Dry Hopping question

[zeb]

I have one batch under my belt and I'm planning my second batch. I have been tasting some great craft beers from my local brew store and have fallen in love with the strong hoppy flavor of an IPA.
So I have all the ingredients for an IPA and one thing that has been going through my mind is the dry hopping process.

Should I have bought whole hops for dry hopping? I bought pellet hops and now im wondering if it is better to have whole hops. Will using pellet hops give me a problem? Will I have a lot of "cloudiness" and "floating hops" when it is time to bottle since this recipe calls for dry hopping during second fermentation?

Recipe:
8 LBS pale malt extract
1/2 LBS crystal malt 10L (crushed)
1/2 LBS munich malt (crushed)
1 TSP gypsum
2 ounces US kent goldings hops (bittering)
2 ounces cascade hops (flavor/aroma)
2 ounces cascade hops (dry hop)
1 teaspoon irish moss
1 package american ale yeast
1 1/4 cups light dry malt extract (priming)

Thanks in advance for any advice!!

 

[flabyboy]

I know I got pellet hops in my kit that is meant for dry hopping. Kit was from Northern Brewer.

 

[Bentpirate]

I dry hop in secondary for about a week. When it is time to bottle / keg, I sanitize a pair of nude color panty hose over the racking cane as a filter and run off to the bucket / keg from there. Cheese cloth would work also. This would help remove most if not all of the sediment

 

[zeb]

So maybe its ok then? I dunno, I bought all these ingredients individually so I had the opportunity to buy whole hops, but didn't think of it until I got home.

 

[shawnbou]

I've used pellets for dry hopping several times with no problems, as have many others. I usually put them in a muslin bag with a handful of marbles (don't forget to sanitize the bag and marbles first) and drop them in the secondary a week before bottling. The bag holds the goop in surprisingly well.

However, many on this site have reported great results with just throwing pellets into the carboy. Most of the debris should either sink to the bottom with the trub or get racked out at bottling time.

 

[Coldies]

Pellet hops are fine. Eventually they will fall down. If not the day before you bottle you can swirl (SWIRL NOT SHAKE) the carboy around forcing them to fall. Or what I do when I bottle, when I rack to my bottling bucket I put a 5 gallon paint strainer in my bottling bucket and once its all transferred I carefully take the strainer out and that will catch all the hop debri.

 

[zeb]

Sounds good, looks like straining is an option. I was wondering about the muslin bag in this situation, but I didnt know how it would contain the pellets that well but sounds like it does.

thank you all for the advice

 

[mixedbrewer]

A nylon hop bag has finer holes in it than a muslin bag does. So that might be another option.

 

[trevorc13]

Gerard Lemons suggests covering your pellet hops with hot water (not above 170f) before you dry hop. This releases the oils in the hops which usually take time to release in the wort itself. I tried this and my last double ipa turned out great! The only thing is that the hops break up once you add the hot water and turn into mush, so you'd need a sanitized racking cane to help them through the funnel. Just my two cents.

 

[Ravenshead]

I don't have a bottling bucket so I rack to a tertiary carboy the day before bottling.

I did make the mistake of not doing this the first time I dry hopped and clogged my bottling cane. Not a big deal, just clean out the cane and draw from the middle of the carboy to start off if you don't have a bucket or additional carboy.

Either way, carefull siphoning can keep the hops out of your bottles.