Dry hopping: hop particles?

[curtw]

I've only dry-hopped a dozen or so brews, but I nearly always notice that I get some "hop particles" in my glass after bottling.

I always rack to secondary, dry hop in secondary.

I never dry hop more than 7 days.

I try to rack carefully from secondary to bottling bucket.

I don't pour the entire bottle contents into glass; I stop before I get to the dregs.

Is this just me? Am I too sensitive, or tasting stuff that's not there? It's not really pronounced, but I can usually sense it, and I'm wondering if there's anything I can do about it.

Thanks!

 

[m3n00b]

I got this before cold crashing. Do you have the ability to cold crash?

 

[plankbr]

I got this before cold crashing. Do you have the ability to cold crash?

+1 to cold crashing for a couple of days in the fridge then transferring to the bottling bucket. My beers are very clear due to doing this.

 

[scottballz]

when racking to your bottling bucket, try using a metal strainer or, if you can find a big enough one, a cheese cloth to help filter out the left over sediment from the hops. just be aware that this will probably take a little while because the strainer or cloth will get clogged quickly and you will have to clean it out periodically. a clamp on your racking tube is highly recommended here so you can stop the flow as needed.
Cheers

 

[plankbr]

You could also attach a muslin bag with a sanitized rubber band to the siphon when transferring to the bottling bucket.

 

[zacster]

I always put my hops in a fine mesh bag. My last batch is on the last days of dry hopping and completely clear now. I want to transfer it to my keg so I can get a taste this weekend but it still isn't empty from the prior batch.

 

[m3n00b]

I always put my hops in a fine mesh bag. My last batch is on the last days of dry hopping and completely clear now. I want to transfer it to my keg so I can get a taste this weekend but it still isn't empty from the prior batch.

Same here. But at the end I squeeze the hop sack dry and cold crash.

 

[curtw]

Thanks for the replies.

I haven't used a strainer when racking, but my siphon has a racking cane tip that should be keeping out most of the crud. I might try a strainer on top of that as well.

I'd like to cold crash, but I've got no setup for that yet. My goal is to get a dedicated refrigerator for ferment temp control + cold crashing before it warms up next spring.

 

[Grannyknot]

A few things I would add:
-please don't use a strainer on the outlet end of your siphon hose. You run the risk of introducing oxygen to the beer. Any sort of strainer should be sanitized and attached to the pick up side of the racking cane.
-Whole leaf hops will produce less small particulates, and are much easier to strain out.
-After all the hops have dropped to the bottom of the vessel, cold crashing will drop some yeast down on top of them, and help to hold them down in case the vessel gets moved around some during transfer to bottling or keg.

Just my 2 cents...YMMV.

 

[curtw]

Thanks. I probably should also have added in the OP:

- I've always used pellet, never fresh hops
- I've always used a mesh bag for the hops
- I've never weighted the hop bag while dry hopping, so it floats on top of the beer, rather than dropping to the bottom of the carboy

I'll look at adding an additional strainer to the racking cane tip of my siphon (in the beer, not at the outflow).

 

[tagz]

Once you have the ability to cold crash, the problem will be solved.

 

[zacster]

You need to move north! Maybe to Montana. You'll be able to cold crash all you want. None of that sunny warm SoCal climate.

Edit: Oops, I should look at a map first. Santa Clara is by San Jose. After I wrote the above I knew that wasn't right. You still can't cold crash there though.

 

[fartinmartin]

My hop bags float , some of the hops have been 1"above the brew!
I now weight the hop bag with a marble or stainless steel spoon, anything that they produce while above the liquid, can't give much to the brew.
When in the bag and wieghted they are at the bottom of the FV , any particulate that gets out (providing fermentation has stopped) will stay low in the FV

 

[mblanks2]

I don't use hop bags at all. Just transfer my beer directly onto my hop pellets in secondary, wait 5 - 7 days and rack to keg. I use a sanitized piece of a paint strainer cut to cover the end of my racking cane and rubber band.

 

[fartinmartin]

I bottle and plastic keg, sedimentation continues in the kegs and drops out, so its less significant than in a bottle thats been gently moved around to pour it.