Dry-Hopping in a MiniBrew Concical Fermenter

[jcelliott4]

I am on my second brew and decided to give dry-hopping a go in my MiniBrew Conical. I have seen some dialogue on dropping the trub/yeast, keeping in a bag or not, and a few other topics. I did search for a while and couldn't find the specific answer to my question, but please forgive me if it is redundant and I missed it.

The hops I have are a mix of five types, both pellet and whole, and are in a bag. My concern is adding the bag. The ONLY way I can get it in is to open the lid to slip them in. I am concerned that this will let yuckies in. In your opinions, is it worth the risk of contamination to get these hops in?

Here is the conical I have http://minibrew.com/product/46/

Thanks!

James Elliott

 

[crazyirishman34]

Is fermentation done? If so I would just toss them in.

 

[jcelliott4]

I am 4 days into primary fermentation. You think I am safe one I am in secondary in the conical?


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[crazyirishman34]

You want to wait until your beer reaches final gravity to add your dry hops. If you add them too soon the yeast will pull most of the hop oils out of the beer when it flocks out.

 

[jcelliott4]

Here's the dumb question though. Even if I am at or close to final gravity, is opening up the lid of the fermenter just enough to get the bag of hops in too risky? Pellets through a port on top seem safer, but I have to get the whole lid off for this.

Also, is it crazy to sanitize the hop bag with the hops in it? Hops can get yuck on them as well, right?

 

[Calichusetts]

Your fine...people with buckets are doing this all the time. And I would add it towards the tail end of fermentation. I usually add my dry hops the day after high krausen drops.

I sanitize my hop bag before I add the hops then just stuff them down the neck of the carboy. You have beer, you have hops, both of which help prevent infections, so don't worry too much.

 

[winvarin]

Your fine...people with buckets are doing this all the time. And I would add it towards the tail end of fermentation. I usually add my dry hops the day after high krausen drops.

I sanitize my hop bag before I add the hops then just stuff them down the neck of the carboy. You have beer, you have hops, both of which help prevent infections, so don't worry too much.

+1. I use a stainless steel bearing to weigh the hop bag down. I usually just toss the bearing and the bag in a small sauce pan with water and boil it for about 5 min. Then I pull it out of the pan, add hops, tie it off and into the carboy it goes. As stated above acids in the hops and alcohol in the beer will help you reduce the chances of infection.

Note - if you use a hop bag, make sure you leave a lot of extra space in the bag when tying it off. When wet, hops will expand to several times their original size.

Opening the lid of your fermenter for the few seconds it takes to drop the bag in is negligible in terms of infection risk unless you are doing it in a really drafty environment.

With a conical, you could just opt to toss the hops in without a bag. They will eventually work their way down to the cone and you can remove them. The only reason I use a bag is that the pellet sludge stays relatively together that way and it decreases the amount of hop matter I suck up with my autosiphon when transferring.

 

[crazyirishman34]

If you are going to add the hops before the beer is clear you should add more to compensate for the yeast dragging some of the Hop oils out of the beer as it flocks

 

[RBGilbert2]

To me, the bigger concern is not contamination, but oxygen. I always add my dry hops with about 4-6 gravity points left in the fermentation. This allows the still active yeast to scavenge the oxygen introduced and will prevent loss of hop flavor due to oxidation. Saw this tip in an interview with Steve Dressler, brewmaster for Sierra Nevada, who certainly knows what he's doing.