question about dry hopping

[cntry036]

i have the Brewers Best hopnog kit that calls for dry hopping. i let it sit in the primary for 2 weeks then i racked to the secondary and added the dry hop pellets. it has now been in the secondary for 2.5 weeks and a couple days ago the airlock started bubbling again. before i racked to the secondary it would only bubble once every 2-3 minutes and now its bubbling 2-3 times a minute. i was going to bottle it but now i don't know if i should yet. any suggestions?

 

[AmandaK]

The reason it is bubbling again is because you added the dry hops. The hops add more nucleation points for CO2 to escape. It's not actually fermenting more, it's just off gassing. Once you rack it off the hops, it will stop.

Take a gravity reading and you'll see what I mean.

 

[cntry036]

ok. thanks.

 

[PanzerBanana]

Doesn't sound like it was finished before secondary. Might be that particular yeast.

 

[olivergothe]

you should be agitating the beer anyways. Keeping the hops in suspension will increase the aroma you get from them and it'll help you with your co2 problem as well

 

[Justibone]

Use.

A.

Hydro-meter.

It really, really is that simple.

 

[Cape Brewing]

(nodding in agreement) They're not expensive

 

[TipsyDragon]

i agree with Justibone. never rack your beer anywhere till its done fermenting. even if the instructions say to do it after a particular period of time. never trust the instructions after you turn the heat off. they almost always rush you to the bottle so you will brew more batches and they make more money.

 

[Yooper]

you should be agitating the beer anyways. Keeping the hops in suspension will increase the aroma you get from them and it'll help you with your co2 problem as well

Really? I've never heard that before. Why should you agitate the beer?

 

[Justibone]

Really? I've never heard that before. Why should you agitate the beer?

Does he mean degassing?

 

[olivergothe]

Now that i've looked around on the internet it seems you are right. I can't find any mention of this anywhere.

Keeping your dry hopping additions in suspension comes from the Green Flash West Coast IPA - Can You Brew It episode of the Jamil Show. They don't give an actual justification for why you want to do this but I assume it is to extract more hop aroma.

I may have to do some more research on this when I have some time