Dry hopping techniques??

[Asell]

I have only experienced dry hopping once before and it was quite the traumatic experience. A black IPA blew the top right off the 5 gallon car boy (wish I knew about blow off tubes at the time) when I added the hops to the secondary. Does anyone have suggestions on their experiences with dry hopping?

 

[BanginBanjo]

If you dry hop in secondary or after the beer has finished fermentation, you shouldn't experience any blowoff issues. I just dry hop in primary, typically after allowing 1 week for fermentation. I also make yeast starters so fermentation is typically over after 5-6 days.

I would recommend adding them after fermentation is completed, which you can verify with a hydrometer, and then leaving them in for 7-10 days before bottling/kegging.

 

[FreddyMar3]

That is odd. Hops really shouldn't have much affect on the fermentation. One thing I can recommend against is using whole leaf hops loose in a carboy. I dry hopped 2oz worth in my Pale Ale and nearly had an aneurysm on Saturday trying to get them out of the carboy after bottling. So frustrating. I'm sure others will disagree but I just don't see a feasible way of using whole hops in a carboy.

So as long as you are using pellets in secondary and pitching sufficient yeast (as the last poster said), you shouldn't have that problem again.