Dryhopping with Whole Leaf Hops

This is my first batch of using whole leaf hops to dryhop. Using 1 oz of Cascade. After putting the hops into the secondary, I racked the wort from the primary into the secondary. I've read that the hops will drop to the bottom, but after 4 days, they are currently still resting on the top of the wort. I was near final gravity when I racked, but I've seen some fermentation in the secondary based on the yeast on the bottom. Should I let things go a few more days, or should I push the hops down a bit into the wort? I wanted to bottle after 5 days or so.

Thanks!!

 

They will float on top. I don't push them down. 5 day dry hop is normally how long I let mine sit. Some people put them in bags and weigh them down. I don't... i just huck them in and rack on top like you did. Only thing I don't like about using whole hops... is they will absorb some of your beer. I lost a 1/4 gallon of beer to 2oz of Cascades once when dry hopping. I now use pellets in a muslin bag for dry hopping. I use the bag just to contain most of the pellet gunk. I've noticed no aroma difference in my beers from dry hopping with pellets vs. whole.

Gary

 

I've only dryhopped with whole cones once or twice and it's been a few years but I don't remember them settling to the bottom. Pellet hops will eventually settle out but I don't think whole cones drop (someone will correct me if I'm wrong). But you can rack the beer into your bottling bucket anyway just be mindful of the hop mass as the liquid level drops so as not to plug your siphon. You may want to slide a paint strainer bag or something similar over the intake end of your siphon to filter them out too.

 

+1 for muslin bags. Regularly dry hop here with leaf hops, especially for IPAs, etc. Works well. Still float but much less in the way and no chance of getting into the the bottle. Definitely can absorb up some beer but give 'em a little squeeze when you are racking and you're good to go.

 

Thanks for the help. I'm bottling tonight.

 

When I dry hop with whole cones I give the fermenter a little swirl everynight before bed time. Maybe %10 will sink, maybe. I also really like how when I'm nearing the end of the racking process and I have the carboy tilted them mass of whole hops acts as a psuedo filterwhile getting the last few ozs out!!!