decision between dry hop techniques

[zodiak3000]

im trying to decide on the best dry hopping technique. ill throw both options out there and maybe i can get some opinions on whats best-

1. just throw the hops in the fermenter for a week. when racking into bottling bucket wrap a sanitized grain bag and rubberband around the siphon to avoid getting any hoppy particals in my brew. *question about this technique- any problems with a grain bag not letting the siphon do its job?

2. sanitize a grain bag, sanitize some shot glasses, throw hops and shot glasses in grain bag and add it to fermenter for a week. siphon brew as regular. *question about this technique- can a grain bag impart any funk flavors into my brew even if its sanitized?

what option would be best?

 

[slomo]

Both are good options. No funky flavors from grain bags.

 

[Zen_Brew]

You might just try them both and see what works best for you. Since you are talking shot glasses I am assuming you are using a bucket to ferment in. I once put some glass beads in a grain bag then put in my leaf hops and put it in a better bottle to dry hop. When it was done It took about 20-30 minutes to get it out of there, basically picking the beads out of the hop mass one by one though the neck with a butter knife. Now I just toss the hops in and put a grain bag over the siphon when I rack.

 

[egurney]

I just throw them in with no bag. Before I keg I cold crash for a couple of days to get everything out of suspension then just rack to the keg, no filter at all.

 

[jbambuti]

I've only been dryhopping for a short time, but on advice from people here, I dryhop in primary using a fine grain bag. I boil the bag, put in my pellets, and submerge it in the beer. I don't worry about putting weights in the bag and thought that this might effect my hops aroma, but I've liked the results. My last dryhop was a DIPA that is my favorite beer I've made. It has all the wonderful hop aroma and the process couldn't be easier. I've got another one almost done fermenting. Should be ready to dryhop in a week.

Good luck and don't stress.

 

[tincob]

One note from my experience siphoning with a grain bag rubber banded onto the cane end.

I got a large amount of air bubbles that were created from the beer passing through the grain bag. So much so that I wound up having to take off the grain bag and just deal with the hop petals that made their way into the bottling bucket.

 

[chibrewer]

As a follow up on this thread, I just dry hopped for the first time...threw the hop pellets in and didn't bother with a filter when bottling. I noticed a few flakes flowing through the siphon on the way to the bottling bucket, but it seems like very little of that actually made it to the bottles. Any reason not to do it this way?

 

[fezzman]

As a follow up on this thread, I just dry hopped for the first time...threw the hop pellets in and didn't bother with a filter when bottling. I noticed a few flakes flowing through the siphon on the way to the bottling bucket, but it seems like very little of that actually made it to the bottles. Any reason not to do it this way?

I don't imagine a problem with that.* The few pieces that may make it into bottles should settle out with the yeast after carbing.


*I'll be dry hopping for the first time next week when I rack so I'm not speaking from experience. Can't wait though...my IPA smells great so far.

 

[zodiak3000]

I've only been dryhopping for a short time, but on advice from people here, I dryhop in primary using a fine grain bag. I boil the bag, put in my pellets, and submerge it in the beer. I don't worry about putting weights in the bag and thought that this might effect my hops aroma, but I've liked the results. My last dryhop was a DIPA that is my favorite beer I've made. It has all the wonderful hop aroma and the process couldn't be easier. I've got another one almost done fermenting. Should be ready to dryhop in a week.

Good luck and don't stress.

ive heard that putting some weight in the bag helps the hops sink. i also heard that if you dont put weights your hops may float and not be absorbed all the way for aroma. did your hops sink with no weights?

 

[jbambuti]

The bag didn't sink, but wasn't floating on the very top either. If I lost any hops aroma, I couldn't tell. This beer is fabulous.

 

[jgibbs]

if you have the ability to cold crash it is well worth it, you don't have to mess with any bags or marbles or shot glasses and it does wonders for clearing your beer.