Dry Hopping - First time poster

[deeznutsbrewery]

Greetings HBT.

I've brewed a number of extract kits; i ventured forth and developed my own IPA recipe this week. Courtesy of BrewersFriend.com, I was quite pleased to hit the OG spot on.

Anyway, I plan on dry hopping with Cascade leaf hops, and I have 3 oz. How much is too much? Seems like 3 oz might be a bit on the high side. Does anyone have any preferences or experience with dry hopping leaf hops? Unfortunately, the bag it comes in is vacuum sealed and is exactly 3 oz...so if I don't use it all, I imagine I'll have to throw the rest away, so might as well throw all 3 oz in there but don't want to over power the aroma.

I used Falconer's Flight as the bittering, and then hit the wort with Amarillo and Cascade at 15, 5, and 0 minutes.

Appreciate all the input!

 

[Bostonbrewin63]

Welcome! I'm assuming its a 5 gallon recipe, with that being said dry hopping IMO with leafs is a pain in the ass! It's going to suck up a lot of ur beer an it's a ***** to clean out. Anyways, 3oz seems like a whole lot of dry hopping IMO. But this is what home brewing is all about, it's not what others like, it's what u like. Just be careful to much hops an ur gonna end up with beer that tastes like fruity juice. Maybe add an oz... Couple days later taste.... An repeat until ur happy?

 

[UTPhish]

3 oz of dry hops is just fine for an IPA. I typically use 3 - 5 oz of dry hops in my IPAs.

I dry hop with leaves 80% of the time and have no issues. Most of the time I will dump the leaves in my primary and careful rack from underneath the hops when transferring to a keg. Some people secure a sanitized hop bag over the end of the siphon to help preventing sucking up the leaves when transferring to the bottling bucket or a keg.

Best of luck and welcome to HBT.

 

[mtnagel]

The only issue I had with dry hopping leaf hops is the leaf particles didn't want to settle as much as the pellets, so I ended up with some floaties/particles in the finished beer even after crashing in the fridge for a long time.

So I would make sure you filter when bottling. I've used a hop sack at the bottom of my autosiphon before or a piece of voile material works too.

 

[julioardz]

For IPA's, I usually do 4-5 ounces of pellets. They are easier to work with, in my opinion, but I use leaf hops when I can't find pellets. For that, I put them in a large, sanitized grain bag and into the fermenting bucket. This is one of the benefits of a bucket over using my carboy. I can then pull the hop sack out and let it drain. I waste less beer and don't have to worry about the leaves getting sucked into the siphon.

Edit: I forgot to add, I weigh the hops down by tossing some sanitized marbles in the bag. If not, a lot of the hops stay floating, not making much contact with the beer.

 

[TangoHotel]

Edit: I forgot to add, I weigh the hops down by tossing some sanitized marbles in the bag. If not, a lot of the hops stay floating, not making much contact with the beer.

Yes, otherwise it floats on top and you don't get the full use out of the hops. I weigh mine down with some sanitized Stainless Steel washers. Got it at Menards for a buck. Throw them in the grain bag and into the bucket they go for a week. Just sampled my IPA last night amd good god is it tasty! Plus the aroma is intoxicating! Welcome to HBT OP!

 

[biochemedic]

I have used several ounces of leaf hops without issue, but I also use a disposable muslin sack with sanitized marbles as well...I really think that is by far the best way to go, regardless of whether you use leaf or pellet.

It is a little more difficult to get in and out of a carboy neck (better bottles, with their much wider neck are way easier than glass carboys), but you definitely don't need to be using a bucket to dry hop with leaf hops. I generally will end up cutting the bag to facilitate getting it out of the carboy, but since I use disposable grain sacks it isn't an issue...

 

[deeznutsbrewery]

Thanks to all for the info - great feedback. I'll go with a muslin bag and something to weight it down....might just throw in all 3oz too...

 

[dstranger99]

Put your hops in a muslin bag along with a santised heavy marble and rack your beer on top of it, then when it's time to bottle or keg take the bag out and toss it.