dry hop debris (picture)

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deantheking101

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I am doing a IPA it was in the primary for 2 weeks then i added an once of dry hops it has been 1 week so 3 weeks total now. I wanted to bottle tonight but i see a lot of fairly large hops. Should i still bottle it or wait?
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Generally you want to dry hop in secondary fermentation. All that really means is that after the initial, vigorous fermentation is over (usually within 3 days) rack the brew into another container.

As for the debris in your brew, I would use a piece of cheese cloth or a hop steeping bag and wrap it around the bottom of your racking cane or siphon to act as a filter. Rack into another container and allow it to settle for a few more days, then bottle. A glass carboy is the best way to be able to see if the brew is settled completely. You can find one here:
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I normally use whole leaf hops for dry hopping to avoid this issue.
 
Transfer your beer into a larger container like your boil kettle then stir it to create a whirlpool. Let is settle for about 20 minutes or so. This will pull all of the debris to the center and you can then transfer into a bucket, prime, and bottle.
 
I would avoid stirring post fermentation for risk of oxidation.

IMO it's perfectly fine to bottle. Just be careful when racking to the bottling bucket and once it's racked let it sit for a while before you bottle.

Some people have had success using a stainless steel scrubby on the end of the racking cane to filter any hop debris that might be floating around, but I've never tried it.

Should be fine if you get some hop debris in the bottle.
 
A technique someone else suggested on here that worked perfect for me:

When you rack to the bottling bucket, tie a nylon hop bag onto the end of your autosiphon with a fair amount of empty space. There will be enough room in the bag to catch all the hop material and still let the beer flow through. Works like a charm.
 
I used a large grain bag last time I racked. Simply sanitized it, stuck my autosiphon in it and racked into bottling bucket. Beer couldn't be clearer and a LOT of Trub left in the fermentor.
 
Ditto on the other posts on nylon bag or hop bag. Also hold your auto siphon in the middle of the wort. The hop material is on the top and bottom. If you start in the middle and hold it there you won't get a whole lot of debris against the bag (filter) until the end.
 
Or you could also just cold crash it for a day or two, have all the debris go to the bottom then rack to bottling bucket on top of all the sediment.
 
Or you could also just cold crash it for a day or two, have all the debris go to the bottom then rack to bottling bucket on top of all the sediment.

I'm not sure this would help with hops debris. If I'm not mistaken, cold crashing is to help coagulated proteins and yeast fall out of suspension?


Try not to stir. I'd go with the paint strainer bag. Then, next time, put the hops in one ahead of time and just hang it inside the carboy so you can pull it out at bottling.
 
I've bottled beers that had more hops debris than that! What I do is simply rack, starting in the middle of the beer and lowering the siphon as the level drops. I've never had any luck with trying to use a bag as that clogged up.

You definitely don't want to stir, whirlpool, etc. You'll be fine with bottling with some careful racking.

I dryhop at the end of primary all the time- that's also fine to do.
 
Or you could also just cold crash it for a day or two, have all the debris go to the bottom then rack to bottling bucket on top of all the sediment.

Cold crashing works great, I do it all the time. 3 days to a week at 34f and the hops will sink and the beer will clear. You won't need to mess with filters on your cane, just rack carefully. I do this alot when dry hopping with large amounts of pellet hops and never have a problem when racking.
 
+1 to siphoning into a large hop bag in your bottling bucket or keg. This works great.

-1 to stirring - The whirlpool method works on particles that have sunk only. The hop chucks are in suspension. Also, stirring fermented beer increase/speeds oxidation and spoilage.

-1 to cold crash. Cold crashing is a technique to get yeast to flocculate and precipitate.
 
I have tried the siphoning methods but with a bazooka screen and it got clogged. It soured me on the dry hopping thing. We can agree by the picture the majority of the hops aren't floating. I also transfer from the original fermenting vessel this removes the floating particles. I don't know howmost people stir but I can do it without splashing, aerating, or worrying about it. My opinion is there is no difference between a hot whirlpool and a fermented one.
 
So it went horrible i tried the easy way and just racked from the middle of the bucket. It got clogged over and over. So i dumped it through a filter into another bucket. Which after i did it i thought well that was stupid i just added a **** load of O2. Do you think i messed up my beer?
 
So it went horrible i tried the easy way and just racked from the middle of the bucket. It got clogged over and over. So i dumped it through a filter into another bucket. Which after i did it i thought well that was stupid i just added a **** load of O2. Do you think i messed up my beer?

Well, that certainly didn't help it. Drink it up and know better next time.

Have you tried dry-hopping in a hop bag? I've done that and it avoids some of this problem. If you drop a few sanitized marbles in the bag, it'll pull it down into the beer (it will have a tendency to float otherwise)
 
Well, that certainly didn't help it. Drink it up and know better next time.

Have you tried dry-hopping in a hop bag? I've done that and it avoids some of this problem. If you drop a few sanitized marbles in the bag, it'll pull it down into the beer (it will have a tendency to float otherwise)

Marbles! Me too. I've started dry hopping in a grain bag with marbles (all sanitized of course). I also sanitize panty hose and use a twist tie to keep them on the end of my siphon hose when transferring to the bottling bucket. That's worked pretty well.
 
A technique someone else suggested on here that worked perfect for me:

When you rack to the bottling bucket, tie a nylon hop bag onto the end of your autosiphon with a fair amount of empty space. There will be enough room in the bag to catch all the hop material and still let the beer flow through. Works like a charm.

Bingo! this is the method I use and it works great
 
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