Silly question but i have to ask.

An anyone tell me, what would happen if you dry hopped and the hops all floated to the top of the carboy?

I've never had hops not float on the top of of my beer. I just rack under them if I'm not using a bag. I may have a total of one or two hop bits end up in my bottles, but I'm not really worried about that.

They usually float. Sometimes pellet hops sink, but most hops float.

Ok great, thanks guys. Stupid question, I know, but I had ask because I'm doing my first dry hop and that's what happened. Just didn't know if it would impact anything. Thanks again! Cheers!

You can also use a mesh bag for pellet hops right? Any thoughts on the difference between pellets and whole hops on aroma?

Pellets leave more sludge on the bottom.

Not to hijack this thread but I hate having to siphon around the dry hops and still get hop particles in my bottles. Can you get the same aroma effects that dry hopping gives by just adding a bunch of hops at flameout? Or is it not quite the same?

I think (correct me if I'm wrong) if you add the hops at flameout it will scrub away the flavor/aroma during fermentation.

gcdowd said:

Not to hijack this thread but I hate having to siphon around the dry hops and still get hop particles in my bottles. Can you get the same aroma effects that dry hopping gives by just adding a bunch of hops at flameout? Or is it not quite the same?

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Nope - the fermentation will remove a lot of the volatile hop compounds added at flameout. Dry hopping occurs after fermentation.

Try wrapping your siphon in a (sanitized) fine mesh hop straining bag when racking to bottle, or add your hops in the (sanitized) mesh bag and weigh it down with some (sanitized) marbles or ball bearings.

In my experience, fermentation does not remove a significant amount of late addition hop flavor at all. I am a big fan of "hop bursting" - adding lots of hops late in the boil. In fact, I like to brew my pale ales and IPAs with almost no 60 minute additions, but pack a ton of hops into the last 20 minutes of the boil. The flavor and aroma is amazing. I planned to dry hop the last pale ale I did that way, but I found it unnecessary. Dry hops do add a slightly different character - fresh, bright, even grassy at times.

I prefer pellet hops for all stages of the process. I used to use whole hops exclusively, but they soak up a lot of wort, and you have to have a way of straining them effectively. Mesh bags worked best for me. With pellet hops, a good whirlpool at the end of the boil will collect most of the debris, and I don't worry about the bit that gets in the fermenter. Pellet hops are very effective as dry hops, and again, they don't soak up so much beer. I find the sludge at the bottom of the fermenter easy to clean. Whole hops can be a pain to get out of a carboy, especially if they get stuck in the krausen on the sides.

unionrdr said:

I agree,not much hop aroma/flavor is removed from late boil additions. I used raw/whole leaf hops loosely in our last 2 batches,& even with a fine mesh strainer,they're a mess. Gotta get more muslin grain bags to contain the whole leaf hops next time. Even pressing the wort out of them is a pain. Can never get all of it. But they do add smoother hop flavors.

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Maybe a false bottom, pickup tube, and a second plate weighted down with a couple bricks? Last time I brewed with leaf hops I lost about a gallon of wort, and it seemed like the hop flavor was extremely subdued, like the hops bogarted all the hop flavors in that wort they held on to.

I like a lot of hop flavor and aroma and I've been thinking about just adding a crap ton in the last 20 minutes without doing a dry hop. I just hope the aroma holds ok.

I am all for hop bursting. It gives a very floral taste from the hops. IMO dry hopping gives a grassy taste and more for aroma. You can't replicate on or the other by hopping different methods.

True that you can't do straight substitution between hop bursting and dry hopping - they do achieve slightly different results. I didn't mean to insinuate that you can. I skipped the dry hops in my last brew because you CAN overdo it with hops, and the beer was already on the borderline of "soapy" with hop flavor, and I feared that dry hops would overdo it.