bag my dryhop?

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natefitz

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I'm about to move my first brew to secondary and dryhop this weekend. If I'm using pellets, is it recomended that I use some kind of bag to contain them?
Thanks
 
I don't- I just throw them in. They seem to disinigrate no matter what you do! But when I siphon to my bottling bucket, I'm careful to not suck them up.
 
You can bag them if you want, but it's a PITA.

Throw 'em in. If you're worried about the trub when you siphon it out, you can clamp a little muslin bag over the end of your racking cane or autosiphon. Make sure the bag and clamp are sanitized, of course.
 
Speaking of bagging pellet hops for dryhopping and/or sanitizing the bag made me think of something. I'm about to dry hop my first IPA in another week or so; is there anything I need to do (sanitation-wise) so that I don't infect the batch? Do I need to sanitize the pellets that have been sitting in a ziplock in the freezer? Do I need to sanitize the muslin if I use the muslin bag?

Or do I just throw it in and let the 6.0% alcohol at that point hold off any infections? What about if you dryhop in the primary (when no alcohol has been produced yet)?
 
I wrap them in cheesecloth and poke them through into the carboy. I've done it both ways...toss 'em in and using the cheesecloth. They both have their pros and cons. Their is no right or wrong.

loop
 
you probably should sanitize the muslin bag. the hops, be they pellets, whole or plugs do not need to be sannitized, they are naturally resistent to infections.
 
I bag, because I dry hop in the keg and I only leave them in for a week or two. For carboys, there is a question of which is worse: cleaning the loose hops out or getting the bag out.
 
david_42 said:
I bag, because I dry hop in the keg and I only leave them in for a week or two. For carboys, there is a question of which is worse: cleaning the loose hops out or getting the bag out.


LOL...that would be on the side of "cons" in my pros & cons of each. That baby swells up and it's pretty hard to get that puppy out!!

loop
 
I only bag when I'm using whole leaf hops in the keg. For the most part I use pellets in the carboy and I just throw them in. Don't make your brewing any more complicated than it has to be.
 
Suppose I'll just toss them in then with no bag. I already have a bunch of hop particles in their anyway. I bagged all my pellets for the boil, but with 8 hop additions plenty still snuck through the muslin. Haha...
 
I just bottled an IPA that I had dry (whole) hopped in the secondary. I used a muslin bag. I boiled the bag first and added the hops and a few marbles. I should have used more marbles as the bag still floated on the top of the wort. The transfer to my bottling container was a breeze no mess, no fuss. My FG sample tasted OK, so now it's wait (impatiently) and see.
 
If you're concerned about "floaties" getting racked to your keg or bottling bucket, this is what worked for me...
Hopstopper_1.jpg

Hopstopper_2.jpg

Hopstopper_3.jpg

A simple paint strainer bag (Lowes, $2.00) clamped on to the end of my racking cane.

Twas the clearest rack I've done.
 
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