My first dry-hop and uh...what is it doing?

So I dry hopped my secondary with 1/2 oz of Saaz pellets...loose...

Okay, I was lazy. I figured they would float, and then gently settle to the bottom.

Instead, they sort of spread out over the sruface and took on a nice "mold" look. Now, about 24 hours later, they are trying to fall to the bottom...get about 4 inches down and turn right around and return to the top.

Will they ever settle?
Am I going to have to work magic when I rack to my keg to avoid the trub "down there" and avoid the green slime "up there"?

Anyone offer any insights on the mystery (to me) of dry hopping with loose pellets?

And please refrain from suggestions about hop bags, leaf hopping etc...too late.

I have only dry hopped once and it was weird. It was already a disaster batch so I figured I would go for an experiment with dry hopping. I too used pellets and they finally did settle after about a week and a half except for a few bits of floaties. The weird thing was after adding them a couple of hours later fermentation seemed to kick back in. It was the first week in "secondary" it had already been in primary about 2 weeks previous and major activity had stopped maybe 12 days earlier. It was foaming pretty fiercely for about 12 hours I believe (can not remember exactly but quite a while). Did that happen with yours?

I've dry hopped about 6 times or so. Initially looks just as you've described. I've always added the hops to the secondary and left it sit for two weeks. By the end of the second week almost all the hops had settled to the bottom. I've had no problems with hop debris in my beer when syphoning it to the bottling bucket.

RDWHAHB.

Cheers,
Ken

same experience as torpshootr - they settled slowly but surely - i swirled the carboy every day to help

Dried plant matter floats. As the bits re-hydrate, they start getting heavier and sinking, but residual CO2 will make tiny bubbles and re-float them. After two weeks, the extra CO2 is gone & most of the bits sink.

I used whole leafs and they floated for about a week before even a little bit started to settle, but I racked it with most of them on top, only suck up 2 or 3 leafs, the auto siphon trub thing helped keep most of them out.

another way is to use a long muslin bag to dry hop, and sanitize a couple marbles (or steel ball bearings) and drop them in with the hops. They will absorb the wort, then sink from the weight of the marbles. Easy to clean up after as well.

I use a hop bag when I dry hop, but I dry hop right into the keg so it's easy to get the bag back out.

knights of Gambrinus said:

I have only dry hopped once and it was weird...after adding them a couple of hours later fermentation seemed to kick back in. ...It was foaming pretty fiercely for about 12 hours I believe (can not remember exactly but quite a while). Did that happen with yours?

Click to expand...

No. Mine just created a green marsh layer on the top and . . . wait a minute . . .Is this the same Knights of Gambrinus who has not had a successful brew in recently recorded history?

You're saying that I've done something that you've done? Am I doomed to the same fate of no-good-brews in my future?

Oh...the humanity...

K I D D I N G !!!!!!

But seriously folks. Thanks for the experience sharing. I am sucking down a homebrew hefe and somehow...I think things are going to be okee dokee.

Hey now, no kickin' a guy when he is nearly out of homebrew!

I have had a couple of good batches... grumble grumble...



anyways, fwiw the dry hopping aspect of that batch turned out fine. The problem was cidery flavors that were already there. Ya see, I tried one of those no-boil exctract kits for the first time ever thinking it would be a quick way to replenish my stocks some.

DOH!

Would have been okay maybe had I not goofed. I followed the directions mostly except I added dme instead of white sugar. When I took my sg though it was 1.018! I panicked and dumped a 1/2 quart of maple syrup in there.

Later that night after no signs of life I discovered the reason for the intial low gravity. I had not mixed the lme in and it was just sitting in the bottom of the carboy. Shook the crap out of it, added more yeast and then it proceeded. So, I ended up with a really POTENT, cidery nasty beer.

Nice hop flavor though!

Sheesh, I was hoping to never tell that tale to anyone!

Yeah, have another hefe. Things will look even better!!!

I dry hop on a regular basis. The hops will float for a few days then kind of sink 2 to 3 inches down. After 5 days almost all of them fall to the bottom. The rest will fall when I move the secondary to syphon to the keg. To be safe I always stick a piece sanitized kitchen scrubby thingy on the end of the racking cane to stop any renagade hops. I also aways dry hop for 7 days or more to make sure they drop.