Dry Hopping with Herb Ball

[adromo]

Quick question for those out there that have used an herb ball to dry hop. I am on the fence about dry hopping a Bohemian Pilsener that is currently lagering. I originally planned on dry hopping this beer; however, my only experiences up to this point with dry hopping has been adding the hops directly to the secondary and letting them float freely. This usually results in a beer that is somewhat cloudy do to the hop particles. Since this is a Pilsener, obviously I want as clear of a beer as I can get. Thus, the reason I am on the fence about dry hopping this batch.

Will the using the herb ball alleviate this issue or is a somewhat cloudy beer always going to be the result of dry hopping?

input and suggestions are appreciated.

PS. If i do dry hop I was planning on using 1.5oz of Saaz pellets.

 

[BrokenDog]

The biggest problem I see is that the herb ball won't let the hops naturally expand, so I doubt you will get as much flavor and aroma out of them vs. just tossing them in there. You might try a grain bag with a lot of extra room, tied very loosely.
As far as the cloudiness goes I'm not totally sure, I've dry hopped a number of beers, but none of them were pilseners so I wasn't super concerned with clarity.

 

[rockfish42]

Two quick notes, I've heard it mentioned that Saaz throws a bit of grassiness when used for dry hopping and the herb ball should help just make sure you only pack it about half way full.

 

[ghpeel]

+1 on the herb ball not being the best choice. I've done it before and was very underwhelmed. I'd go with putting then in a 1-gal paint strainer or other mesh bag, adding a weight to the bag (glass or a clean rock or stainless steal) and then chucking the bag in.

 

[adromo]

Thanks for the assistance.

Due to time constraints, I ended up using the herb ball, but I will definitely pay attention to see if some of the issues suggested above arise.

I took a sample of the beer before adding the hops so I should be able to determine both the effectiveness of the herb ball and if the Saaz are adding a grassy flavor.

Worst case scenario I will know what NOT to do again, and if I don't get any aroma I could always add more hops in a mesh bag.

 

[jetmac]

If dry hopping is a hassle you should be able to get lots of aroma with late hop additions at 10 min according to Jamil's The Secret to Big Hop Aroma and Flavor