dry hopping without a hop bag

[michael.berta]

Has anyone every dry hopped leaf hops without a hop bag? I'm basically thinking about just throwing them into a secondary fermenter. With they sink if crash cooling? Or do they stay floating to cause a nightmare when racking. I figured I'd ask before trying in case people have done it before and it's an epic fail....

 

[HomebrewJeff]

Leaf hops will float and stay that way. I think they also absorb a lot more liquid than pellets. With pellets you can crash cool them and they do drop out and you are able to get more beer out of the ferementer.

I've found that with leaf hops they expand as they absorb the beer, they stay at the top of the liquid level and make siphoning difficult when you get near the bottom as they clog the tubing (when you aren't using a bag). They are also a pain to get out of the carboy, and don't like just putting them down the drain.

Personally I would stick to pellet hops when dryhopping.

edit: Leaf hops do look cooler in a carboy though, kind of like a green seaweed monster floating at the top.

 

[Yooper]

l"ll be kegging a dryhopped AAA today. It's not really a pain. The leaf hops float. You keep your racking cane between the hops and the trub. As the beer lowers, eventually the hops meet the trub. That's when you stop. I've done this at least 50 times and it's not a problem.

Some people put a sanitized hops bag over the bottom of the racking cane, to not suck up hops. I found that was more trouble than not using one, though.

 

[blackwaterbrewer]

i dry hopped with my homegrown hops last year and it was indeed cool looking in the carboy! it wasn't too much of a pain racking them. worth the hassle to see those little cones floating around!

 

[samc]

I have done it but prefer to put the hops in a LARGE paint strainer bag with a shot glass or some other weights. I think it gives you easier siphoning & cleaning.

Don't recommend doing that in a carboy or similar thin necked container as getting the bag out is painful. I use a conical for that or you could use a bucket.

 

[ifishsum]

They have always stayed floating for me, and I have found them much less likely to clog the siphon than the pellet sludge. I just use the tip on the siphon, for the most part they are too big to get through it. I've never used a bag for dry hopping whole leaf hops, but if I ever use pellets again I certainly would.

 

[r2eng]

I put a shot glass in a hop bag, and always use whole hops. Although, I dry hop in a keg.

The weight keeps the bag submerged.

 

[PUNKYBREWER]

I use a bucket for secondary and i use pellets almost everytime and i notice that it does make a sluidge on the bottom , i have just learned to keep off the traub and the sludge , as i get closer to the bottom i tip the bucket slowly and i have not had a nasty mess yet