Dry Hopping Question

[IloveIPA]

I am new to home brewing and I have never dry hopped before. I am planning on using a bag with cascade hop pellets. Is there any preparation aside from boiling the bag that I need to do? Also, How long do I leave the bag in there?

Thanks

IPA

 

[thenatibrewer]

why use the bag? 1 to 3 wks is what i have heard. good luck

 

[david_42]

Nope, bag them and soak for 1-2 weeks. Some people like to use sanitized marbles to ensure the bag sinks. If you want more aroma after 2 weeks, replace the hops.

 

[IloveIPA]

So do you recommed using a bag or should I just throw the hop pellets into the wort?

 

[Yooper]

I'd use a bag. I didn't the last time (I couldn't get the bag with hops into the carboy opening after I racked, so I just shoved them in), and lost about 2 quarts of beer due to the extra hops material when I racked to the bottling bucket. Also, racking is tougher when you don't bag them- you get hop leaf things stuck in the racking cane. Even with a bag over my racking cane, it was harder. Much easier to bag them, and dry hop that way.

Lorena

 

[backwards]

as an ipa lover myself, my first brew was an american ipa. i left the wort in the primary for 1 week and then dry hopped for 1 week. my hops went straight in, no bag. after that second week, i racked to a 5 gallon carboy and she is still there. i am interested in the bag theory - what would be the point? is it a clarity issue?

 

[Yooper]

To my mind, no, it's not a clarity issue. My IPA is clear and gorgeous. The problem I had was about 1,000,000 billion pieces of hops litter/leaves that never settled. They floated on the top, middle, and bottom. As I said, I lost about 2 quarts of beer to this- my husband called this "tag alder swamp water". (Apparently, if you're a wildlife biologist, that's funny). It was a thick viscuous fluid that couldn't be racked after a while. To my mind, it would be much easier to keep them in a bag for containment, and then rack off of the trub and bag. I'm definitely going to do that next time. I'll use two or three hop bags (my 1 1/2 ounces of hops in one bag wouldn't fit through the carboy opening and it never even occurred to me to divide it into a couple more bags) and throw them in that way. When I oak wines, that's what I do. I just wasn't thinking about that when I tossed in the hops for the beer.

Lorena

 

[seohiosipper]

I was just getting ready to ask the same question--to bag or not to bag. I didn't bag last time I dry hopped and it was a PITA when I racked. Think I'll try the bag method this time.

 

[thenatibrewer]

how to you sanitize the bag? what type of bag to you use? nylon or muslim?

 

[newguy]

what I do to make sure it's sanatized is microwave it! I know sounds weird but it works! Now I have never tried to micro a nylon bag but muslim bags work fine. Micro on meduim power for 1 minute.

 

[Torchiest]

I was considering trying that, and now that I hear it works, that's what I'm going to do. Thanks!

 

[thenatibrewer]

thanks newguy that sounds pretty easy....you da man!

 

[newguy]

yup no worries!

 

[brewhead]

try step hopping as well for added nose

 

[sirsloop]

idk... ive never had problems using pellets right into secondary I suppose if you use whole hops, that could soak up a lot of beer... but pellets dissolve into mush and sink nicely.

 

[Rodanrodanadana]

what I do to make sure it's sanatized is microwave it! I know sounds weird but it works! Now I have never tried to micro a nylon bag but muslim bags work fine. Micro on meduim power for 1 minute.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6293735.stm

"The researchers said people should only try to microwave damp sponges."

I assume this would also apply to mesh bags. It is the water that sanitizes, and keeps the bag from catching fire. I guess it is like a mini autoclave.

 

[Vovo]

I hardly have any brewing experience but I dry hopped my first batch of IPA, if you do go for the sterilization w/ water I would only sterlize the bag that you plan on putting the hop pellets in. I only had the bag and pelets in boiling water for like 5-10 seconds and they expanded and turned to mush and made it near impossible to get down into the carboy.

I luckly did not compromise the beer when I eventually got the bag in there but I definitely exposed it to more of a chance of getting some type of nastyiness in the beer than if I just put in unsterilized pellets with a sterilized grain bag. If you wanted to do it right I would say put the pellets in the oven for a while and pour into sterilized bag, place in carboy

Hope this helps

 

[newguy]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6293735.stm

"The researchers said people should only try to microwave damp sponges."

I assume this would also apply to mesh bags. It is the water that sanitizes, and keeps the bag from catching fire. I guess it is like a mini autoclave.

yeah it does have to be moist for it to work, but I've never had one catch on fire. Not yet at least

 

[jnielsen]

here was my newbie way of dry hopping. the recipe called for 2 oz of cascade leaves to and to dry hop for two weeks. i put one oz in a grain bag and put it in there and racked on top of it and let it sit for one week. after a week i popped the airlock pulled out the grain bag and dumped the last oz of whole leaves onto the top of the wortand let it sit for a week. im bottling and sampling tomorrow cant wait to try my first batch

 

[ECOdork]

I just bottled my first IPA which involved dry hopping in the secondary. I ended up putting pellets straight into the secondary. They never sank. In fact every couple of days I'd lightly rock the carbouy to simulate a transatlantic/indian ocean voyage which caused them to sink/mix then eventually settle to the top.

Bottling wasn't as messy as I had feared. When I racked into bottling bucket I missed most of the trub and hop-floaties. And most bottles looked pretty clean until my racking cane clogged for the last 3 bottles. I marked those special-like as I have a feeling they is going to be some UBER-DANK IPA goodness in those puppies!

 

[Monk]

I just dry hopped two special bitters and tried both methods. The easier of the two, for me, was to just chuck the .75 oz of Crystal pellets into the secondary. I let it sit for a week or so in the 65F bedroom, then put it into the chest freezer outside, where it was about 45F (I think) for 4 days. When I bottled last night, it was totally clear with the hop residue nicely compacted on the bottom. I think it was the cold-conditioning that did it? Anyway, might be something you'd like to try.

monk