Dry hopping advice

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Phitz

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2020
Messages
112
Reaction score
128
A couple days into my first homebrew in about 25 years. Have good fermentation going and it is bubbling away. According to my kit supposed to dry hop day 7 then leave another 7 days. I know this is a guide. Have some questions

1. When is optimal time to dry hop?
2. I will be using pellets. Do I need to sanitize pouch and scissors? I am kind of anal about sanitizing.
3. I am thinking I probably need to do this quickly by cracking the bucket lid as to not let excessive O2 in?

Thanks
 
Personally I dry hop 3 to 5 days before I package . I also use bags because I've had a nightmare of a time transferring to a keg with hop particals. I put the bag in a pot of boiling water to sanitize. I tie a stainless washer to the bag sinch line to weigh it down as well.

As for o2 , yes its better to keep as much out of your beer as possible. When I dry hop I run co2 at the same time to keep the o2 from entering the fv.
 
7 days may be a bit much for a dry hop - you'll start to get grassy notes out of it along with the aromas.
Personally I don't worry as much about sanitizing pouches and scissors, unless they're absolutely filthy (in which case I won't use them at all. You can if you want - it won't hurt anything, but by the time you're dry hopping, the alcohol will take care of any potential bugs that it may introduce.
 
I was thinking the presence of alcohol might handle the presence of a few microbes. Do the pellets need to be bagged or can they go in on their own?
 
I was thinking the presence of alcohol might handle the presence of a few microbes. Do the pellets need to be bagged or can they go in on their own?

You can do either . Like I've said earlier. I bag mine because of the headache of transferring. I even cold crashed . A lot of the hops dropped but there was still enough in suspension that it clogged my line .
 
I will be bottling mine. I am assuming after several days they will fall to the bottom of the fermenter
 
Back
Top