Which stage do you dry hop?
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TANSTAAFB
Well-Known Member
I dry hop in the keg using a Wilserbag with great results. Just bottled a brew from the keg for a club competition Saturday, awesome hop flavor and aroma.
When and how you dry hop depends on several things. You're right to worry about oxidation when transferring to secondary as well as the extra opportunity to pick up contamination. Many of us gave up secondary for most of our beers several years ago for those very reasons..
Personally, I generally dry hop in the keg after fining and carbonating. Just put the hops in a fine mesh bag with either some sanitized marbles or stainless steel nuts so the bag sinks and you're done.
I generally only harvest yeast when I use liquid yeast. I don't harvest from the fermenter though. I overbuild the starter by about 100 billion cells and put that amount in a vial to save for my next starter. That way you needn't worry about hops in the yeast cake if you dry hop in primary.
If you don't keg your beer or make starters the yeast from primary can be washed or rinsed to get rid of most of the hop debris. As with transferring to secondary you run the risk of contamination. There are some good videos on the subject that can be found with a search of Youtube.
Hope this helps.
Personally, I generally dry hop in the keg after fining and carbonating. Just put the hops in a fine mesh bag with either some sanitized marbles or stainless steel nuts so the bag sinks and you're done.
I generally only harvest yeast when I use liquid yeast. I don't harvest from the fermenter though. I overbuild the starter by about 100 billion cells and put that amount in a vial to save for my next starter. That way you needn't worry about hops in the yeast cake if you dry hop in primary.
If you don't keg your beer or make starters the yeast from primary can be washed or rinsed to get rid of most of the hop debris. As with transferring to secondary you run the risk of contamination. There are some good videos on the subject that can be found with a search of Youtube.
Hope this helps.
TurnipGreen
Well-Known Member
I only use a primary and dry hop in there. I do save yeast successfully from dry hopped beer. Yes there’s a bit more hops floating around in the mason jar, but it doesn’t seem to hurt any thing. I rarely re-use yeast more that three times , just because I don’t brew enough and I try to brew with the seasons, so that changes up my yeast.
I also tend to stick with styles where I can get away with that extra hops floating around. So I might reuse a yeast for a couple pale ales and then use the whole cake for a wheat wine. I try to plan out my brews so the hops and malts from one use don’t conflict too much with the next (I think that’s part of the fun puzzle of home brewing).
With this method I rarely end up making starters, but end up with a pile of slurry jars in my fridge come summertime.
I also tend to stick with styles where I can get away with that extra hops floating around. So I might reuse a yeast for a couple pale ales and then use the whole cake for a wheat wine. I try to plan out my brews so the hops and malts from one use don’t conflict too much with the next (I think that’s part of the fun puzzle of home brewing).
With this method I rarely end up making starters, but end up with a pile of slurry jars in my fridge come summertime.
Jerryskids
Member
Dry hop in the keg.
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