Dry Hop Question

[doublehaul]

I have a recipe that says - when fermenting "When the gravity hits 1.018 (after about six days) add 2.0 oz pellet hops. After 2 more days, transfer to secondary and add an ounce of whole leaf hops."

I just have whole leaf hops. I have a 6 gallon glass carboy and a 6+ gallon brew pale. I made this recipe once before and left it all in the primary glass carboy - put 2 oz in a hop bag at 7 days, waited 2 days, pulled it, put in a fresh 1 oz. The initial 2 oz didn't fully soak up - was partially dry, and I had no hop aroma when the beer was done. This time, I'd like to do my dry-hopping in the bucket to make things easier and want to get the most out of the 3oz of dry hops. I'm not opposed to using a secondary.

How would you do this with leaf hops and my equipment? What are they trying to accomplish? I'm thinking the pellets in the original recipe would be transferred to the secondary with the wort.

 

[david_42]

I'd use the pail for fermenting and just toss the loose hops in per schedule. They'll make better contact that way.

No idea what they were trying to accomplish with the pellets in for only two days.

 

[doublehaul]

I'd use the pail for fermenting and just toss the loose hops in per schedule. They'll make better contact that way.

No idea what they were trying to accomplish with the pellets in for only two days.

So drop 2 oz at 6 days, another 1 oz at 8 days. Then if I wanted it to sit for 3 weeks, rack to secondary to get off the hops? Or if I bagged the hops I could just pull the bags. I've never fermented w/ the bucket before, it seems crazy to pop the whole lid off, I'm always paranoid about just pulling off the airlock

 

[rcsoccer]

So drop 2 oz at 6 days, another 1 oz at 8 days. Then if I wanted it to sit for 3 weeks, rack to secondary to get off the hops? Or if I bagged the hops I could just pull the bags. I've never fermented w/ the bucket before, it seems crazy to pop the whole lid off, I'm always paranoid about just pulling off the airlock

If you have a 6 gallon carboy, just add 2-3 oz. of the whole leaf hops (no bag) to the secondary and rack the beer on top of the hops from the brew pail. I do this whenever I dry hop any of my beers and it works out just fine. I would let the hops sit on the beer for more than 2 weeks, because sometimes you'll get grassy flavors. What hops are you going to use for dry hopping?

 

[Brulosopher]

So drop 2 oz at 6 days, another 1 oz at 8 days. Then if I wanted it to sit for 3 weeks, rack to secondary to get off the hops? Or if I bagged the hops I could just pull the bags. I've never fermented w/ the bucket before, it seems crazy to pop the whole lid off, I'm always paranoid about just pulling off the airlock

Afraid? I do it all the time and since 2002 not a single infection. If that's your worry, the alcohol will usually be too high by then. If adding O2 is your source of fear... there's a nice blanket of CO2 atop every freshly fermented beer, so nothing to worry about! Cheers.

 

[basilchef]

Your going to want to pitch those babies 7 to 10 days before bottling. That time period is ideal for dry hopping. Too soon you wast money too long you will get vegetal off flavors.

 

[doublehaul]

What hops are you going to use for dry hopping?

Cascade