Dry Hop in a Better Bottle Question

I'm planning on using 1.7 ounces of hop pellets in a nylon bag to dry hop in a better bottle. I'm going to weigh the bag down with some stainless ball bearings and use unflavored dental floss to suspend the bag in the beer.

I've never dry hopped before. After the pellets expand, will I still be able to pull the bag out?

I've heard people have trouble using a carboy, but since the better bottle has a bigger opening I'm hoping it will work.

Anyone done this with a better bottle?

Thanks

 

I usually just toss the pellets right in the carboy and then them sit. Then cold crash to get them to sink and then rack normally.

I'd probably avoid pulling the bag out because it will most likely introduce oxygen in to your beer which could cause oxidized off flavors. I'd probably rack off before trying to pull out the bag.

 

Time to pick up a needle and thread. I use hop bags that I made specifically to fit thru the neck of my Better Bottles. However they're a little smaller so I typically split my dry hops between 2 or 3 bags.

 

I did it once, but it may have been leaf hops. It was a PITA to get them out of the carboy. Every other time, I've just thrown them in. Much simpler.

 

Just throw 'em in, and put a fine mesh bag over the end of your auto-siphon hose when you rack to the bottling bucket. Most of 'em will settle to the bottom with the trub, and the mesh will catch anything that doesn't. I've done pellet and whole-cone hops this way and never had to worry about hop chunks in the bottle.

 

How long does it generally take them to settle out?

 

I usually cold crash for a day, but you could get away with less time. Overnight would probably be sufficient.

 

I've tried this a few times, and each time the beer has come out full of small bubbles, which I assume is not a good thing...aeration!! Am I worrying unduly? Have you also had this issue?

 

Cold crashing for 24-48 hours worked much better for me than any mesh bags. The mesh over the siphon was the biggest pita I've had brewing.

 

If your siphon was in the beer at the input end and in the beer at the output end, where does the air come from for aeration? I think you are seeing bubbles of CO2 coming out of solution when you disturbed the beer with the siphon.:rockin:

 

I use a SS mesh tube from Arbor Fabricating. It's designed to fit the BB & still leave room for your airlock.
I've done about a dozen batches so far & it works great. You just extract it slowly when you ready to let it drain. Empty it while the hop residue is still wet & then clean w/ hot water.

 

there is no reason to pull the bag out before racking the beer off so oxidation is not an issue. i've pulled bags of pellet hops out of the fermentor (i ferment my hoppy beer in buckets now to make this whole thing easier) even if i sometimes had to flip the bottle over, open the bag and dump some of the hops out.

 

Go to Home Depot/Lowes and get paint strainer bags. Put them in your bottling bucket and rack on top/through it that way. When you start bottling, most of the hop bits will be strained out. Ultra cheap and very easy

 

Thanks, RM-MN!

 

Thanks, wgaylord!

 

I wanted to follow up on this. I added 1.7 ounces of pellet hops and waited three days. Then I cold crashed it for two days. The remaining yeast and hops dropped like a rock and it racked crystal clear.

 

I am sorry for my ignorance, but what do you mean by cold crashing? How is it done?

 

Yeast normally falls out of suspension with time but to speed things up you chill the beer as near freezing as you can. This causes the yeast to fall to the bottom rather quickly and it is known as "cold crashing". It will give you really clear beer and cut the wait time down considerably.

 

Now I get it, thank you!

 

Yup, getting the bag of hops out can suck. I have gotten into fights with the hops bag, I refuse to disclose which of us won. I would try using one of the other methods for dry hopping that were previously posted.

 

How does cold crashing effect bottle carbonating? I am assuming some yeast remains in suspension to do the dirty work of making bubbles... Also how does this effect bottle conditioning?

 

cold crashing does not affect carbonation, there is plenty of yeast left to do that. the main thing i want to accomplish with cold crashing is getting other, non yeast floaties out of suspension.

 

So how do you achieve the cold crushing? Do you put the fermentor outside? For example can I put mine outside during night when ambient temperature is at 6 celcius? Will it work or do I have to put it in a fridge? And for how long? Thanks

 

Any way you can chill the beer will help. 24 hours or more would be better but overnight will help. Bring it in before the sun come up to make the beer "skunky" and wrap it in something to keep it cool during the day. You might want 2 or 3 nights of this for the clearer beer.

I cheat. I don't cold crash, I leave my beer in the fermenter longer and bottle it. Then I leave the bottles to clear again.

 

Thank you! I will probably do the same... just leave the beer in the fermentor for a couple of weeks to get a bit clearer. I will have back problems if I do the cold crashing by moving the fermentor inside out all the time