Who crushes/grinds their Hops (Dry Hop)

[terrypratt1]

Wondering who grinds their Dry hops? I have been using Cold (45-50 F) and short (48 hours) for final dry hop and am very pleased with both Aroma and Taste. I am using an All Rounder with fully closed fermentation and Transfer (Hop Bong attachment for Dry Hop additions). My last batch I did try to crush a bit with a roller pin while still in sealed package (lots of hop dust purging hop bong .

Wondering how common it is to crush (I have no method in the All Rounder to rouse the hops and crushed does seem to stay in suspension until I transfer.

Terry

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Whole or pellet. I do not crush them.

 

[Sammy86]

Never tried it, sounds like an interesting experiment though

 

[day_trippr]

[raises hand] Yo! Cuisinart with a steel blade.

Been doing this all of 2023 having adopted the Scott Janish "cool and short" dry hop strategy.
It works!

Cheers!

 

[Adam Zerwick]

[raises hand] Yo! Cuisinart with a steel blade.

Been doing this all of 2023 having adopted the Scott Janish "cool and short" dry hop strategy.
It works!

Cheers!

What do you suppose is the benefit of grinding the hops? Is it that they stay in suspension instead of sinking at the colder dry hop temps? More surface area?

I might just give this a shot on my next IPA. What method do you use to get the ground dry hops into the beer?

 

[day_trippr]

Forever I dry hopped at ~68°F and inevitably the pellets would find their way to the surface where they eventually turned into mush and gradually sank over the 4 to 7 days I used to dry hop. This year when I switched to the Janish approach I very quickly found when I dropped pellets into a soft-crashed 50°F carboy they went straight to the bottom and the denser pellets from all appearances remained intact for the short 48 hours I dry hop now.

As I ferment in carboys I don't want to agitate the beer as it would swirl up the crashed yeast and trub. Hence, now I pulverize the pellets providing maximum exposure to the beer for the short duration, and add a teaspoon of citric acid dissolved in 30ml of water to mitigate any O2 ingress. The results have proven highly satisfactory - the hop punch is similar to the old methods and the kegs have legs: I'm enjoying hazies brewed in March with no loss of character...

Cheers!

 

[kevin58]

I have read about German brewers who tried this in the 1960's. There was a paper that estimated a 10% bump in hop utilization using this milling method. However, commercial brewers brew on such a scale that 10% can mean a lot to their financial bottom line. As homebrewers the benefit is not nearly as great. It is just as cost effective for us (maybe more) to add a few more hops.