Dry Hopping Question: Dry Hops

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batches_brew

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I had to bring this to the noob section and hopefully this isn't the dumbest question in history. Here it is. Should my hops actually be dry? I ask, because after two days of dry hopping, the top has dried in the shape of the top of my carboy.

This is how it looked before.

iipa_blowoff-hops.jpg


Now the hops have dropped a few inches in the shape of the mold.

Should I gently mix them in or leave it be?

Thanks for enduring my noobieness because this is my first dry hopping.
 
I've never seen them float so much before! I guess I'd try gently rocking the carboy a bit so that all of the hops soak into the beer. The ones on top not in contact with the beer won't do much- you want them wetted quite well and sort of "cold soaking" in the beer.
 
It's three oz of hops for an IIPA. I think next time I'll use a larger carboy when hopping so much. When the photo was taken, the hops were expanding, pushing wort out of the top, but then settled as the pressure was released. Guess it's time to gently push it down.
 
I take it that's your Secondary. I don't know that I would stir it, but maybe take a sanitized racking cane and break them up a bit. I like to dry hop in a bucket, and put my hops in a very loose hop bag. It makes cleaning up a whole lot easier. You're gonna have a mess on your hands with that. You can even add some some sanitized marbles to weigh the bag down, to make sure the hops stay submerged.
 
Well, it's too late now, but maybe next time try an ounce at a time. That way they give up their goodness to the beer.

It sure looks good, though- I bet it smells great!
 
Upon closer inspection, I noticed the beer level is almost to the top, and only a tiny bump is dry. Not enough to worry about, the majority is submerged. Thank goodness. This is a real hopped up brew and I want the aroma to match the hopped up flavor. 2 oz cascade (5.5) & 1 oz amarillo (9.3) Smells amazing.

Sorry for the false alarm, but I learned something anyway. Thanks.
 
Sanitize your thumb, remove the blow off tube from stopper. cover hole in stopper with sanitized thumb, carefully invert the carboy and hold inverted for about 30 seconds. try not to introduce too many bubbles. this should soak all the hops and they should settle nicely in a couple of days. this is what i do when i first dry hop. I learned it from the Pol. it works great
 
I used a grain bag weighted down by marbles last time I dry hopped an IPA. It worked really well but was a pain in the ass to get out. The hops all sank down to the bottom, so I know saturation wasn't a problem. You could also consider dry hopping with pellet hops. They will disolve and settle out into the bottom like trub would.
 
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