Dry hopping sediment in secondary

[turfguy1969]

I followed a recipe that required dry hopping 1/2 oz of "cascade"pellets in the secondary. I did it and when I transferred to the bottling bucket some of the hops followed the racking tube. I stirred in my priming DME which I boiled for 5 minutes. When I sampled the beer left over, it was horribly over bittered for my taste. Will this beer mellow out? will it settle out? Does it need to sit in the bottle longer than normal?

 

[david_42]

When you say left over ale, do you mean in the secondary or in the priming bucket? In either case, using pellets to dryhop there will be a lot of bittering in the dregs. The bottles should be fine, but I would drink the ones that came "off the top" first.

 

[Truble]

From what I have read and experienced, hop will mellow with time.

 

[turfguy1969]

Thanks! I was thinking the worst! I sampled what i poured out of the bottom of the bottling bucket which had a TON of sediment left over.

 

[mbreen01]

I've found that hop pellets tend to break down into a lot of slough. What I've tried with dry hopping was to use whole hops--they impart more aroma/flavor (if they are fresh) and are easier to strain. If your recipe called specifically for hop pellets, you could increase the addition of hops by 10% and use whole leaf. And if you thought that the beer tasted too bitter for your tongue, try to fight the urge to sample early and let your bottles condition for at least 2-3 weeks. It seems that everything mellows with time...

Marc.