Dry Hopping

I have read several different threads regarding dry hopping, in the secondary w/ and w/o a bag, and if in the bag weighed down or not. I was hoping for some feedback from people who have tried multiple techniques. this will be my first time dry hopping, and am looking forward to it. I have so far always used a secondary but from what i have been reading lately i was planning on leaving this ale in the primary. can i just open the lid, drop them in, and reseal, or should i use my secondary?

i like to just pop open the primary and throw em in. I haven;t had any issues, just make sure active fermentation is complete. the only time i use a bag is with leaf hops, but thats cuz they just floated and stacked on top of each other when I did it before.

did you have any issues with them clogging your syphon?

I used to use a secondary, but now I dry hop in the primary. I only use a bag when using pellets - the time I didn't, I got tiny hop bits in every bottle. Whole leaf are easier to avoid when racking. I don't weigh them down - I figure if they are wet, Brownian motion will do the rest.

muse435 said:

did you have any issues with them clogging your syphon?

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never. some people tie a muslin bag to the tip to help reduce that chance, but hasn't been an issue for me so i dont bother

i am using pellets this time around, you mentioned that you do not weigh your bag down, is there an advantage either way?

Some people think weighing the bag down keeps the hops "wetter" so you get better utilization. I'm not convinced, and it one more thing you have to find, sanitize and throw in the beer.

Either would work though!

Thank You Everyone

I was thinking to myself today about my fluid dynamics class, and how fluid disperses. If i put my pellet hops in a bag than i will potentially reduce the amount of liquid that is directly in contact with the hops. This i think will create a high "density" of hoppiness. i could be wrong but the more i think about it the hops should be free to float around. I fear that i am over thinking this but just wondering. Also if i do not use a bag can i just put a bag over the end of my auto-siphon the prevent the transfer of hop particles.

muse435 said:

I was thinking to myself today about my fluid dynamics class, and how fluid disperses. If i put my pellet hops in a bag than i will potentially reduce the amount of liquid that is directly in contact with the hops. This i think will create a high "density" of hoppiness. i could be wrong but the more i think about it the hops should be free to float around. I fear that i am over thinking this but just wondering. Also if i do not use a bag can i just put a bag over the end of my auto-siphon the prevent the transfer of hop particles.

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I've had problems with putting a bag over the end of my siphon- that's the only time I've had problems siphoning because the covering kept clogging it up. Others have had good success, though.

The pellets will disintegrate, most will sink but some will stay suspended. What I like to do is gently put my siphon in, and start siphoning in the middle. That works great, and I gently lower the siphon as the level of the beer lowers, so that I'm between the trub and any floating hop debris. I'm pretty proficient with racking by now- I was a winemaker before brewing- but I think anybody can easily do it.

I dry hop in the keg (basically the same as doing it in the secondary) using 1-gallon paint trainer bags suspended with unflavored dental floss. I don't weigh them down. I have used both pellets and leaf, and don't really have a preference for one over the other.

In the past, I used to just throw the hops into primary or secondary loosely, but that sometimes resulted in messy siphons. I haven't noticed any loss of quality by using the bag.

I put hops in the sanitized stainless steel Wal-Mart steeping ball, plop it into the keg, and seal it up. This may not be the best way, but it's certainly the easiest way (and "easiest" is at least a close cousin of "best").

I've tried tying a bag on the end of my autosiphon a couple of times - the first time it worked fine, the second time was a mess because I kept losing the siphon.

Has anyone tried lining the bottling bucket with a jumbo size nylon grain bag like the ones from AHS? Looks like you could siphon into the bucket, then just lift the grain bag out along with whatever it filtered out, and no danger of clogging your siphon?

DeafSmith said:

Has anyone tried lining the bottling bucket with a jumbo size nylon grain bag like the ones from AHS? Looks like you could siphon into the bucket, then just lift the grain bag out along with whatever it filtered out, and no danger of clogging your siphon?

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I think what you are saying is to put the bag on the end of the siphon, and not on the pickup, then just remove the bag with any of the particles that come through the siphon. I think that would work great and i'm up for trying it, anyone else try this?

muse435 said:

I think what you are saying is to put the bag on the end of the siphon, and not on the pickup, then just remove the bag with any of the particles that come through the siphon. I think that would work great and i'm up for trying it, anyone else try this?

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The bag is on the outlet end of the siphon, but not attached to the hose - it is a liner in the bucket. You would lose a couple of ounces of beer absorbed in the bag, but you would have the same loss if you used a bag over the inlet end of the siphon in the carboy. I don't think I'd put the priming sugar solution in the bucket first as the bag might impede mixing with the beer. Maybe better to start the siphon, then after you have some beer in the bucket, mix in the priming solution.

EDIT - or you could wait until you remove the bag, then add the priming solution and gently stir it in.

When I brewed with friends, we used a little nylon hop sack to hold the pellets, no weights to make it sink. We also used a bucket, so it was easy. We only did this because the kit instructions said to.

Now that I brew solo, I primary in a glass carboy with no secondary. Once bubbling is complete, I use leaf hops and just cram them down the bung hole, swirl it a bit to get them all wet, and call it good. No issues siphoning, the odd leaf did come through when racking but most of those were caught in the bottling bucket.

For dry hopping should i rack to a secondary or just open the lid on my primary and plop the hops in?

as long as you've let fermentation complete and given the yeast a chance to floc out, tossing them in the primary works just as well.

Leaf-pellet-bag-no bag........I have read enough on here and there are positive opinions with all of the options. You might try different ways to find what works for you. I don't think you can screw it up with those options.

I personally dry hop with pellets in the primary with no bag. I usually dry hop for around 7 days. After a couple of days i swirl the carboy to get the hop material to break up and drop to the bottom. Several days of gently swirling takes care of most of the material. I then tie a sanitized muslin bag on my auto siphon before I rack to keg or bottling bucket. I leave room at the bottomof the bag (ie. i don't pull it tight to the bottom of the autosiphon) so that it won't clog up with hop material and or trub. You can avoid almost all of this material by just being careful while you rack.

It takes some time to get your process down and what techniques work for you, but I say try them all and then decide for yourself. this forum is great to get a head start or avoid major mistakes, but alot of questins like this come down to personal preference and what works for each individual brewer and his setup.

Just my 2 cents. best of luck and enjoy your brew!!!!!

tcory77 said:

I personally dry hop with pellets in the primary with no bag. I usually dry hop for around 7 days. After a couple of days i swirl the carboy to get the hop material to break up and drop to the bottom. Several days of gently swirling takes care of most of the material.

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My understanding of swirling is to have the sediment collect in a cone on the bottom. wouldn't this also stir up the settled yeast? I would like to know how this works for you and how you do it.

Thanx

I like weighing down the bag so it's not in the way when I rack it.

Swirling and whirlpooling are 2 different things. Whirlpooling will group sediment up in the middle on the bottom, usually done in the brew kettle before racking to the fermentation vessel.

When dealing with dry hopping I don't shake the carboy. I gently rotate the carboy just enough to get the beer moving and the hop material breaks up and drops out a little at a time. I do not agitate the beer to the point that the yeast get stirred up. It is a gentle rocking motion. The hop material doesn't need much to break up and drop out. Just a gentle swirl is how I would describe it. Does that make sense?

tcory77 said:

Swirling and whirlpooling are 2 different things. Whirlpooling will group sediment up in the middle on the bottom, usually done in the brew kettle before racking to the fermentation vessel.

When dealing with dry hopping I don't shake the carboy. I gently rotate the carboy just enough to get the beer moving and the hop material breaks up and drops out a little at a time. I do not agitate the beer to the point that the yeast get stirred up. It is a gentle rocking motion. The hop material doesn't need much to break up and drop out. Just a gentle swirl is how I would describe it. Does that make sense?

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So i should pick it up by the handle and rotate?

muse435 said:

So i should pick it up by the handle and rotate?

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No, I think he means that he moves the top of the carboy around in a circular motion without picking it up; i.e., some part of the bottom is always in contact with the surface that the carboy sits on.

Maybe "nutate" would be more accurate than "rotate"

DeafSmith got it right. I just gently rotate or nutate the carboy by grabbing the neck of it. Some part of the carboy is always in contact with the floor. It doesn't take much for it to work. I mean I am seriously only rotating for 1-2 seconds. It basically just puts a little ripple across the surface of the beer and the hop material starts to fall out. I do it once a day for several days until I am happy with the way it looks. Gentle is the key. Bottom line you get the surface of the beer moving even very slightly and the material is going to start to breakup and drop out.

Does that make sense? I am not a literary genius, so I know I am doing a terrible job at explaining.

i think i got it now. i am going to rack to my secondary, add the pellets for seven days, "rotate" then keg/bottle (Haven't decided on that part yet)