each time. Once directly and once using a hop bag. I swear the hop bag version did not pick up as much hop aroma /flavor. Any thoughts.
I am bad at taking notes, but I'm pretty sure I left the hops in for same time for both batches.
Doing the same kit with whole hops. Thinking about adding directly.
I like the idea of adding the hops to the keg.
I am bad at taking notes, but I'm pretty sure I left the hops in for same time for both batches.
Doing the same kit with whole hops. Thinking about adding directly.
I like the idea of adding the hops to the keg.
sudsey said:
I dry hop in primary. I cold crash 2 days prior to racking. That gets rid of most of it. But you still have to be careful when racking. I probably leave 2 Cm of liquid at the bottom of the carboy. I keg, so any hop particulates that get by end up in the first few pints along with the rest of the trub. In the past i'd rack through a paint strainer but i've stopped doing that.
I am surprised to hear so many people dry hopping in a keg. Everything I have read says that if the hops are in more than a week you get grassy off tastes. Is that just urban legend, or does the temperature of the keg and the carbonation play a role in that?
flips
flips
I've only done it twice, and to be honest, I really didn't notice off flavors. I thought I would. The beer was kind of bland and I wanted to add some flavor and aroma.
I've got an APA I dry hopped at the end of August and it still tastes fine.
sudsey said:
I really need to start taking notes. I did cold crash before kegging. A lot of the hops fell out before I kegged, but I did have hop particles in the keg. More fell out in the keg, but my first few pints were more hazy. It tasted great so I did not mind. The later pints were clearer. I tend to drink my beer quickly so not sure about grass off flavors.
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