Working with Whole Cone Hops

[permo]

I brew fairly large, from a homebrew perspective, 16-17 gallon batches so I buy bulk ingredients and I always look for the best deal. I have recently made the change to whole cone hops. I love the way they work in the kettle and provide a big bed of hops to filter my wort as I drain the brew kettle. I also like the fact that they are usually more available and cheaper.

This is all fine and dandy but I have a concern on dry hopping. I use a conical fermenter and I am having concerns about using whole cone hops for dry hopping. I usually use 6-15 ounces of dry hops depending on the beer and this amount of whole cone hops is hard to sink in a bag without substantial weight.

Are there any other folks out there that have experience with whole cone dry hopping in a conical? Can I just throw the hops in and hope they sink like pellet hops?

 

[pshankstar]

Place a sanitized shot glass in the bag with the hops. It will sink! Or you could get some stainless steel 1inch balls and use them. That's what I have due to having only two shot glasses in the house.

 

[permo]

Place a sanitized shot glass in the bag with the hops. It will sink! Or you could get some stainless steel 1inch balls and use them. That's what I have due to having only two shot glasses in the house.

Shot glasses didn't do the trick last time...I did order 1.5 inch steel ball bearings that weight 8 oz each. Hopefully that does it I guess.

 

[pshankstar]

WOW no kidding! I thought for sure they would have been heavy enough to sink the hops. Well the SS ball bearings should do the trick!

 

[Calder]

WOW no kidding! I thought for sure they would have been heavy enough to sink the hops. Well the SS ball bearings should do the trick!

I use 70 marbles for 2 ozs of leaf hops. A shot glass isn't going to do anything.

 

[dyqik]

Shot glasses didn't do the trick last time...I did order 1.5 inch steel ball bearings that weight 8 oz each. Hopefully that does it I guess.

Just don't drop them into a glass carboy...