Dry Hop - Bag Question

[RyanJE]

Hey all! I was hoping someone could help answer a question I have.

I am about to dry hop a pale ale that I brewed. I feel like using a hop bag , when I dry hopped pellets with out in the past, it was hard to keep out of the beer when transfering to bottling bucket.

Should I boil or sanitize the hop bag before using it? If so how? Also, should I add weight to the bag and hops so it sinks instead of floats on top? If so, what should I weight it with?

Thanks for all of your insight!!

 

[barroomhero1234]

yes sanitize. soak it in no rinse sanitizer and you could weigh it down.

IMO just throw in the pellets you will get much better efficiency and search the forum for ways to keep the hops out of racking cane or just be careful when siphoning.

 

[stageseven]

Sure, you can do that. Option 1 is to use the hop bag in the secondary (or primary). Boil or sanitize with no-rinse sanitizer as you would anything else. You can put a couple sanitized marbles in the bag to weigh it down. Option 2 is to dump the pellets directly in, and use the sanitized bag as a filter over your racking cane when you go to move it into the bottling bucket. Sanitize a bag and a rubber band, snap it over the cane and you're good to go. That method also works great for keeping fruit pieces out of your bottles if you make a fruit beer. Either way will work fine for dry hopping.

 

[Grinder12000]

I go with option #2 - just dump them in. They will normally sink to the bottom of the bottling bucket anyway.

 

[RyanJE]

Thanks so far all. I've actually tried the hop bag over racking cane method. It seems to create a lot of bubbling in the hose while transfering to bottle bucket...Is that bad??

Also, will I get better aroma if I let the hops sit in the secondary for 2 weeks or just 1 week?? (conditioning right now for 2 weeks)

 

[drummermattie02]

If you have the fridge space, cold crashing 24-48 hours before bottling has worked very well for me. The hops sink, the beer clears, and then careful siphoning as you get near the cake on the bottom should keep the beer mostly hop-free into your bottling bucket.

As for time, I think you'll get more aroma letting the hops sit for 2 weeks, but too long (> 3 weeks in my experience) can lead to some aromas that you may not want. Overpowering grassy aroma was what I got in my long-term dry hop experiment. Not terrible, but not what I wanted either.

 

[RyanJE]

Thanks, I cant cold crash tho.

Any other suggestions/input about hop bag vs no bag??

 

[stageseven]

Thanks so far all. I've actually tried the hop bag over racking cane method. It seems to create a lot of bubbling in the hose while transfering to bottle bucket...Is that bad??

That's not a problem unless you're losing your suction. The bubbles in your hose in that case are co2, not oxygen, so it has no negative effect on your wort.

 

[Calder]

I just toss the pellets in and let them swim free. I plan on 2 weeks, and by that time they have mostly sunk. Occasionally get a bit in the last bottle, but all the others are clear.

That's not a problem unless you're losing your suction. The bubbles in your hose in that case are co2, not oxygen, so it has no negative effect on your wort.

+1

 

[Ice9]

I use a bag in my kegs and I float the bag with a couple of ping pong balls.
Once the hops have soaked up enough beer they will sink. The ping pong balls keep the bags opening pointed up and I can just remove the lid and snatch the bag out of there without disturbing anything.