Dry-hopping w pellets?

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perry

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Hey, when you guys use pellets for dry-hopping, do you grind 'em up first or just plop 'em into the fermenter?

Do you wait until the fermentation starts, or do you put 'em in when you pitch?

thanks- p
 
With any dry hopping I do it in the secondary. I tried pellets directly in the carboy, but did not like the floating hop debris in every bottle. I have had good results using a mesh bag with pellets. The last few batches I have done I used whole leaf and just tossed them into the carboy. There is less debris with whole leaf. I had asked the crushing question before and basicly was advised it would make no difference, as the pellets will come undone in the beer anyway.
 
Just be careful when racking to the bottling bucket if you dry hop with pellets. After a while they sink to the bottom of the secondary, then just be careful not to suck them up with the racking cane. Plus the spring in the bottling wand will trap some hop material and prevent it from getting into the bottle.
 
I had an unsatisfactory experience with dry hopping using pellets. Both of the problems I had have been mentioned already, and I now know they can be solved easily.

I was very careful when I siphoned my beer from the conditioning carboy to the bottling bucket. Nevertheless, I got a lot of loose suspended pellet hop debris in my bottling bucket, and every single bottle of my ale has hops suspended in it. The hops did not settle out completely in secondary, even though my beer conditioned for over 3 weeks.

My bottling wand got clogged full of hops. I had to take it apart and rinse it thoroughly part way through bottling. Once I was done bottling, I cleaned up and thought all was well, but when I bottled my next batch the following day, I discovered I had dried hops in my bottling wand that rendered it completely useless. It took quite a bit of rinsing and fussing to get it all out.

I bought a nylon hop bag, fine mesh. Problem solved, I hope. I'll know the next time I dry hop.

The ale, by the way, despite the suspended hops floating in it, tastes great!
 
I generally go directly from the primary to the keg... no stirring or agitation of any kind. In the collective experience out there, do the whole and plug hops tend to settle to the bottom better, or do they remain suspended like B4B says is the case with pellets?

I would hate to gunk up my kegs with hop debris.

Boldone, what would you think of putting a mesh bag of pellets directly into the keg? Do the bags you use contain even the small particles?

Thanks for the feedback. p
 
I also keg from the fermenter and I just bag dry hops, be they pellet of whole. I like to be able to easily remove the hops when I hit the right level. Fine mesh nylon bags work best. Knee-high nylons also work, but I'd recommend keeping them out of the sock drawer.
 
I have considered dry hopping in the keg. I really thought about this method when I use the whole leaf, as you cannot bag them and put them in a carboy. The bags I use (fine nylon) do a good job holding in the hops.
 
The last beer I dry hopped, I added the hops to the primary when fermentation was complete. I left the beer and hops in the primary for almost 3 weeks because of lack of time. I transferred to secondary for a week to help clear the beer then bottled. The hop aroma almost jumps out of the bottle and the flavor was great.
 
These bags.... do you worry about sterilization befor you use them, or do you let the alcohol in the beer take care of that?

And then, do you remove them from the keg before carbonation and serving or just let them sit in there 'til the keg is empty?


And finally, how do you judge how much hop to use for dry hopping?

(David 42, are you removing the bagged hops from the keg or from the fermenter when the flavor gets right?)

Thanks again everybody for all the great feedback. p
 
Yes, you need to sanitize the bag before you use it. I just soak with the rest of my gear.

You can carb and serve with the hops in the keg. You can let them set in the keg until it is empty or until you have achieved the perfect aroma.

How much you use is up to you. Less than 1 ounce probably won't do much. I have had good results with 1 ounce in my pale ales and 2 ounces in my IPAs.

(Note: I have never keg hopped, but I am seriously thinking about giving it a try)

My name is Steve and I am a hopoholic. :p
 
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