Whole Leaf in a glass carboy

is there a good way of getting whole leaf hops in a glass carboy that has been racked over already? i wanted to dryhop a few days before bottling. last time i steamed the hops and added by hand to the carboy. any better suggestions welcomed and appreciated!

I put mine in a clean plastic cup and used a folded over peice of printer paper as a makeshift funnel.

I didnt use a plastic funnel because to sanitize it means it would still be wet, and they would have stuck in the funnel and clogged it, but what I did worked really well actually.

pirate252 said:

I put mine in a clean plastic cup and used a folded over peice of printer paper as a makeshift funnel.

I didnt use a plastic funnel because to sanitize it means it would still be wet, and they would have stuck in the funnel and clogged it, but what I did worked really well actually.

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so you added them dry?

No need to steam the hops. Hops have natural antiseptic properties and along with the alcohol present in the beer after primary fermentation, you run very little risk of infection.

I just grab em dry and jam them in the mouth of the carboy. Like brewtopia said regarding hops. I make sure my hands are clean and that's about it.

Big giant sanitized funnel and sanitized racking cane to push them thru the hole in the funnel if you tried to stuff too many in at once. Been there, done that

If you use a funnel and a racking cane or another tool to shove it through, be sure to not gouge or scratch the sides of the funnel. I ruined a perfectly good funnel this way.

I've done the paper funnel thing not so successfully. I think I'm going to buy a plastic funnel and then cut the end down so the opening is as wide as will fit in the carboy.

I've never seen a hop cone that's bigger than a neck of a carboy.
Just dump them in.

i just cut a corner off of a ziplock and used that as a funnel. got a bit messy, but got a nice amount of hops in there. looking forward to trying it in a few....thanks everyone for the great discussion..

i just cram them in there...

Why not boil a muslin bag, toss the hops in there, tie it off, and toss it in? Easy to remove, easy cleanup.

Just a thought...

Toot said:

Why not boil a muslin bag, toss the hops in there, tie it off, and toss it in? Easy to remove, easy cleanup.

Just a thought...

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Yup, take a muslin bag, drop a sanitized marble in it, fill it loosely with your hops, and drop it through the neck carefully. Plus its easier to clean out your carboy after. Works like a charm.

Tony said:

Yup, take a muslin bag, drop a sanitized marble in it, fill it loosely with your hops, and drop it through the neck carefully. Plus its easier to clean out your carboy after. Works like a charm.

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Doesn't that bloat up like a dead frog on the road on a hot summer day? I'd think it'd be testy getting out of there...

desertBrew said:

Doesn't that bloat up like a dead frog on the road on a hot summer day? I'd think it'd be testy getting out of there...

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nope. you just turn the carboy upside down and some part of the bag should sag down enough that you can reach it with your fingers.

I thought the same thing as you till I tried it with a rag when I was trying desperately to clean the inside of a Better Bottle without resorting to a nylon carboy brush. It's especially easy if you add a bit of water, then turn the carboy upside down. The weight of the water forces at least part of the bag out through the neck of the bottle. I'm looking forward to dry-hopping my upcoming maibock with a muslin bag...

Tony said:

Yup, take a muslin bag, drop a sanitized marble in it, fill it loosely with your hops, and drop it through the neck carefully. Plus its easier to clean out your carboy after. Works like a charm.

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A marble, eh? Nice touch!!!

OK, maybe some can help.

I've tried the marble in the hop bag thing, and the bag still floats. What gives?

Anyone have thoughts on whether or not to squeeze the beer out of the hop bag?

What about dry hopping in the keg? Will the colder temp in the refrigerator prevent the flavor from coming out?

Thanks,

Matt

Got a few things that I have done to much satisfaction. I have used a few big stainless steel washers and sanitized them and used them as weights, works like a champ. also take some dental floss (waxed but UNflavored) and use it to tie up the bag, then lower it in to the carboy or keg, and leave enough slack to tie off to the outside of the keg or the neck of the carboy, and seal up as usual. the rubber bung or seal on the keg will seal up around the floss and will be air tight. Then you can just pull the bag back up through the the neck or out the top of the keg. And no the keg being cold will make no difference with the flavor or aroma, and with dry hopping you are only getting an aroma from the hops.

Cheers, happy dry hopping

psymn said:

OK, maybe some can help.

I've tried the marble in the hop bag thing, and the bag still floats. What gives?

Anyone have thoughts on whether or not to squeeze the beer out of the hop bag?

What about dry hopping in the keg? Will the colder temp in the refrigerator prevent the flavor from coming out?

Thanks,

Matt

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Depending on the hops amount, you may need a couple marbles. Drop the bag in, and use a racking cane or siphon tube to push it down under the wort to get all the hops soaking wet. Then it should stay submerged.

As for squeezing the hops, Ive pulled the hops bag out, and squeezed it into a container to see how much I got, and to see how it was. It was cloudy and had material and sediment. You can do it and add it to your batch, but usually you rack to the bottling bucket or keg right after, so unless you allowed it to clear for awhile, or racked to a teritary fermenter for a couple days, its not worth it in my opinion.

As far as dry hopping in the keg, I use Tea Strainers:

Fill em up with hops, and drop em right into the keg. the flavor and aroma does come out, but in my opinion, if you keep your kegerator at higher serving temps, 45-55, you will get the best dry hop results.

My little bit of reading has gotten me curious about using straight alcohol to soak the hops... then just toss a couple shots into the secondary. The alcohol should yield a much better AA% utilization than wort/beer. And you get a free little alcohol boost too!!!!

Toot said:

My little bit of reading has gotten me curious about using straight alcohol to soak the hops... then just toss a couple shots into the secondary. The alcohol should yield a much better AA% utilization than wort/beer. And you get a free little alcohol boost too!!!!

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When you say straight alcohol, what do you mean?