Dry Hopping technique

I've got an IPA in my primary that I'm planning to dry hop for 10 days, per the recipe.

It's going to spend 7-10 days in the primary, and then come off the trub into the secondary, at which point I'll be adding 1.5 oz of pellet hops for 10 days before it goes into bottles.

The question is: should I use a grain bag for the hops, or just drop them in loose?

I searched the forums, realizing that this has probably been discussed ad nauseum over the years, but couldn't seem to find a thread about it...

Also, I'm a bit of a noob still, so if I'm going about this all wrong, feel free to point that out too!

I would put them in a bag if I were you...I do all my dry hopping right in the keg now.

Pat

I've prefer adding loose hops to the carboy after primary fermentation has finished. The hops and other solids get left behind when transferring. Also, no need to secondary. Plus adding a bag through the carboy opening is tough - its not a very big opening. I use a sanitized funnel and just pour the hops into the carboy.

If you opt to dry hop in the keg - I would use a bag or stainless herb ball. That way you can remove the hops without having to transfer the beer to another container.

I've done both methods and prefer the first due to less stuff to clean and deal with, but both work well.

Pangea said:

I've prefer adding loose hops to the carboy after primary fermentation has finished. The hops and other solids get left behind when transferring. Also, no need to secondary. Plus adding a bag through the carboy opening is tough - its not a very big opening. I use a sanitized funnel and just pour the hops into the carboy.

If you opt to dry hop in the keg - I would use a bag or stainless herb ball. That way you can remove the hops without having to transfer the beer to another container.

I've done both methods and prefer the first due to less stuff to clean and deal with, but both work well.

Click to expand...

What he said.