Planning on my first Dry Hop...Help needed

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hatfieldenator

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Okay, so I have a batch of pale ale and an IPA that I plan on trying to dry hop this time around. I am currently fermenting the IPA in a 6gal carboy and the pale ale in a bucket. My question is how do I go about adding hops to these batches? Should I just use a hop bag and toss it in the primary or should I first rack to a secondary? Do I need to soak the bag in sanitizer first? How long should I leave it in there?
Thanks!
 
I usually use pellets and just dump them in my carboy. Most of the time I secondary when I dry hop but, I've dry hopped in the primary also (with no ill results.) I shoot for a week of dry hopping and then a couple of days of cold crashing. The cold crashing really helps in clearing the beer of the hop residue. Some people use a bag when dry hopping but I prefer to let the pellets swim.....
 
I dry hop in secondary. Boil a hop sock first for a few minutes to sanitize, let it cool a little, add the pellets to it and drop it in the secondary vessel.
 
Just to keep things interesting...

I throw mine in without a hop bag...

Then, when you rack to your bottling bucket or keg---line that with a sterilized 5G paint strainer bag from Lowes or Home Depot (I boil them).

Rack your beer into the bag then lift out the bag and any hops that it collected.

Full contract for your hops in secondary and ZERO hop material in your bucket or keg.
 
I add directly to the secondary and will leave it for at least a week. With IPA's that I want a huge hop nose I go 2. I have added to the primary after fermentation is all but finished and had no problems. I have always used pellets but next time I will be using leaf because I have read the aroma is better with leaf. I also cold crash before transferring to the keg. Some people hop right in the keg and then you would want a bag. If you're bottling of course that is not an option.
 
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