Do pellet hops ever drop / sink?

[Aleforge]

I did my first dry hopping last week (8 days ago) and although they broke down they all seem to be floating still on the surface in a cake like manner. My fermentation stopped now and I am ready to bottle but I am trying to figure out if this is normal. AND trying to figure out how to keep them from getting into my bottles.

 

[passedpawn]

Mine sink every time. At then end of fermentation, I drop the temperature to 33F, add gelatin, and give the fermentors a little shake to get anything on the top to drop. By the next day, the surface is clear. I'm pretty sure when I add the gelatin the surface is already clear.

My suggestion is to just give the fermentor a little shake a day or two before you bottle.

But keeping them out of my kegs (or bottles) is still a little tricky, even when they are on the bottom. Just have to be careful there.

 

[thehaze]

I concur. They will drop if you lower the temperature. However, if you do not cold crash, you can still syphon the beer from under it. I usually use a fine hop bag, over the auto-syphon and gently syphon the beer.

 

[kh54s10]

I had a skin on the top of my last dry hopped beer. It was about 1/8 inch thick. I put the beer in a cold crash. After a couple of days I took it out to bottle. There were a few "floaties". I just racked from underneath. My bottle filler clogged on the first bottle. I cleared it and it was fine until the last bottle. The beer was pretty cloudy, we'll see when conditioned and chilled. Next time I cold crash a light beer I will use gelatin.

 

[Aleforge]

Ah OK thanks guys!

 

[Jag75]

What's crazy is I put about 5 oz in a bag with 2 shot glasses to weigh it down . 4 days later that sucker popped up to the top.

 

[Aleforge]

Don't many of you guys sometimes use fresh hops in a bag? I can see that ending up much less messy.

 

[thehaze]

I never bag hops as I don't like the results. But I haven't had issues with hop debris in the bottles, so if careful enough, you can avoid it.

 

[Jag75]

I've never used fresh . Just pellets

 

[Jag75]

I never bag hops as I don't like the results. But I haven't had issues with hop debris in the bottles, so if careful enough, you can avoid it.

When using a bag yo uh have to make sure it's big. I use a paint strainer bag. Think gallon size. That way all the hops are saturated and soak .

 

[kh54s10]

I use a 5 gallon paint strainer in the boil. And 1 ounce in a paint strainer bag for dry hopping. More hops more bags.

I just started increasing my water to account for hop loss from just dumping them in. We'll see if there is a difference.

 

[Aleforge]

Do you have to sanitize fresh hops before the addition during fermentation? I was trying to figure out how you could add them in without infection.

 

[Jag75]

From what I've read and seen you dont need to sanitize hops , just the bag if your using one.