Dry hop ??

[808beer]

Hello all,
I just brewed a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone and I dry hopped a half ounce of hops after I transfered to the secondary fermenter. So far its been 11 days and the hops never settled to the bottom.

Do I keep in the secondary till all the hops settle? Or do I have to do a third stage fermentation.

Also, what is the proper way to dry hop? Do you add the hops first or last?

Thanks
808

 

[Passload]

Sometimes the hops just float and never sink. If you think it's ready to bottle then go for it.

 

[Walker]

I only dry hop my IPA (or is it technically an APA?) and the hops have NEVER sunk to the bottom. I usually jostle the secondary around every day a bit, and this causes a few leaves to break loose from the mass floating on top. Those few leaves will gently settle to the bottom, but the VAST majority of the hops just stay right up there on the top.

I've considered puttig them into a bag with some weights (my son's glass marbles), but that's just one more thing to sanitize, so I've never done it.

-walker

 

[cgravier]

i use pellets and they settle out nicely after a few days...just throw them in either before or after you rack...theyll float for a few days then settle out.

 

[Janx]

I use whole hops and they float on top, but they do get wet with beer. They definitely impart enormous flavor/aroma.

 

[drengel]

i'd say the best way to dry hop is definitely with FRESH whole hops. i've never experienced them sinking at all, but they usually don't come up when transferring to the bottling bucket, so its all good. you can use a dry hopping bag, but who needs excess equipment? dry hopping with pellets (although i've done it once) is not the best of ideas as the pellets will kinda dissolve and then you have pellets in your beer for however long the beer sits. it's like an infinite dry hop, and doesn't work all that well. go with the freshest whole hops you can find.

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

I've used both and whether they settle out or float on top they have to be dealt with at racking or you cut down on your yield. What seems to work really well, and is low-cost, to boot, is to tie a mesh hop bag around the end of your racking cane before carboy insertion. Normally the bags keep hops in, in this case they keep hops out and you can rack a good bit more of the beer without fear of including hop bits or clogging up your siphon.

 

[BrewBrothaRick]

808 you somehow seem familiar to me... Can't seem to place why....

 

[AHammer16]

why....

Because nothing sounds quite like an 8-0-8

 

[808beer]

808 means the phone area code for Honolulu, Hawaii.:rockin: :rockin: :rockin: