first dry hop

I will be doing my first dry hop addition soon. Do I need to do anything to the hops before I put them in? What is the chance of contamination of the worth?
Thanks

The alcohol will kill germs.You need a muslin grain bag and some marbles.

contamination chance is pretty low. I never did anything with mine when I put them in. I think I have heard of people steaming them to sanitize them.

I just throw mine in and rack onto them, no sac either...really never had any problem with the lose hops getting stuck in racking cane.

i use a muslin bag weighted with a heavy-enough washer, tied to a piece of dental floss. it has worked great so far, but i like that marble idea. i usually dry-hop in the keg itself, so suspending the hopbag via dental floss has always seemed reasonable to me.

Marbles are a potential problem. I've had them shatter on me and you then have the potential for small shards of glass ripping through the bag. Secondly, most of the newer ones are going to be from China or similar and who knows how much lead or other contaminants are in the glass. I use SS parts from my old kegs. SS nuts/washers/bolts also work.

So I've been swamped with work and family and couldn't spend time looking for ss washers and the marble idea scared me so... I just threw the hop bag in the fermenter. Pretty sure its just floating at the top. How much of a problem is this?

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Dixon said:

So I've been swamped with work and family and couldn't spend time looking for ss washers and the marble idea scared me so... I just threw the hop bag in the fermenter. Pretty sure its just floating at the top. How much of a problem is this?

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shouldn't be any problem. Like I said b4...i don't even use a bag, I just toss the leaf hops into my secondary and rack the beer on top of them, and they just float on top. some eventually sink and float around in the beer. I think i get a good enough "aroma" from this way.

On the marble thing...i can't understand why the marbles would "shatter"? They would have to get thrown pretty hard for this to happen. I've used that trick times before but have issues getting the bag out of my carboy, thats why i don't do it much with the carboy. When I use a keg as a secondary I do use the marbles.

Brewman79 said:

The alcohol will kill germs.You need a muslin grain bag and some marbles.

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also hops are a perservative in beer (hence the whole ipa thing) so i would think they are pretty resistant to germs.

First time i dry hopped I used a bag.

Second time I didn't, I found a BIG difference.

Now I use a weighted bag for the boil, but gently stir in the dry hop 5 days before kegging. Here in the UK breweries even dry hop into the keg...

I've used whole hops, pellets, bag, no bag, marbles, no marbles with no significant difference. A minimum of 4-5 days is needed. 6-14 days has no further effect but does no harm if you cant get to it until then. Sanitize your bag, marbles, hands, but never the hops.

I have been putting my dry hops in loose, and have had trouble with small hop pieces getting into the keg, and subsequently into my beer as I draw a pint. This is less of a problem as the keg settles and im usually hop free by the fourth or fifth pint assuming the keg doesn't get jostled again, but it aggravates the hell out of me. Think im gonna start using a bag and see if that helps and if im satisfied with the aroma

Heres my quick how to dry hop video. Its not the be all end all but its how I go about it.

I have had great success with 10 days on the dry hopping.

1. Primary for 3 weeks and rack into the keg.
2. Put all the hops in a muslin sack and dip like a tea bag.
3. I periodically go down and lightly shake the kegs, maybe once a day tops (not sure if that helps or not). The last 3 days I don't touch it so it settles out.
4. Day 10 - Fish the muslin out and carb.

I don't - sanitize my hops or the muslin. I am always afraid of using something that might ruin the head on my beer.

I boil an ounce of aroma hops for one minute in 3 pints of water, then turn off the heat and let it cool for an hour, then strain and add to fermenting wort on day 3 - works for me...

Thanks all for your advice. This is a very interesting topic for me. I nice to hear what everyone does. Keep it coming. Cheers

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7-10 days has seemed to work best for me, up to 2 weeks with no adverse effects.

When I use a bag I've boiled bag to sanitize. I don't boil marbles, they quick starsan rinse.

I've dropped pellets and whole hops right into primary after fermentation complete. easiest bar far. only slight problems with hops clogging syphon.

I may be keg hopping a batch in a bag (same principal as dry hopping just in the keg if this last batch needs a bit more hop punch, if I don't get my "hop randall" complete before then.

I only starsan the pouch of hops before adding, an do not boil off any of the hop aroma.

BOBTHEukBREWER said:

I boil an ounce of aroma hops for one minute in 3 pints of water, then turn off the heat and let it cool for an hour, then strain and add to fermenting wort on day 3 - works for me...

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hmmm, first time i have heard of dry hopping in this manner. how much aroma can you add from boiling aroma hops for a minute and then dumping the bittered water into your beer without the actual hops? also, doesn't the addition of the water affect your gravity?

I just either add my dry hops to my secondary and rack my beer on top of it, or, if simply toss the hops into my primary if i don't us a secondary. i usually dry hop for at least a week so after a day or two, the hops will get saturated and sink to the bottom.

finally, i attach a sanitized muslin bag to the end of the tube on my autosiphon when racking to my bottling bucket to catch any hop debris prior to bottling/kegging.

BOBTHEukBREWER said:

I boil an ounce of aroma hops for one minute in 3 pints of water, then turn off the heat and let it cool for an hour, then strain and add to fermenting wort on day 3 - works for me...

Click to expand...

Add what? The water or the hops?

For some reason I just don't find this appealing.

I just dump the hop pellets to the secondary carboy and rack the beer in! worrks great. I Cold crash before I keg so all the hops sink to the bottom.

I put the pellet hops in a tea ball and drop them in the keg. Leave them there until the keg is empty. Much better flavor than dry hopping in a primary or secondary.

what size tea ball?

i used a bag this past time when i dry hoped i thought my tea ball was a little small (also i used whole hops which i think take up more space). but i put it in the keg too. its still in there. it keeps getting better.

just found a 3.5" on ebay $8.39, 4" is $12.95

http://cgi.ebay.com/LARGE-SIZE-HERB...703?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27b90e3d4f

i bought one from midwest, it said large enough to hold 1 oz of hops. bull ****. yeah, if you pack it in there but i was less than happy with it. i ended up using a mesh bag instead (also i used whole hops) so they would be loose enough to get the full flavor out.

How big was the one from midwest?

i threw away the box, but it looks like two inches (diameter) i used it for pellet hops in a boil once, they expanded and the thing was packed full when i took it out. doubt i got full utilizition out of them. it was only 4 dollars i think, ill probably just use it for tea or something from now on. but the ones your looking at are bigger (and a little more expensive) so maybe they would work

yeah I use a 1" & 2" for tea, didn't think it would be big enough for hops!

may just do a cheese cloth bag in the keg. at least I have an idea of capacity of a 3.5" or 4 inch"

those may be big enough. i would get the four if your gonna get one. that would probably be big enough. definately don't expect to be able to fit an ounce of hops in the two inch. i guess you live and learn though. at 4 dollars it wasn't a huge mistake.

I was thinking about the four inch for a few $ more. (clint eastwood movie)... figure can get an whole ounce of leaf with some wiggle room... and it's all stainless. meh it's pay day! lol

4" may get a bit more hop utilization than the 3.5" and when not in use for beer big pot of whole leaf Iced tea! Unsweet! haven't turned in that yankee card yet!

haha. i don't know what it is with YA'LL and your unsweet tea. i think there actually might be a law against not sweetening tea here in SC

i mean sweetnin'

i tried a hop tea once and got a real grassy flavor. so be careful, might want to test before going for it on a full batch.

When i dry hop with commercial hops i don't worry about sanitation and just put them straight into my fermenter, if i use hops grown and processed by a friend or myself i soak them in a neutral, high quality vodka or a whisky if it might fit with the style just to be sure there is no contamination.

I boil for a short time for sterilisation purposes and yes the extra 3 pints of water drops the ABV but I am not to worried...