How do you dry hop?

[Yeagermiester]

Stupid question but, do you need to boil the hops to sanitize them?

I know you should boil the bags, but I am nervous to just "drop" the hop pellets in there.

 

[dancness]

No, you do not want to boil them at all. In fact, boiling the hops would take out alot of the aroma you are trying to impart to your beer. Also, hops contain oils with antibacterial properties as they coat the surfaces of microorganisms, thereby inhibiting their growth. So the probability that the hops themselves will contaminate your beer are virtually nil.

You can use a muslin bag if you want, but it's really not necessary. Just dump the dry hops into your bucket/carboy after fermentation is complete, give it a week or so then bottle that delicious brew!

 

[Pappers_]

Nope, do not boil the hops. Hops are natural antiseptics - they help keep beer fresh, for example. Toss 'em in!


Edit: ^^^^ what he said

 

[JoeDaddio]

Oddly enough, I was jsut reading thus article on BYO: http://***********/stories/article/indices/37-hops/573-dry-hopping-techniques

Perfect timing!


joe

 

[shanecb]

I just throw them in for a week, no bag or anything. If you're using pellets, they tend to sink to the bottom after a week and don't make a mess or anything.

 

[unionrdr]

I prefer to use hop sacks,I'm not that lazy. I like less trub at the bottom to get into my beer. But as little as .5oz is good,but I use at least an ounce of 1 hop to dry hop for 7-10 days. More,& they can get grassy.
I'm dry hopping my IPA with .5oz each of 3 different hops. 1 week & into bottles they go.

 

[Yeagermiester]

Thank you so much, All! Very helpful!

 

[bluemoose]

FWIW I boil the hop sack before putting in the hops. Never know wher that thing has been!

 

[DoubleAught]

Like the Sam Adams commercial, "I dont know but it sounds like fun".

 

[kpr121]

FWIW I boil the hop sack before putting in the hops. Never know wher that thing has been!

I like to soak my muslin bag in starsan, then wring it out as dry as possible. I have no idea if that helps at all, but it makes me feel better and is somewhat simpler than boiling.

 

[unionrdr]

I've been boiling them too,but this time I soaked them in a glass of star-san briefly,squeezed them out (my hands were wet with the stuff too),filled & dropped them in my IPA. This dry hop with .5oz each of Columbus, Nugget,& whole leaf Cascade.
I have to say,the folks on here that said whole leaf is better are right. It seems the whole leaf hops have better flavor/aroma definition to me,if that makes any sense. I just think hop sacks make everything cleaner. No stopped up siphons,no extra bags over tubes,added steps,etc. I'm sure they work fine,but this seems more like the most direct route to making things easier in the long run.

 

[Mongrel]

I just put the mesh bag over the end of the siphon before inserting into the carboy to keep it from clogging. I tend to use 2 oz for dry hopping, and don't have to worry about the hop bag expanding and being a pain to remove. And, the hops look great filling up the neck of the carboy.