Dry hopping with lots of hops

[hilljack13]

I am just about ready to start the dry hop on my Pliny clone. The first round calls for 6oz. I have one of those mesh things (forget what they are called) but I don't think it is going to fit 6oz of hops once saturated. It measures 2.75"x7". I also have 3 more oz after 14 days of round one. Should I just dump in the hops without the mesh container? I am trying to keep trub to minimum. I barely got 5.5gal in the FV.

Also, I do use a FLOtit 2.0 so I might be overthinking this since I have not had any issues while using it. Or is it a bad idea to leave hops on the beer during serving?

Thanks!

 

[user 246304]

I am just about ready to start the dry hop on my Pliny clone. The first round calls for 6oz. I have one of those mesh things (forget what they are called) but I don't think it is going to fit 6oz of hops once saturated. It measures 2.75"x7". I also have 3 more oz after 14 days of round one. Should I just dump in the hops without the mesh container? I am trying to keep trub to minimum. I barely got 5.5gal in the FV.

Also, I do use a FLOtit 2.0 so I might be overthinking this since I have not had any issues while using it. Or is it a bad idea to leave hops on the beer during serving?

Thanks!

I presume these are pellets? I find cold crashing works wonders, even on heavy dry hopping. My typical is to ramp down to 50F for dry hopping x 3 days (if one round of dry hopping), then crash for 2 days. As clear as fined beer for me, usually.

Edit: sorry, the cooldown is not when I dry hop, I've forgotten. I just dry hop at fermentation temps, then crash.

 

[jerrylotto]

Leaving the hops on your beer during serving may work but it will change character over time and never mellow with age.

 

[worlddivides]

When I dry hop multiple different kinds of hops, I put each one in a different mesh bag, but they usually don't add up to anywhere near that much. 6 ounces is a ton of hops for a 5/5.5 gallon batch. I'd put them in at least two separate mesh bags, maybe three. Those mesh bags are cheap. Like $1.50 or something each and you can reuse them tons of times, so if you don't have enough for the 3 more ounces if you split the 6 ounces across 2-3 bags, I'd recommend just using the bags you have now and then buying some more before the next addition.

I can't comment on just dumping them in since I've done that for plenty of adjuncts, but I've never done that for hops. I like to keep them in bags so they're easier to remove.

 

[PCABrewing]

I do the mesh bags for dry hop. Easy to remove and I think it allows for better circulation of the good stuff.
I have a mesh cylinder but I doubt it would work as well with a 6oz load, probably be pretty packed once they expand. Now that I think about it, when I used whole hops that cylinder would not have held much more than two oz.

 

[PCABrewing]

Has anybody tried the torpedo (randalizer) approach but circulated back into the fermenter VS into bottles/keg/serving glass?
You'd have to add more time to allow the batch to settle out but it might extract the aroma and flavor better.
Of course that would require a bunch of pump runtime.

 

[hilljack13]

maybe I can use my brew bag that I use for my 1 gal batches? It fits a 2 gal igloo cooler. I think the mesh is 200 micron. Would have to tie up the top.

Or just get this from Amazon. Pretty cheap and at least one reviewer used it to dry hop.

EDIT: I did the Amazon order. will arrive Monday. Just in time.

 

[hilljack13]

Started dry hopping this afternoon. ABV came out 10.2%. Had a taste...this thing is gonna be great!