Dry hopping question

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ReaperOnefour

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Hello all. So I just finished bottling my American west coast red ale. Batch size is somewhere between one gallon, & a gallon & a half. ( I'm guessing about 1.4 gallons.) I dry hopped with two ounces of casade this past Wednesday. I used a simple muslin bag, & weighted it down with some marbles. However, a lot of hop debris still got into the beer....& Into the bottling bucket as well. I lost about two bottles because there was to much hop debris at the bottom of the bucket. Is there a better way to dry hop instead of using a muslin bag? I was thinking maybe next time I should double bag the hops. Any tips are greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
You could get a finer bag from someone like Bobby Wilser.
You could use some sort of filter. There are a lot of choices.
You could cold crash.
 
Thanks for the tips fellas. I really appreciate it. I was thinking about trying some of that biofine. Then I read somewhere that it could pull out the yeast too. That wouldn't be good, because I bottle condition. I have read some good reviews on gelatin. Not quite sure how much to use for my small batches. Or even how to mix it up, & when to add it.
 
The Biofine won't remove all of the yeast. I used in (once) with a good result bottle conditioning. It takes a bit longer to carbonate due to having less yeast than without any finings at all.
 
ReaperOnefour said:
Hello all. So I just finished bottling my American west coast red ale. Batch size is somewhere between one gallon, & a gallon & a half. ( I'm guessing about 1.4 gallons.) I dry hopped with two ounces of casade this past Wednesday. I used a simple muslin bag, & weighted it down with some marbles. However, a lot of hop debris still got into the beer....& Into the bottling bucket as well. I lost about two bottles because there was to much hop debris at the bottom of the bucket. Is there a better way to dry hop instead of using a muslin bag? I was thinking maybe next time I should double bag the hops. Any tips are greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Click to expand...
The best thing I found is to dry hop however you see fit, it really doesn't matter.

I use half barrel conical fermenters and just drop hops in the top.

I do this at a cold temperature.

And then cold crash it below 40 for at least 2 weeks and that should cause any particulate to drop out.

If you can bottle or keg your beer without disturbing the vessel, you'll end up with a very clean and clear beer without the need for finding agents.
 
Cold crashing sounds like a good idea. However, I don't have any room in the fridge to put the fermenter. Plus I have to auto siphon, so I would have to move the fermenter to the kitchen counter. So maybe using a finning would be better. This is another reason why I've been thinking about getting a conical.
 
ReaperOnefour said:
Cold crashing sounds like a good idea. However, I don't have any room in the fridge to put the fermenter. Plus I have to auto siphon, so I would have to move the fermenter to the kitchen counter. So maybe using a finning would be better. This is another reason why I've been thinking about getting a conical.
Click to expand...
A few conicals with a 20°f glycol setup has drastically changed my beer for the better!
IMG_20171213_115709.jpg



Also pressurized transfers to kegs are amazing!
 
That's an awesome setup. That is really cool. When I first started homebrewing I had the brew demon 3 gallon conical. It was pretty cool. Now I'm looking at getting the SS brewtech mini brew bucket. My wife was gonna get it for me as a Xmas gift, but due to some unexpected home repairs, that fell by the wayside. Im really thinking about buying it with my tax return.
 
ReaperOnefour said:
That's an awesome setup. That is really cool. When I first started homebrewing I had the brew demon 3 gallon conical. It was pretty cool. Now I'm looking at getting the SS brewtech mini brew bucket. My wife was gonna get it for me as a Xmas gift, but due to some unexpected home repairs, that fell by the wayside. Im really thinking about buying it with my tax return.
Click to expand...
Just make sure you can control the temp.
It makes a huge difference!
 
I like the cooling system that they have too. I think it's like $200 & something. Summer time is coming up soon. It can get pretty hot out here in Northern Cailfornia.
 
ReaperOnefour said:
I like the cooling system that they have too. I think it's like $200 & something. Summer time is coming up soon. It can get pretty hot out here in Northern Cailfornia.
Click to expand...
Oh yes it can.
I'm about 30 minutes north of Sacramento and it gets into the triple digits often.
 
I have family out in Sacramento. I hated going over in the summer to visit them when I was a kid, because of the heat. I'm in San Jose, it doesn't get as hot as it does in Sacramento....but summer time gets pretty bad. I don't like to brew during the summer because Its very difficult to keep the fermenter cool.
 
Maybe it’s me, but isn’t 2 ounces of hops a lot for a 1 gallon batch? Even when that settles, it’s a bunch of hop debris. If you move the fermenter at all it’ll get stirred up.

As for the brew bucket, I bought one after Christmas and love it so far. With that, you won’t have to disturb the beer at all. Transfer in place.
 
Yeah, I'm beginning to think that 2 ounces was to much too. The last time I made this red ale I dry hopped with one ounce, & it wasn't where I wanted it to be. So that's why I dry hopped with 2 ounces this time.
 
I dump the hop pellets into the beer loose and use a 1 gallon nylon paint strainer bag from Home Depot and a rubber band / cable tie. I put the intake end of the autosiphon into the strainer bag and secure it with the rubber band. This works very well as a filter medium for keeping hop matter out of the siphon. Paint strainer bag could also be fixed to the exhaust end of the siphon tube as well. I prefer the intake end but either way works.

2 oz of dry hops for a 1.5 gallon batch..... I like where your head is at!
 
I have 3 one gallon and 2 five gallon paint strainer bags I keep around the brewery because they are extremely useful for things like this. They make great filtering mediums and REUSABLE hop / other ingredient sacks.

I make small batch fruit / "country" wine batches as well and the larger paint strainer bags are perfect for mashing fruits (physically squishing them, not like brewing grains) to extract the juices while keeping the pulp / seeds contained for easy removal.
 
That's a good idea. I think maybe I'll go get some of those paint strainers this Saturday. There's a home Depot down the street from my house.
 
Any time I'm racking into kegs, I do as FlyBoyKnight does and zip tie a paint bag (both sanitized!) On the intake end of the auto siphon. I also cold crash for good measure.
 
These are all great ideas fellas. Thanks. That & getting a conical I think will help me a lot with getting a much clearer, clearer beer.
 

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