Bottling dry hopped beer = less volume of beer :(

[eadavis80]

I bottled my black IPA last night and had some issues. Even though I put a paint strainer bag over the racking cane, I still had a clogged racking cane towards the bottom of the bottling bucket and ended up losing probably a half dozen beers because I feared oxidation. The tubing wasn't flowing all that well and some bubbles appeared in my bottling bucket, so I figured I'd rather have 40 good beers than 46-48 not so great brews. This batch was dry hopped, but I added the dry hops to the secondary after the beer had been racked for two weeks. The hops still had not settled, but I went ahead and bottled anyhow due to time constraints. How do you guys get your hops to settle and/or bottle the majority of your beer if you have beer in your secondary before you add your hops? The beer smell and tasted great, but I just wish I could have more of them...

 

[thegreatmaibockaddict]

for us bottlers, it is easier and less aggravating to add an ounce or so of hops to the priming sugar at flame off (DME is what I use). Let the hops steep for 10 minutes with the lid on to capture and infuse the oils into the wort. An ounce of high hop oil hops works wonders, and saves lotsa time. Pour the priming sugar into the bucket through a sanitized strainer (the hot liquid is probably safe, but whatever).

Hop oil chart
http://www.thegreatmaibockaddict.com/hop-oil-chart.shtml

 

[smAllGrain]

for us bottlers, it is easier and less aggravating to add an ounce or so of hops to the priming sugar at flame off (DME is what I use). Let the hops steep for 10 minutes with the lid on to capture and infuse the oils into the wort. An ounce of high hop oil hops works wonders, and saves lotsa time. Pour the priming sugar into the bucket through a sanitized strainer (the hot liquid is probably safe, but whatever).

Hop oil chart
http://www.thegreatmaibockaddict.com/hop-oil-chart.shtml

This is very interesting. I love dry hopping and usually just brew a bigger volume to compensate for the loss. So you have had great success with this? Any downsides? Less aroma?

 

[Derrminator]

I just used a hop bag/muslin bag to dry hop an IPA and it worked great. Nothing got in the way of the racking cane when transfering. They do expand quite a bit so make sure you use a large enough bag or multiple bags.

 

[mb82]

Subbed sounds interesting.

 

[MrSnacks]

Cold crash to settle, and accept the fact that you're going to lose beer. It's part of the process. Scale your recipe according to what you hope to get into bottles taking into account loss at every single stage.

 

[smizak]

Cold crash to settle, and accept the fact that you're going to lose beer. It's part of the process. Scale your recipe according to what you hope to get into bottles taking into account loss at every single stage.

+1 When I was a newly minted home brewer, I would sweat the volumes and try to squeak every last drop out. Don't fall into that trap, it's much better to have a clean, well made beer that's short a couple bottles. Trust me, you won't miss them if the end result is a better product.

You could use the hopped priming sugar, but it's not quite the same character as dry-hopping.

Use pellet hops or get yourself a coffee grinder and mill your whole hops before you dry hop. Cold crashing works wonders, yeast still in suspension grab on to the hop particles and drag it down into the trub. I have almost no hops still on the surface after a day or two in the fridge. Some careful racking and you should have no trouble.

 

[eadavis80]

How do you get hop bags out of the narrow neck of a glass carboy if the hops expand? Will the bag sink to the bottom of the carboy and if so, is it a PITA to get out?

 

[Ski12568]

If you use a bucket you can add a sterilized shot glass to your hop bag

 

[thegreatmaibockaddict]

This is very interesting. I love dry hopping and usually just brew a bigger volume to compensate for the loss. So you have had great success with this? Any downsides? Less aroma?

No downside, and I am not certain of where the ceiling is on how much fresh hop flavor and aroma can be added as I have only done 2 oz (Soriachi Ace) once on an IIPA. It worked well, but the question is: Would adding even more hops get more oils into the beer, or have I reached a tipping point where I can't get more out of it? Research can be fun.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on perspective), it has become cold out and conditions are now favorable in my favorite spot to begin lager fermenting. So a crazy hop brew will have to wait for now.