Concerned about hops in carboy.

[Ragman]

The picture below is right after I dropped the hops in which was about 5 days ago.

I looked this morning and most of the hops seem to be sitting there on top of the foam.

Im concerned the flavors wont get into the finished beers.

I am doing another dry hop tonight, those might push the others down but should I be concerned here?

Can I sanitize a racking cane and gently push them down in?

 

[day_trippr]

All you need to do is gently rock the carboy with the neck traveling a few inches and back to create a wave that will "fold" those hops into the wort/beer. I do this all the time as dumping three ounces of pellets in a carboy will result in a floating mass even if the krausen has settled as the CO2 is still evolving. Once you get the hang of it you can flop the mass with as little as three "rocks".

So, flop them over at least once a day, preferably more often. They'll briefly sink then float back up again - especially full flowers...

Cheers!

 

[Ragman]

Thanks DT - I will do that!

 

[Ragman]

I was able to rock the carboy to sink some of the hops and spread out what was there. I am wondering about this thick layer of 'foam' at the top of the beer, This is the first time Ive used Lactose in an IPA, could that be the cause? Ive seen layers of foam like this during high krausen but it usually dissipates quite a bit more by the time its done fermenting. Im still seeing this thick layer after 2 weeks. and ideas as to what it could be>

 

[tracer bullet]

In my experience no it wouldn't be the lactose. I think it's just normal yeast doing its thing. Which yeast did you use and what sort of beer did you aim for?

 

[Ragman]

WLP008 yeast in a Hazy IPA

 

[tracer bullet]

WLP008 yeast in a Hazy IPA

WLP008 Slow Fermentation? <-- Seems to have happened before.

White Labs site says medium - low flocculation, that could be it too.

What temps are you running? If they are on the cool side that could slow things down a touch as well.

 

[Ragman]

Temp was a little low - around 60-63 degrees. Think that could be it? We had it fermenting for 2 weeks, which is how long we've fermented all of our beers at with good results. Im just afraid the hop flavors didnt get into the beer cause so many were still sitting in the foam.

 

[tracer bullet]

Couple days is actually probably enough for hop flavor. I'd consider a few more swirls too, see if you can get stuff dissipating. 2 weeks is a while, some yeasts get done faster, but in my experience it isn't unheard of to still have something on top that hasn't gone away yet. It always seems that it does even if it's a little longer. I'd slowly bring the temps up if you can. May kick-start some activity or simply make it go a little faster.

 

[ejf063]

I love 008. It is a slow eater though, especially at your current temps. I would wait just a little bit before adding that extra dose of dry hops. I mean you dont have to but if you want the yeast to eat all the can, I would not be surprised if it took at least another week or two to finish.
If you never used 008, my bet is you'll be very happy with the results. It just takes its time.