Dry Hopping

[TheCrowsNest]

Currently fermenting an Imperial IPA (brewed 7/29). This will be our first time dry hopping and I'm not sure how to go about this. I am going to add 1oz of Amarillo to the secondary. Should I dump in the hops before the beer is transferred in? During? After? Do I need to use a cheesecloth bag? Can I just throw that in if, I do or do I need something to weigh it down? Is this list of questions grammatically correct? Probably not.

Any help is hugely appreciated here. Cheers.

 

[jaobrien6]

Before is easier IMO. If you add loose hops after the beer, they'll sit on top and stay dry for a little while until they soak up enough beer to sink some. If you add them in a weighted bag/ball, etc. then that's not a problem. Are you doing pellet or leaf? I use pellet personally, and just throw 'em in loose. When you're ready to keg/bottle, just rack off the top of the sediment that should be settled nicely on the bottom.

 

[TheCrowsNest]

I'm using pellets. Should I add some kind of clearing agent that will help the hops settle or do they just take care of themselves?

 

[TheCrowsNest]

And do I need to boil these pellets before adding them to the fermenter? How can I sanitize them?

 

[Yooper]

And do I need to boil these pellets before adding them to the fermenter? How can I sanitize them?

You don't boil dryhops. They just go into the beer. I don't use a bag or anything, but if you decide to use a bag you should sanitize the bag. Then simply add the hops. I like to put the hops in the carboy first, then rack the beer into them but it really doesn't matter that much.

 

[Tlylebrew]

I've thrown them in, and I've put them in a bag, but to be honest I perfer the bag method, just makes less of a mess, and I don't have to leave as much beer in the secondary.

If you do throw them in loose, make sure to cold crash the beer, this makes all the hops settle to the bottom.

 

[dRaPP]

If you do throw them in loose, make sure to cold crash the beer, this makes all the hops settle to the bottom.

Whats the purpose of cold crashing? From what I've read, it clears up the beer, but does it kill all the yeast and stop fermentation? If so, how would you bottle using natural carbonating?

 

[Tlylebrew]

Well the issue I have had when just putting the pellets in is that they tend to float, even after they have soaked up plenty of beer they still tend to float. After ten days I had a batch of 2 hearted clone that still had some hops floating on the top, so I cold crashed it for a day and they all fell to the bottom.
It does clear up the beer and does stop fermentation, but it does not kill the yeast. Once the temp comes back up then the yeast will continue to eat sugar as normal.

 

[dRaPP]

Wow thats helpful, I have a small batch that has a bunch of what looks like hop particles floating in the krausen, Maybe cold crashing is the way to go on that one. How long do you keep it cold?

 

[user 53515]

i didn't cold crash to get the hop pellets to drop, I just had to kind of tap the side of the fermenter or give it a soft swirl by rotating the fermenter to get it to drop. It kicked up a little trub, but it settled down by the next day.

 

[Tlylebrew]

I just cooled it for one day. Although I will say it went straight into the keg and I force carbed it. Bottling might be a bit trickier? Not sure if you should racki it into your bottling bucket, and then put a lid on it till it warms back up or if that matters.

Maybe the swirl and then wait a day is better for bottling? Not sure.

 

[headfullahops]

I usually dry hop with pellets loose in the secondary before racking beer in. For those who do (or have) dry hopped in a bag, would you say to use the same amount of hops as usual or give it a little more to compensate for less direct contact with the beer in the fermentor?

 

[Tlylebrew]

I have done a 2 hearted clone both ways and used the same amount of hops both times. I personally did not notice a difference. YMMV

 

[headfullahops]

I'm thinking about boiling my hops in bag, too.

 

[TheCrowsNest]

So we just finished carbing the Imperial IPA. We dry hopped with Amarillo hops and the aroma is fantastic, I'm so pumped on how this came out.

We threw the pellets in the secondary, racked on top for 8 days, then cold crashed it for 24 hours. Cold crashing = awesome.

Thanks for all the input!!