Dry Hopping with Pellets

[TylerPrime]

Hey All!

I'll be dry hopping my first brew in just a few more days. I'll be using pellets, so I wanted to know if the pellets will dissolve through a mesh bag? Or will they be contained?

Thanks!

 

[C-Rider]

Hey All!

I'll be dry hopping my first brew in just a few more days. I'll be using pellets, so I wanted to know if the pellets will dissolve through a mesh bag? Or will they be contained?

Thanks!

Should be contained, but the flavor should mix w/the beer.

 

[PADave]

I your bag is fine enough, they'll stay contained. Also make sure your bag is big enough, you'll be surprised how big they get. Or you can forget the bag and just throw the pellets into the fermenter.

 

[Jtk78]

All of my dry hopping has been in a fine mesh bag with good results. I put sanitized marbles in the bag to help weigh it down. I will echo Dave's comment above about the expansion. First time I dry hopped I tried putting them in stainless steel tea balls and it was a mistake because the hops expanded and I ended up with dry hop matter in the balls.

 

[Nagorg]

I put them in 1G paint strainer bags from Lowes and weight the bag with stainless steel weights to keep the bag submerged. They do expand quite a bit as others have said.

That size bag might be a little large if you are doing 5G batches but you could cut it down if needed. These bags work great for dry hopping!

I've only ever skipped the bag when using leaf hops but even then I needed to strain my beer to keep hop material out. I've gone back to bags exclusively for this reason regardless of hop type.

 

[TylerPrime]

Thanks for the answers guys.

I have a fairly off-topic question:

When you bottle, do you just add in priming sugar or is it required to add in yeast as well? Is there enough residual yeast left in the beer when I add it into the bottles?

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Thanks for the answers guys.

I have a fairly off-topic question:

When you bottle, do you just add in priming sugar or is it required to add in yeast as well? Is there enough residual yeast left in the beer when I add it into the bottles?

Just the sugar and you'll be fine.

 

[PADave]

Plenty of yeast will be there when you bottle.

 

[Gadjobrinus]

Just for another point, I dry hop with pellets and I've never used a bag, but rather make a slurry, do a relatively quick dry hopping period, and crash cool, then transfer. I'm trying something new this time actually (going almost verbatim with what's been reported with what Black Sheep of Masham, England does - except they don't dry hop, and I will be), so we'll see. At any rate, with this regimen, fining at the same time, I always got very clear beer (I'm coming back after a long time away, but this was my prior experience).

On whether you should use yeast when priming, I'd think it's almost impossible for you not to have enough yeast to do the job. The only issue I could foresee would be a really extensive crash cool and/or cold conditioning period, followed by transfer. Even then, I'd think there'd be enough (though secondary carbonation would be longer). On the other hand, I know many actually prefer to use another yeast for bottle conditioning, anyway. One for the main fermentation, and perhaps another more attenuative, cleaner-profile strain.

I've never needed anything other than priming sugar, like everyone else is saying.