Remove whole leaf hops from beer (fermenter)

I used dried whole-leaf hops for the first time and didn't filter out of my wort when transferring to my fermenting bucket. I opened the lid after a week (I was going to dry hop) and the entire surface is nothing but the whole leaf hops. They are no longer dried and they are so thick I cannot even see the beer below them.

It's 5 gal in a 6 gallon fermenting bucket and there's no way I could even transfer to secondary as those hops would just clog up my siphon. I'm in no hurry so should I wait for them to finally drop to the bottom or should I carefully use a strainer to remove them?

Thanks!

The hops should drop at some point. But lets say they don't...

I suspect that when syphoning if you were to position your racking cane below the surface and try to keep it below the surface you would minimze the amount of hop leaves you'd pick up when transfering. It wont be perfect but it should help eliminate picking up most of the hops.


Can't help you with the straining question. Sorry.

you can put a nylon straining bag over your racking cane and that should solve any clogging issues. either the grain bag type sold at homebrew shops or a regular old paint straining bag from the hardware store will work. just remember to sanitize it too.

i do this when i'm siphoning from my boiling kettle, works great!

I use whole leaf most of the time and leave them in the all the time.
Racking is not a problem, but you will lose some of your beer (due to the leafs soaking up liquid).
I strongly suggest getting an "automatic" siphoning tool, it's difficult to keep prime in that situation using a strainer and a regular tube.

Ya the hops should not be the problem. Use the automatic siphoning tool. Its great and if you dont have one they are pretty cheap at your local shop (or should be).

The problem I have come across is getting the hops out of my glass carboy...yikes!!!

Just remove them with a sterilised kitchen sieve the day before you bottle. I remove ALL krausen 4 times a day for 7 days, using a tablespoon, then bottle my beer using a jug and funnel. I dont have contamination problems, BUT, I am doing a trial to see if careful syphoning gives me a better final beer.

Thnx for the feedback guys. I primary reason to remove those is to dry-hop but I'm afraid the 2oz of whole leaf cascade hops I have left will just soak up more beer!

I saw another post where people aren't happy with the uberhopped beers but I'm the kind that does. Just like my cream, I like to add a little coffee to it!

MikeG said:

Thnx for the feedback guys. I primary reason to remove those is to dry-hop but I'm afraid the 2oz of whole leaf cascade hops I have left will just soak up more beer!

I saw another post where people aren't happy with the uberhopped beers but I'm the kind that does. Just like my cream, I like to add a little coffee to it!

Click to expand...

I just finished dry hopping with 2oz of cascades and man those things like to balloon up. Mine sat at the top for the whole 2 weeks.

I also used whole leaf cascades while brewing and to filter them out when going into the primary. I used a Bed Bath & Beyond - Kitchen Food Prep/Gadgets Strainer/Colander the big one and put it at the top of my funnel going into the carboy. I had to stop when the strainer was full of hops to dump it, and the hops soaked up a lot of liquid, but no hops went into the primary.

When I kegged the secondary, I used the strainer to skim the top surface to get 90% of the hops and then again to catch anything that came out to not go into the keg when I transferred it.

Worked out just fine.