Dry hopping/Clearing

[schubes24]

I dry hopped my Surly Furious clone 10 days ago, and the top hasn't cleared. Do you need to wait til it clears before bottling, or is it no big deal if it doesn't clear before? If it does need to clear, are there any tricks to get it to clear?

 

[SumnerH]

I've had bad luck with free-floating pellets clearing, so I either use whole hops or put my pellets into a bag for dry hopping (you can get a ton of women's nylon stockings at a dollar store or whatever for next to nothing--use them as disposable hop bags).

Without a hop bag. I've wound up siphoning out from under the top floating layer of dry hops, and losing a little bit of beer by stopping siphoning when the layer containing hop flakes reaches the bottom. A few little hop flakes in the bottle aren't a big deal, other than maybe aesthetically.

If you're averse to that, finings (e.g. gelatin, available at the supermarket) and cold crashing may help.

Some people have successfully put a strainer bag around the bottom of the autosiphon when transferring, too. Keep it lose and away from the intake to stop it from clogging.

 

[Calder]

I dry hop with pellets. After 2 weeks they are just about on the bottom. The occasional 'bit' is left on the surface due to surface tension; a gentle swirl will sort that out.

Rack to bottling bucket, no special measures, no problem.

 

[ASantiago]

Over the course of the dry hopping, I gently tap on the sides of the fermenter every couple of days or so to create some vibration and that gets a good amount of hop particles sinking.

 

[wolverinebrewer]

I've used pellets and leaf and like you have had to deal with floating hop particles. I'm going to assume that you have hop particles floating around and thought they should settle out. To me, this is not an issue. When I rack over to bottle, I use a 1 gal. paint strainer over the end of the outlet hose in the bottle bucket. I do not use it on the auto siphon in the fermenter because I do not want to disturb the yeast bed. I try to be careful when siphoning by keeping the siphon right alongside the bucket wall with just the black portion submerged. I do get a few particles but it is very few but the bag catches everything. As the level gets lower, I keep lowering the siphon. When I reach the trub, I tip the bucket slightly to get all of the liquid and I make sure to just touch the yeast bed gently to get a little yeast for the bottles.

So don't sweat the beer not clearing. It's not a big issue to worry about.

 

[ASantiago]

wolverinebrewer - Are you not concerned with aerating the beer as it goes through paint strainer?

 

[RCCOLA]

I've been doing the same thing as wolverine for years and have not aerated a beer. There has to be air involved for aeration. If you keep the bag and hose submerged in the beer when racking, then there is no air involved--thus no aeration.

Just to be clear, I zip tie one of these to the out hose:

 

[DeafSmith]

I also use the bag on the output side, but I use a jumbo size grain bag inside the bucket, with the top folded over the top of the bucket and secured with a bungee cord on the outside. The jumbo bag lies nearly flat in the bottom of the bucket, so with the siphon hose all the way down in the bottom of the bucket there is no problem with aeration. I do wait to add the priming sugar solution until after I remove the bag - just pour it in from right above the surface of the beer and stir very gently. Works great.

 

[ASantiago]

What's a jumbo size grain bag? I understand both approaches just posted and think they are great ideas. Never thought of doing it that way.

I do put the priming sugar solution in the bucket first and let the racking action mix it up. Any issues with that approach?

 

[wolverinebrewer]

wolverinebrewer - Are you not concerned with aerating the beer as it goes through paint strainer?

I don't see how it would aerate it. Its not splashing. The sanitized bag is small and almost just lays flat on the bottom of the bucket. The flow of the beer is slow and gradually flows through and up over the bag. When its done I just gently lift it and let drain. I have zero particles in my brew and after proper bottling conditioning and 2 weeks in the fridge, I can read a book looking through it.

From two of my favorite movie characters:

Col. Jessep: Are we clear?
Kaffee: Yes sir.
Col. Jessep: Are we clear?
Kaffee: Crystal.

 

[Runyanka]

Just wrap the siphon end of the tube with the straining bag. Or gently swirl the carboy to drop them out of suspension.

 

[skyebrewing]

I dont know if its the movement or the cold, but i cold crash after dry hopping (pellets) and i have had good luck having everything drop down to the cake

 

[Hockeyhunter99]

From two of my favorite movie characters:

Col. Jessep: Are we clear?
Kaffee: Yes sir.
Col. Jessep: Are we clear?
Kaffee: Crystal.

some people just can't handle the truth!!!

 

[DeafSmith]

What's a jumbo size grain bag?

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_33_403&products_id=1058

I do put the priming sugar solution in the bucket first and let the racking action mix it up. Any issues with that approach?

No, that's the way I've usually seen recommended. When I started using the jumbo grain bag, I just thought maybe the bag would interfere with the mixing action - that's why I wait until after I remove the bag - maybe not a real concern.

 

[schubes24]

thanks guys i'll have to try those tips

 

[martygrumps]

I dry hopped my Surly Furious clone 10 days ago, and the top hasn't cleared. Do you need to wait til it clears before bottling, or is it no big deal if it doesn't clear before?

I made this same recipe in November. I dry hopped for 13 days. I have some hop heads in my family. It did take some time for the surface to clear but it helped that I would tip it slightly to immerse the hops. I never really got all the hops to drop but I was not worried about that. I racked to a bottling bucket without a filter and I didn't have a lot of hops floating around. Don't worry about particles of hops in the bottles especially because you'll realize that this beer matures quickly and the bottles will disappear quickly too.

Enjoy the clone! I am having a hard time not opening the last two 12 oz bottles.

 

[martygrumps]

I dont know if its the movement or the cold, but i cold crash after dry hopping (pellets) and i have had good luck having everything drop down to the cake

The cold spot in my basement (53F) was amazing at cold crashing my hops.