Couple newbie questions

[Cowboyfan]

Just getting into brewing, been doing some cider and just bought an ipa extract kit, doing 5 gallon batches but have a couple questions before starting my first beer. The instructions say to soak the hops in bag while boiling wort then add more after fermentation. Most YouTube videos I’ve seen show people just put the hops right in wort with no bag, which way is better and which for the final hops in fermenter? Also would it affect the beer opening lid to put in hops also how do you get samples for gravity without adding oxygen by opening lid? Thanks been learning lots from reading these forums.

 

[GPP33]

All age old questions.

For the boil you can dump the hops in or put em in a bag. Both techniques are valid. I personally just toss em in.

For dry hopping using a bag makes it easier to separate the hops from the beer. Might be the way to go while you get the hang of things.

Regarding O2. It’ll get in, just try to minimize it. There’s lots of techniques people have used to limit or eliminate O2 which you can worry about down the road but at this point just be quick and infrequent with opening your fermenter.

 

[VTX1300]

I mostly do what GPP33 dose. As a new brewer try and work on the basics first. Don't worry too much about the little things yet. As you learn the process you can find tune it to minimize O2 exposure. As for O2 and oxidation, a keg does not last long enough around my house for it to be a problem.

 

[RM-MN]

Also would it affect the beer opening lid to put in hops also how do you get samples for gravity without adding oxygen by opening lid?

At the end of fermentation the beer is covered in CO2 as it is heavier than air and has pushed out all the oxygen that the yeast didn't consume first. When it is time to dry hop or to take samples, try to not remove the lid completely and don't leave it open. As soon as it is opened some oxygen will get in but it takes some time for complete mixing of the oxygen with the CO2 so while you can't keep all the oxygen out, minimize it by keeping the opening small and for as short of time as you can.