Any tricks for Dry Hopping in a Carboy???

[JayWeezie]

About to Dry Hop for the first time am im wondering if there is an easy way of getting the hops in the carboy? Is it easier to rack on top of the hops or put them in after racking?

Also how do you filter it out as you rack into the keg?

Thanks guys...

 

[Ravenshead]

I just pour them in on top. Your siphon will take care of them when you rack to the keg.

I tried using a hop bag once. I found it's too hard to get it out once the hops have swollen up with beer. It's not worth the effort.

 

[JayWeezie]

So U don't use any filter when racking? I was thinking of using my straining screen over the end of the cane.

 

[Joshaw50]

About to Dry Hop for the first time am im wondering if there is an easy way of getting the hops in the carboy? Is it easier to rack on top of the hops or put them in after racking?

I put them in a muslin bag. I had an ounce and didn't have much trouble getting it out of the carboy. Just had to squeeze it a little bit but no problems.

That's the benefit of the bag, no filtering required.

 

[Ravenshead]

I haven't found that filtering is required either way. Just keep your siphon tip above the trub and below any floaties and almost every thing gets left behind. What's left settles out when you cool your keg. I typically get crystal clear beer with no filtering even on my IPAs.

The one time I tried the bag I had almost 4 ozs of hops in the carboy. I could hardly get the bag in much less out. One ounce might not be so bad.

 

[mattrennert]

I tried dry hopping in a bag a few times but had problems getting the bag to sink, and it is a huge PITA to get the bag out of the carboy. Now I just dump the hops in loose, then use a hop bag/grain bag over the sucking end of an auto-siphon to filter out any hop particles, works great!

 

[Joshaw50]

I haven't found that filtering is required either way. Just keep your siphon tip above the trub and below any floaties and almost every thing gets left behind. What's left settles out when you cool your keg. I typically get crystal clear beer with no filtering even on my IPAs.

The one time I tried the bag I had almost 4 ozs of hops in the carboy. I could hardly get the bag in much less out. One ounce might not be so bad.

Yep! I could see how 4 oz may be a problem. I pry could have gotten 1.5 ounces but that's about it without it becoming more difficult to get out.

 

[JayWeezie]

I tried dry hopping in a bag a few times but had problems getting the bag to sink, and it is a huge PITA to get the bag out of the carboy. Now I just dump the hops in loose, then use a hop bag/grain bag over the sucking end of an auto-siphon to filter out any hop particles, works great!

Thats what im thinking i'll do. Maybe tie it up with a rubber band? This is my first big beer. SG of 10.74!!! Pretty excited.

 

[aphid_rancher]

I like to use whole hops because they are easy to filter. I just dumpped in the pellets when I have used them. I use a hop sock stretched over my racking cane to filter when racking and try to be careful not to suck the spooze off the bottom of the carboy. I am willing to sacrifice a small amount of beer do avoid floaty things in my bottles.

 

[hatfieldenator]

I always use muslin bags when I dry hop in carboys. As long as you don't use more than 1 oz or so per bag they're not hard to get out. However, I'm not happy with the results I'm getting using this method. As mentioned above, the bags never sink and I think that makes the usage of the hops much less than it should be. I end up using a lot of hops to get the aroma I'm looking for.
I'm not sure if I should start dry hopping without the bags or figure out a way to get the bags to sink?

 

[Thehopguy]

I'm not sure if I should start dry hopping without the bags or figure out a way to get the bags to sink?

Sanitized marble? Just brainstorming. But I vote for sticking them in loose.

 

[kcpup]

I bought an extra fine nylon bag...boy is the weave tight. It is hard to get it to sink...you'll likely need many marbles if your hop bag is nylon. I'm moving to new stainless steel bearings I've boiled. A few of.those will weigh more than marbles and not confer off flavors. The bag works well. Make sure it is a fine weave or you'll get floaties in your beer, especially if you use pellets.