Dryhop Question

For as long as I've been brewing, tonight was my first dry hop with whole/leaf hops. I noticed that the beer level doesn't appear to be up to the top of the hops. In other words, half the hops look dry, while the other half are saturated (see pic below).

Over the course of the dryhop, will the beer soak up through the hops, saturating the ones that aren't yet wet?

Thanks for yer time.

I would guess that you will missing out on some hop action as is. I would take a well sanitized thingy (dowel, ?) and try pushing the hops down to get more of them wet. Once wet I think you will be ok. OR you could try tilting the carboy and rolling it a bit to get them wet.

I just dry hopped in a better bottle using paint strainer bag - I forgot to add marbles or some other weights but all the hops are under liquid. Next time I dry hop I would prefer a wide topped bucket or fermenter. Squeezing 2 ounces of leafs in a bag through that hole was tricky.

They'll all eventually saturate. Next time, add the hops to the empty fermenter then rack on top.

samc said:

I just dry hopped in a better bottle using paint strainer bag - I forgot to add marbles or some other weights but all the hops are under liquid. Next time I dry hop I would prefer a wide topped bucket or fermenter. Squeezing 2 ounces of leafs in a bag through that hole was tricky.

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You thought that was hard, wait until you try to pull them out...

flyangler18 said:

They'll all eventually saturate. Next time, add the hops to the empty fermenter then rack on top.

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That's exactly what I did. The hops formed a kind of hops raft and floated to the top dry.

EDIT: I went at it a little bit with the sterilized end of a spatula. Most or all of them are now saturated to some degree. Even so, the level of saturation was rising, and probably would have overcome them all by the end of the dryhop with no intervention.

Give that carboy a good rocking back and forth to splash some beer on top of those hops. No worries about aeration. Just do it. I have to do it all the time...pellets or whole flower.

This is a pic post-stir. I think they're all fairly saturated, save for a very small amount right on the top. I'll give her a rock if they don't start turning brown shortly.

Not worried about O2 on this one...after I made the transfer it kicked right back into fermentation. The airlock is bubbling away. That tends to happen with high OG brews and high-floc yeast in my experience, and is a good thing for alleviating the worry about O2.

The guy at the LHBS told me to put the hops in a bag with sterilized marbles or ball bearings so they sink to the bottom. Looks like your way is working though.

If I put them in a bag, they'd be real hard to get in, and near impossible to get out. Using a bag with pellets is one thing, but using a bag with several ounces of leaf hops is quite another.

AKchill said:

The guy at the LHBS told me to put the hops in a bag with sterilized marbles or ball bearings so they sink to the bottom. Looks like your way is working though.

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I would question putting anything steel (except stainless) in the fermentor. I dry hopped and weighted mine down with large zinc coated nuts and ended up with 5 gallons of VERY metalic brew - undrinkable. First batch I have just poured out ever. Next time - marbles it is LOL.

Glass marbles are best in this regard. In the bottom of the above carboy is about a half-gallon's worth of glass marbles, used to bring the liquid level up and kill head space. I've done this several times, all with great results. Only issue is, dropping glass marbles into a glass carboy with no liquid in it is EXTREMELY loud.

Pelikan said:

Only issue is, dropping glass marbles into a glass carboy with no liquid in it is EXTREMELY loud.

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Maybe its just me, but this seems like a terrible idea. It's just a matter of time before you get some stress cracks on the bottom of that carboy.

jjp36 said:

Maybe its just me, but this seems like a terrible idea. It's just a matter of time before you get some stress cracks on the bottom of that carboy.

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I highly doubt that would happen, unless the carboy was either extremely hot, or extremely cold. The marbles are only dropping, what, a foot and a half from the opening of the funnel to the bottom of the carboy? Not nearly enough energy built up in that distance to crack the glass IMHO.

Put all the marbles in a bag with the hops. Tried this on my last dry hop, just used a few not enough. Couple of dozen? Pain in the neck to get that hop bag out after you pull the beer out.

Yeah, I thought about how to get them out too. I think the only way would be to fish for the bag, then tear or cut the bag, then empty the contents out piece by piece. Anybody have any ideas about how to get the bag back out?

AKchill said:

Yeah, I thought about how to get them out too. I think the only way would be to fish for the bag, then tear or cut the bag, then empty the contents out piece by piece. Anybody have any ideas about how to get the bag back out?

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I've never dry hopped nor used a carboy (I'm a bucket brewer) but in thinking about this a bit....

Could you bend a small hook on a metal clothes hangar and of course sanitize it then catch only a small part of the bag and pull it out enough to get your fingers on it?

or siphon first then turn the carboy upside down and shake like hell hoping that a small corner of the bag pops out the hole....

or.... (in pre-prep) could you sanitize a length of fishing twine and tie it to your bag before pitching the bag and then run the end of the fishing line up through the small holes on your airlock...then when removal time comes you could just pull it on out.....

those are my ideas

You could always use one of these magnets K&J Magnetics - Strong Neodymium Rare Earth Magnet Products in your hop bag and put one on the outside of the fermenter. You can move the hops where ever you want. I keg and just place them in a stainless tea strainer ball as do many.... I usually tie some dental floss to it and remove them if I plan on storing for a while.

The problem is, the hole in a glass carboy is only about an inch in diameter. Getting a bag filled with two or so ounces of whole hops into it will be near-impossible, let alone getting it out. You might be able to get it in with pellets, but I don't see it happening with whole hops.

Either way, I don't really see the point of using a bag when dry hopping. It reduces the efficiency, and doesn't serve much of a purpose when you're using a siphon, and can cut flow once all the liquid is gone. Plus, the bag will probably make it that much more difficult to get the last bit of beer out of the carboy.

Good point pelikan..... Again, since I have neither dry hopped or used a carboy, I don't have much in the way of experience in this matter.... but just letting them buggers float around seems the best bet...... a careful sloshing now and then to soak 'em all.....

Well, from experience, rack the beer off of the bag of leaf hops, then tip the carboy over, snag and tear the bag, pull it out rinse the carboy, done. This was my first attempt at dry hopping, and I don't think I will use a bag again. My next brew will be dry hopped and I will use pellets.

jjp36 said:

You thought that was hard, wait until you try to pull them out...

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The bag of hops just pulled right out with the attached fish line. Last time I did that with pellet hops it was an SOB to get out, this time with whole leaf it was fine!

I still fail to see why the bag is worth the extra effort?