Dry Hopping, another question

[Billo355]

I've been reading various posts on Dry Hopping in the secondary and can't seem to find anything resembling a consensus. I'm using a recipe that included 1 oz. or hop plugs for dry hopping and I'm not sure of the pros/cons of placing them in a sock or not. I imagine doing so will make siphoning, bottling and clean up easier but will it affect the effectiveness of the dry hopping process?

 

[Evan!]

Never used plugs, but, as for whole hops, yeah, it'll make siphoning easier...but it'll also probably reduce the extraction somewhat. I've never used a sock, but that's mainly because my secondary is always a glass carboy, meaning it'd be nearly impossible to get the sock-full-o-hops into the neck, and even more difficult to get back out. But if you're using a bucket, then, you could always try it out. It would definitely make your life easier.

 

[david_42]

I dry hop in the keg and always use a bag. Makes it easy to remove them. I don't think the impact on extraction is much and an ounce should be plenty.

 

[bobbo]

My first dry hopped batch is currently in the secondary - I just racked last night. I dumped an ounce of pellets into my carboy after racking. They broke up quicly, and there's a green layer on top now, but from what I've read on this forum that will settle out over the next couple of weeks. Then when I siphon into the bottling bucket, I'll throw a muslin bag over the end of my racking cane to filter out the particles. Again, something that I read on this forum. I hope it works!

 

[Ivan Lendl]

I've been reading various posts on Dry Hopping in the secondary and can't seem to find anything resembling a consensus. I'm using a recipe that included 1 oz. or hop plugs for dry hopping and I'm not sure of the pros/cons of placing them in a sock or not. I imagine doing so will make siphoning, bottling and clean up easier but will it affect the effectiveness of the dry hopping process?

If you put them in a bag that is weighted you will get more extraction than just putting them in there to float around. They will never sink, ever. So you end up with only about 70-80 percent of the hops touching the beer. a weighted sock will completley submerge the hops. I use ball bearings. Ive read that glass marbles work but finding real glass marbles is not easy, and I cant see how they are heavy enough either to keep the hops down under the beer. I use 10,1/2 in diameter SS balls per 1 oz of hops and this is just barely enough wieght to keep an ounce down.

 

[loopmd]

I dry hop in the secondary with hop pellets wrapped in a cheesecloth ball. Like everyone else said, it's easy going in but a ***** to get out of the neck of the carboy. It makes for siphoning easier. I've read threads on here before that people just toss the pellets right in without a sock. They tend to settle out quite nicely, you just have to be careful when you rack to the bottling bucket/keg.


loop