Dry hopping in primary?

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starrfish

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I will have 2 beers coming up to dry hop around the same time.

All my primary ferms will be full, and I have 1 glass carboy I use to secondary/dry hop or add additional fruit in fruit beers. One will go in carboy as normal, can I just dry hop the other in primary once fermentation subsides?

Anyone done it this way? Any problems or disadvantages I'm not thinking of?
I orginally learned to brew in the early 90's where it was encouraged to get beer off yeast asap. that thought seems to have changed.

Considering seeing if I can get a "free" 5gal plastic water jug from "somewhere"... if primary dry hopping is not reccomended.

thanks in advance.
 
thanks again revvy.

I couldn't think of a reason not to, and couldn't find anything online stating otherwise.
 
I usually primary 3 weeks, and throw hops in for another week. Works for me.
 
I don't and wouldn't, but to each his own. Here's a quote from BYO on doing it.


"dry hopping in the primary fermenter will work, and is favored by some brewers, but conventional wisdom teaches that the primary might not be optimal. The problem lies in the bubbling of the CO2 and the agitation of the wort during primary fermentation. This bubbling and agitation takes some of the hop aroma out of the beer just like boiling would. This, of course, may defeat the purpose of dry hopping, although some of the hop essence will subsist. If you choose to dry-hop in the primary fermenter, you may want to add more hops than you would for dry hopping in the secondary or keg."
 
I don't and wouldn't, but to each his own. Here's a quote from BYO on doing it.


"dry hopping in the primary fermenter will work, and is favored by some brewers, but conventional wisdom teaches that the primary might not be optimal. The problem lies in the bubbling of the CO2 and the agitation of the wort during primary fermentation. This bubbling and agitation takes some of the hop aroma out of the beer just like boiling would. This, of course, may defeat the purpose of dry hopping, although some of the hop essence will subsist. If you choose to dry-hop in the primary fermenter, you may want to add more hops than you would for dry hopping in the secondary or keg."

But I think most people who do primary hopping, don't add the hops while fermentation is actually happening and the beer is "agitating" I think most people keep to a similar timeframe as they would in secondary. They wait til fermentation subsides before adding the hops.

So the beer is as calm as if it were in secondary (maybe more so, since it wasn't racked over and nothing was kicked up.)

Just like O'Daniel said, after three weeks, hopping for one. I would do my normal schedule and do it in two weeks for two.

I think the BYO answer is no different than an answer anywhere else, just someone "wanking their opinion." Not some gospel thing, because honestly, who whould think that dry hopping in a primary would be done while fermenting? Probably someone who is thinking that the beer is only in the primary for a short time, like one of those autolysis believing yeast-phobes.
 
I usually primary 3 weeks, and throw hops in for another week. Works for me.


That's what I was thinking adding only after fermentation complete.:mug:

"Probably someone who is thinking that the beer is only in the primary for a short time, like one of those autolysis believing yeast-phobes."

I used to be one of those, Not anymore! thoughts on this have really changed!
 
glad to read this. I will have to dry hop in the primary for the first time coming up since they are all filled up. I look at that as a good thing though ;)
 
It works really well. I do it even when I have a secondary open. It saves a step.
 
Works just fine for me. All my beers get 4 weeks in primary & into bottles. As long as the ferment is complete you won't loose any aromas/flavors.
 
Brew Strong had a whole podcast devoted to Dry Hopping (12-8-2008) but skip the first 25 or 30 min. as Jamil and John go on and on about their trip to Australia.

They had "Tasty" McDole as their dry hop expert and he did his dry hopping as primary fermentation was winding down so the yeast would consume the O2 contained in the hops themselves.

I'm not convinced hops carry enough O2 to worry about oxidation from dry hopping but who am I?

I generally dry hop (pellets) in the keg using weighted hop bags suspended by dental floss. I tie the dental floss to a 1/4 hose clamp secured around the keg vent valve housing on the underside of lid. I do it during the 1st week of carbonation, then pull them out. I have another lid sanitized and swap them quickly. Obviously, I vent the keg slowly first. :)

I sanitize the floss, the clamp, the weights (SS washers) and the hop bags.
 
If you dry hop in primary I suggest you do it after the fermentation has finished and you've given the yeast a little rest to clean up.

The only down side I have found it that it's difficult (or impossible) to repitch the yeast due to all the hop crap - I put my hops straight in.
 
Yup. I wait 2-3 weeks so fermentation is done, then dump in the hops for 7-10 days.

I did run into a PITA last time I did this. I used a big starter in a big beer, and thus had like 2 inches of yeast. Then I dumped 3 ounces of pellets into the primary. Total I had like 4 inches of trub on the bottom, after the hops settled out.

It clogged up my siphon a bit when I tried to go to keg, since I stuck the autosiphon right down in all that mess, but some starsan spraying and light swearing fixed it.
 
I primary dry hop quite a bit, right after the main activity dies at about day 4. I also stir to re-suspend the hops every 3rd day for 2 weeks. Eeks out a few more FG points too! Excellent hop aroma/flavor results.
 
I primary dry hop quite a bit, right after the main activity dies at about day 4. I also stir to re-suspend the hops every 3rd day for 2 weeks. Eeks out a few more FG points too! Excellent hop aroma/flavor results.

Man, after fermentation I wouldn't be stirring anything in, if you open a fermenter you are voiding out protective co2 and stirring in o2....Not something I'm a fan of. Although it is difficult to oxydize our beers, I try not to contribute to it by adding more points of o2 contact to it.

Just my 2 cents.
 
Off Topic? maybe.

I am getting ready to do my first dry hop and was going straight into keg from the primary. Can I just put the hops in a bag and leave them in the keg the entire time or will I need to pull them out at some point. Thanks in advance.
 
Off Topic? maybe.

I am getting ready to do my first dry hop and was going straight into keg from the primary. Can I just put the hops in a bag and leave them in the keg the entire time or will I need to pull them out at some point. Thanks in advance.

I don't keg, so I can't help you, and you may not get too many response....look in the various forums, includding kegging, I swear there is a few dry hopping in the keg threads....
 
Off Topic? maybe.

I am getting ready to do my first dry hop and was going straight into keg from the primary. Can I just put the hops in a bag and leave them in the keg the entire time or will I need to pull them out at some point. Thanks in advance.

Depends on how fast you drink. Most folks think 2 weeks is the practical limit before "grassy" flavors develop. I have put the hops in meuslin bag and tied it off, then weighted it down with a ss clamp and tossed it into the keg. I drank the keg within a week, (boy was it good), so I couldn't comment on "grassiness", but I can say it worked very well when i did it.

The other trick is put hops in a bag, weight them down with something glass or SS, then tie dental floss to the bag. Run the dental floss up and out of the keg, and seal the keg lid on it. The floss won't fubar your seal, (according to what people say, I've never tried this), but will allow you to easily retrieve the bag after a week or two.
 
I've been leaving dry hops in the keg for a month or so and have not had any grassy issues as of yet. Can depend on the hops you are using and the condition they are in. Some hops are grassy to begin with and you will find that out quickly when you dry hop with them.
 
I have never dry hopped before, but am running a hop experiment making 0.75 gallons of beer with 8 different hops I planted last year.

Can I just toss the pellets into the fermenters?

Thanks,
Scott
 
Man, after fermentation I wouldn't be stirring anything in, if you open a fermenter you are voiding out protective co2 and stirring in o2....Not something I'm a fan of. Although it is difficult to oxydize our beers, I try not to contribute to it by adding more points of o2 contact to it.

Just my 2 cents.

I totally agree here. I wouldn't be stirring in anything at this point. I like to dry hop in the primary, but not this way. I guess if it works for you that's fine, but it might burn you on a batch eventually.
 
Yeah. All you will get is aroma though. Not much alpha acid can leach out without hot temps. In other words you will get all aroma and no bitterness. It will help you profile the hop well.
 
I dry hop in the keg often. I've gon as long as 8 weeks with the hops in the keg. I've never has a real grassy taste in any of my dry hopped beers.

I am going to DH 5 Gal of an Imp IPA and plan to leave the hops in the keg for 3 months. Then transfer to a fresh keg. I'm leaning to it being a myth like getting off the yeast ASAP.
 
Well, I've dry-hopped in the primary this way for 11 batches with good success. I use buckets so it's easy to add the hop pellets. As far as oxidation is concerned, I stir very slowly, pivoting the spoon at the surface without causing "wakes". There is a thick blanket of CO2 on the beer so there is little chance of introducing air anyway (CO2 is heavier than air), except for the minute amount from adding the pellets, which at day 4 of fermentation, is likely scrubbed by the yeast. I crack the lid open just enough to do my work. Contamination? I sanitize my spoon and make sure there are no drafts around the fermenter. Since there is alcohol in the beer, and hops are a natural antiseptic, contamination shouldn't be an issue using sanitary practices. We take gravity samples w/o issues, right???

I got the idea from craft breweries that add hops during primary, though they have the luxury of bubbling CO2 to the same effect of my stirring!

Just another option if someone is not afraid of trying...
 
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