Racking after dry hopping

Ok,
So what are the best techniques to rack your beer after dry hopping without a hop sock? Last time I tried to rack my dry hopped beer it was a b*tch, my siphon kept on clogging up. I could strain the beer, but I want to avoid oxidation as much as possible. Cold crashing is not an option for me.

Cheers

That is quite the dilemma. Sorry to say, but I can't think of any way to do it except straining. You could try putting the (sanitized) hop sock on the end of your siphon tube? Might cut down on your clogging problem.

A mesh bag around the end of the autosiphon is the general advice. The only time I tried that, however, was from out of a carboy. It was a PITA and didn't work especially well. I always dryhop with a bag now.

Yeah been there done that. Sucks.

Thats why I always double bag it!

Very simple. I cut off a section of a paint strainer bag that I have laying around. Sanitize that along with a rubber band. Wrap the strainer around the tip of the syphon and secure with the rubber band. Syphon as usual. I do this for every beer that I dryhop with no problems.

That's an interesting idea.

Do you use any hop socks or do you just throw pellets right in?

How many layers of paint strainer bag?

tealio said:

That's an interesting idea.

Do you use any hop socks or do you just throw pellets right in?

How many layers of paint strainer bag?

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I dryhop directly into the fermenter. No hop socks or anything. I do one layer of the nylon paint strainer and it works perfect. Best part is, you can buy them at Lowes or home depot.

I just waited until the hops settled and racked. Didn't have any problems, though this was with pellets. Might be different with leaf.

just start syphoning from mid-way down and lower the cane as you go, shouldnt need any bags/socks

If your siphon is clogging, get a bigger hose. <That's what she said.>

I put the strainer bag in the bottling bucket or keg and just lift it out when done.

dcp27 said:

just start syphoning from mid-way down and lower the cane as you go, shouldnt need any bags/socks

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+1

That's what I do, and I've never had any problems.

-a.

Alright thanks guys, I think I'm going to use hop socks this time and I guess ill strain over the siphon tip. I feel like straining over the tip causes a little bit of oxidation? Either way if it does its probably a negligibly small amount.

ajf said:

+1

That's what I do, and I've never had any problems.

-a.

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Do you do this for both leaf and pellets? I've heard the pellets can break up and get all up in your beer, making them hard to avoid.

I have never tried it with leaf hops. (The thought of getting leaf hops into and out of a carboy scares me). It works fine with pellet hops, but I usually leave them in there for 7 - 10 days.

-a.

you can cold crash and not worry about filtering

be careful with a hop sock - mine kept getting sucked into the siphon and stopping the flow - paint strainer bag seems to work much better

hotpants said:

Do you do this for both leaf and pellets? I've heard the pellets can break up and get all up in your beer, making them hard to avoid.

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In my experience (one batch), we may have gotten a little bit of hops sludge into the bottling bucket, and by extension a little bit into the bottles, but it was certainly not noticeable. There's more yeast sludge than hops.