dry-hop fail

[Hoochin'Fool]

Bottled my 2.5 gallons of Cascade/Citra Session Pale Ale. Despite taking some steps to minimize oxygen, the aroma was very underwhelming (when in theory, aroma should have been at it's peak). Looks like a lot of the hops never even dissolved. They were in a paint straining bag that I tied the top off and then again in the middle, so that it would be fully "stuck" to the fermenter lid, until I pulled the top-side magnet. I've been using one of these for my previous dry-hopping, but the cheap POS fell apart, and it wasn't attracted to my magnet anyways. What does everyone else use?

 

[fluketamer]

drop em in commando you will get much better utilization. thats what i do

you can either rack off of them into purged keg or you can even keg hop commando with a floating dip tube. i have drank ipas that were sitting on hops for 6 weeks with no hop burn.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

After a recent beer where I dropped the hops in loose, and my bottling wand clogged (I transferred from fermenter to bottling bucket first) up tight, I vowed never again!

Think I'm going to order this...

 

[Skeeter686]

I've done something similar with a bag and it seemed to work OK for me. Did your bag possibly get stuck and not drop all the way in?

I agree with Hoochin'Fool that you're likely to get better utilization going commando, but the results you got with the bag don't seem right.

I've got some smaller bags that I use, so I didn't have to tie mine in the center. I had a couple of sous vide magnets inside the bag. By having them at opposite ends of the bag, they kept the bag from drooping into the beer. And the weight of the magnets helped to ensure that the bag was submerged after it dropped.

Maybe you should describe your process in more detail.

In any case, the tea infuser would probably work, as long as it's large enough for the hops that you're adding. They do expand a lot when they get wet, and if they end up packed tight inside the infuser, you probably won't get good utilization.

 

[Dgallo]

dryhoping is all about extraction and anti o2. so loose is always the best option so that you can increase the surface area.

If you love hoppy beers and plan to brew them often I would suggest upgrading your equipment so that you can dryhop loose and not worry about clogs in transfer. I have a thread on HBT and have written a DIY article for Brew Your Own magazine on utilizing a fermonster wide mouth fermenter and modifying a solid lid with balllock fittings where the liquid side utilizes a floating dip tube for transfers. It’s quite in expensive to do. It used to be around $70 for everything including the fermenter but I’m sure prices are up

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/thread...lete-closed-transfer-system-for-cheap.680992/

 

[Deadalus]

After a recent beer where I dropped the hops in loose, and my bottling wand clogged (I transferred from fermenter to bottling bucket first) up tight, I vowed never again!

Think I'm going to order this...

Tea infusers are too small. Hops expand significantly. It seems like the paint strainer bag was constricting them too much. How much stretch do they have? What size bag? It sounds like you took up a lot of slack by tying to prevent floppiness.

I go loose now, but used to use throwaway hop socks--about $1 each or so from LHBS. They are stretchy. These balloon up when the hops expand and float so it helps to either sink them with weights or rock and gently splash with waves about once a day. I never went the magnet route so only mentioning these to discuss the expansion issue. I use hop bongs on my unis and added a TC port to my mini-bucket to also use one there.

 

[Deadalus]

Bottled my 2.5 gallons of Cascade/Citra Session Pale Ale. Despite taking some steps to minimize oxygen, the aroma was very underwhelming (when in theory, aroma should have been at it's peak). Looks like a lot of the hops never even dissolved. They were in a paint straining bag that I tied the top off and then again in the middle, so that it would be fully "stuck" to the fermenter lid, until I pulled the top-side magnet. I've been using one of these for my previous dry-hopping, but the cheap POS fell apart, and it wasn't attracted to my magnet anyways. What does everyone else use?

View attachment 877203

Is it just my browser or are these orange colored?

 

[sibelman]

orange colored?

Color rendering isn't trustworthy, but I to wondered why they aren't more green.

 

[Miraculix]

Any hop sock or similar bag that's big enough should do. Place some weights inside to keep it down and add a hand full of sugar together with the bag to get rid of the oxygen. Works fine for me since years.

 

[Dgallo]

Color rendering isn't trustworthy, but I to wondered why they aren't more green.

Is it just my browser or are these orange colored?

the hops were bagged so you’re seeing a lot of yeast and trub in with too, especially if the ipa was a high 6-7 SRM, there will def be a bit of orange to them. Also looks like he might of used hop hash so that could account for some of the color too

 

[Dgallo]

L

the hops were bagged so you’re seeing a lot of yeast and trub in with too, especially if the ipa was a high 6-7 SRM, there will def be a bit of orange to them. Also looks like he might of used hop hash so that could account for some of the color too

Nvm on the hop hash, I see it’s a weight of some sort in with the hops, thought it was a brick of hop hash that never broke up

 

[Deadalus]

L

Nvm on the hop hash, I see it’s a weight of some sort in with the hops, thought it was a brick of hop hash that never broke up

I thought at first maybe they were pulverized based on some of the consistency but there are some pellet shapes mixed in. The last of a pouch of hops tends to have finer particulates. Color from the beer though seems plausible. OP used a magnet so that's a magnet or piece of metal I'd guess.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

Nvm on the hop hash, I see it’s a weight of some sort in with the hops, thought it was a brick of hop hash that never broke up

Actually, that was the other hard-drive magnet. The hops did take on a slight orange-ish hue, but not quite so much as that picture would indicate. I definitely tied the bag up too tightly (trying to keep it from drooping into the beer before I was ready to dry-hop).

 

[marc1]

Actually, that was the other hard-drive magnet. The hops did take on a slight orange-ish hue, but not quite so much as that picture would indicate. I definitely tied the bag up too tightly (trying to keep it from drooping into the beer before I was ready to dry-hop

You didn't seal the magnet off from the hops/beer? I would not trust the guts of a hard drive to be food safe.

 

[passedpawn]

If you want the best hop aroma you've ever had from a beer, just drop 12 mL of terpenes in there. I have a beer now that has 6 ml centennial and 6 ml chinook and the aroma is in your face. I add terpenes to keg. I use large syringes to inject into the unscrewed PRV on top (you could use the type of syringe used to add moisture to meat). Take my word, it'll blow you away.

The downside is these terpenes will kill the head, so you need to also add propylene glycol alginate - see this.

https://abstraxhops.com/collections/optimized-hop-extracts

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

You didn't seal the magnet off from the hops/beer? I would not trust the guts of a hard drive to be food safe.

Hmmm, nope, didn't occur to me. I did soak the magnet in OxiClean...

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

The downside is these terpenes will kill the head cost $70 per bottle

Interesting, tho (especially that they make it from zero actual hops)!

 

[HM-2]

What does everyone else use?

Nothing- hops go in loose without bagging of any kind via a CO2 purged hop dropper.