Dry hopped pellets won't sink

So I dy hopped my Janet's Brown Ale 2 weeks ago and there are STILL pellets floating on top. I'd say about 75% have sunk to the bottom but the others junk don't want to sink. I'd love to bottle this weekend so as to free up my primary for the AHS Pliny clone I want to brew. I have a secondary fermentor available, but since I started brewing in earnest last year I've only used a primary. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Eric

griffondg said:

So I dy hopped my Janet's Brown Ale 2 weeks ago and there are STILL pellets floating on top. I'd say about 75% have sunk to the bottom but the others junk don't want to sink. I'd love to bottle this weekend so as to free up my primary for the AHS Pliny clone I want to brew. I have a secondary fermentor available, but since I started brewing in earnest last year I've only used a primary. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Eric

Click to expand...

I would bottle it. I don't like to dry hop for more than 7-10 days.

I agree with that "guy" Yooper. I'd just bottle it. I don't think there will be any problem.

Thanks. I wanted to bottle last weekend which would have put it at 10 days but I was worried about getting all that hop material in the bottling bucket. If I was kegging I wouldn't care because it would settle but since I bottle I was concerned about clarity. Guess I'll just go for it this weekend.

get it cold if you can. that will help them drop out.

If you wait until they fall out, you might wait until christmas! Sometimes hops just don't fall to the bottom. It doesn't matter, though. You can rack from the middle, dropping the racking cane as the volume goes down. Eventually, the top will meet the bottom and you can stop siphoning. It's easy, and you won't have many hop pellets that make it into the bottling bucket.

You can also filter the hop material out with a fine-meshed bag of some kind. This thread, just a couple links down, has some suggestions including my own recent experience:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/problem-auto-siphon-dry-hopping-strategy-168525/

It'll get the majority of the hop material.

I put my dry hops in a 5gal paint strainer bag with a couple of shot glasses for weight. Works for me and easy cleanup!

If your carboy/bucket is not sitting where it will be when you rack to the bottling bucket, I would suggest moving it as much ahead of time as you can while still keeping it out of sunlight. Especially if you're not going to strain. I had a similar thing going on and as soon as I picked up my carboy and started walking the movement of the liquid pulled all the hop flakes into the beer. Fortunately I was a few hours away from when I really wanted to bottle, so they mostly settled out before I bottled, but I've still had a hop flake in one or two of the sixish bottles I've opened so far, and I'd hate to think about how many would be in each bottle had I not had time to wait.

This is an old post, but I was thinking of an idea related to racking a dry-hopped 2ndry. How about putting a muslin bag, or the like, at the end of the racking tube that is in the bottling bucket? You could sanitize the bag and a small zip tie in Star San, then affix the bag to the tube end with the zip tie. Voila! Strains out any hops that get sucked up by your racking cane! What do people think?

chefchris said:

get it cold if you can. that will help them drop out.

Click to expand...

+1

Mine drop out completely after chilling. Especially with a yeast strain that doesn't floc well at room temperature. The yeast crash out and grab the hops on the way down.

+2 on the get it cold. "If you chill it, they will fall".

johnnybrew said:

This is an old post, but I was thinking of an idea related to racking a dry-hopped 2ndry. How about putting a muslin bag, or the like, at the end of the racking tube that is in the bottling bucket? You could sanitize the bag and a small zip tie in Star San, then affix the bag to the tube end with the zip tie. Voila! Strains out any hops that get sucked up by your racking cane! What do people think?

Click to expand...

I know that Biermuncher has posted pictures of him doing just that. I've tried it once or twice and only managed to get the bag clogged around my siphon. I say try it, though, and see if it works for you.

I make a ton of highly hopped beers, and I've never had a problem siphoning.

YooperBrew said:

I know that Biermuncher has posted pictures of him doing just that. I've tried it once or twice and only managed to get the bag clogged around my siphon. I say try it, though, and see if it works for you.

I make a ton of highly hopped beers, and I've never had a problem siphoning.

Click to expand...

I may try it. I dry hopped in my 2ndry and about 1/2 of the hops are still floating. I would prefer to not get hops in a bottle and am just trying to think creatively on how to keep those tasty buggers out of the bottle. What a second, "...keep those tasty buggers out of the bottle..." that statement seems wrong - keeping hops out! What!?!?! hehe. Made myself laugh.

I would also like to cold crash for a few days to clear it up and maybe drop out more hops, but my little brewery here hasn't gotten a PO approval for a 2nd fridge. Mainly because the 'executive committee' realizes that as soon as the fridge is in place, a keg system will follow on its heels! Don't worry, I will wear her, ahem... I mean them, down!

I alway just put my racking cane (autosiphon) into the middle of the fermenter, and start the siphon in the middle. As it flows, the hops on top gradually lower with the level of the beer, and I'm above the trub on the bottom. I lower the siphon as the level lowers, and by the time I've finished, the hops floating on top meet the trub on the bottom and I've sucked up none of it. It really is very easy for me to do it that way.

YooperBrew said:

I alway just put my racking cane (autosiphon) into the middle of the fermenter, and start the siphon in the middle. As it flows, the hops on top gradually lower with the level of the beer, and I'm above the trub on the bottom. I lower the siphon as the level lowers, and by the time I've finished, the hops floating on top meet the trub on the bottom and I've sucked up none of it. It really is very easy for me to do it that way.

Click to expand...

Well, the simplest approach is usually the best. Thanks for the advice. Might just give your approach a try first and then adjust if needed. No reason to over-engineer (yet).

johnnybrew said:

This is an old post, but I was thinking of an idea related to racking a dry-hopped 2ndry. How about putting a muslin bag, or the like, at the end of the racking tube that is in the bottling bucket? You could sanitize the bag and a small zip tie in Star San, then affix the bag to the tube end with the zip tie. Voila! Strains out any hops that get sucked up by your racking cane! What do people think?

Click to expand...

This is exactly what I did with the pantyhose in the link I posted earlier in the thread.

The trick is to keep enough material loose around the tip of the hose so that the hops fall down out and away from the hose and don't get pushed back up against it.

Worked spectacularly. When I got done with the bottling, there was almost nothing in the bottom of the bottling bucket.

When I have this problem I just agitate the bucket/carboy a little, several times a day for a couple days or so. Seems to help out a lot. The few pieces that refuse to sink can be ignored while rackiing; most of anything that makes it through will stay on the bottom of the bottling bucket or keg.

Mongo64 said:

When I have this problem I just agitate the bucket/carboy a little, several times a day for a couple days or so. Seems to help out a lot. The few pieces that refuse to sink can be ignored while rackiing; most of anything that makes it through will stay on the bottom of the bottling bucket or keg.

Click to expand...

+1....jiggle your fermenter a little a few times a day and a ton of the floaters will drop out.

A word of warning on the straining devices....depending on how much carbonation is hanging around in your beer the straining bag may knock a bunch of CO2 out of solution. The first (and only) time I used a muslin hop bag strainer over the end of my cane, so much CO2 was being knocked out it would collect a the top of my racking cane and stop the siphon. Obviously, straining can work, but it was a PITA for me...YMMV. I just rack carefully now and don't have a problem with the couple of hop bits that make it through. If you're bottling, most of those that make it through will settle to the bottom of your bucket.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! Will be bottling today and I'll just begin the siphon in the middle as suggested.

Eric

Good morning. Thought I would share my bottling experience...

I put the IPA in a 57F room and within 1 day the hops that were floating sank to the bottom. I racked into my bottling bucket as Yooper suggested - siphoned from the center until the volume dropped, etc. After I siphoned I let it sit in the bottling bucket for about 15-20 mins to get any particulate matter to settle to the bottom (and there were some particles). Bottling went perfectly and I don't think even 1 little bit of Fuggles got into a bottle. Also happy to say that the beer smelled and tasted awesome. My patience will be tested over the next few weeks!

Thanks for all of the advice and suggestions. Prost!