I dry hopped a pale ale with 2 ounces of pellet hops. It has pretty much dissolved into about an inch thick of hop goo at the top. I did not use any type of muslin bag, i just threw the hops right in. Before i added the hops, the beer was crystal clear. Now after 5 days, its pretty hazy. My question is should i gently shake the carboy to make the hops settle out or should i just rack from underneath it. I would like to do whatever method would be best to get rid of the hop haze. I will be kegging. Thanks.
shake carboy to settle dry hops?
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jaynik
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don't shake it. rack from underneath. I would personally give it another day or two and see if it clears up any.
Ace_Club
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+1 to not shaking it.
Paulasaurus
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I've gotten into the habit of swirling the carboy daily and then racking with a strainer bag over my racking cane.
Although I just had a situation happen where all I had on hand was a fine mesh bag and it clogged during transfer and out of anger racked the remainder of the beer without a bag. I spent last night racking the beer from one keg to another using a coarse mesh bag and had much better results.
So, next go at it I think i'll leave it alone and rack with the coarse bag from under the hop layer. Although up until now i've had fairly good results with swirling and racking.
Although I just had a situation happen where all I had on hand was a fine mesh bag and it clogged during transfer and out of anger racked the remainder of the beer without a bag. I spent last night racking the beer from one keg to another using a coarse mesh bag and had much better results.
So, next go at it I think i'll leave it alone and rack with the coarse bag from under the hop layer. Although up until now i've had fairly good results with swirling and racking.
Scooby_Brew
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No shaking, no swirling. Let it settle. Rack it through a strainer if you want to, use a nylon bag next time if you feel like it. You could also use whole hops in a bag for dry hopping, they are super easy to remove.
Paulasaurus
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How long are you dry hopping for? I usually let it go 7 days before bottling/kegging and without swirling there is no way it would settle on its own. I've gone as long as 14 days and still had to swirl to get most of it to settle out and still had floaters.
Whole hops are a good idea but some varieties aren't easy to come by in whole hop form at my lhbs.
Rob_B
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The only aggitation I use when dry hopping is throw the pellets in a sanatized secondary and rack on top of them, no shaking. Usually I'll dry hop for about 14 days +/- and the raft will drop with some still floating. Just rack under any floaters and you'll be fine. But it will take more than 5 days to settle. If you don't want to dry hop longer than a week you might consider using a bag.
I'm gonna have to go ahead and sort of.. disagree with everyone here.
Dry hopped an IPA with 2.2 oz whole leaf hops... just dumped them in the primary (better bottle) after fermentation; no secondary. Most of them didn't get in the beer after a few days so I gently swirled it for three or four days in a row, just to make sure they all got in there. No splashing but gentle swirling. Drinking one of these as I type... does not taste oxidized/stale/bad at all... I think enough CO2 was in the head space and released from the agitation to prevent any of that.
I realize you used pellets, but swirling is swirling. Not sure if the pellets will sink or float... Dave Letterman would be able to tell you that...
Dry hopped an IPA with 2.2 oz whole leaf hops... just dumped them in the primary (better bottle) after fermentation; no secondary. Most of them didn't get in the beer after a few days so I gently swirled it for three or four days in a row, just to make sure they all got in there. No splashing but gentle swirling. Drinking one of these as I type... does not taste oxidized/stale/bad at all... I think enough CO2 was in the head space and released from the agitation to prevent any of that.
I realize you used pellets, but swirling is swirling. Not sure if the pellets will sink or float... Dave Letterman would be able to tell you that...
I am going to go ahead and agree with fcwegnm0b on this one. I dry hop in the primary with pellet hops. I just toss them in with no bag. I swirl the carboy after a few days and the "hop goo" on top breaks up and falls to the bottom. Takes several days of swirling to get a majority of it, but it works like a charm with no ill effects.
I have to point out like fcwegnm0b did that this is a gentle swirl, not a WWF shakedown of my carboy. Just a gentle swirling nudge to get the hops to breakup and drop out. I have done this on several brews and all have turned out great with really good dry hop aroma. I have read several other posts of guys that do the same thing. I wish they would chime in with their experiences.
I also tie a muslin bag on my auto-siphon when I rack and it has done the job for me. I just try not to get down to the trub, but it still catches most of the stuff that way.
I say swirl my friend.
I have to point out like fcwegnm0b did that this is a gentle swirl, not a WWF shakedown of my carboy. Just a gentle swirling nudge to get the hops to breakup and drop out. I have done this on several brews and all have turned out great with really good dry hop aroma. I have read several other posts of guys that do the same thing. I wish they would chime in with their experiences.
I also tie a muslin bag on my auto-siphon when I rack and it has done the job for me. I just try not to get down to the trub, but it still catches most of the stuff that way.
I say swirl my friend.
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