Dry hops causing bubbles in AirLock Why?

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Burndog

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I read in an advanced Dry Hopping article that hops don't have sugars. So why does the bubbler start back up once I dry hop?

It's not related to fermentation I believe, but seems one could think that further fermentation is occurring by the bubbles.

Just curious, anyone know why?
 
There's CO2 in solution, the hops provide a place for the CO2 to nucleate and form bubbles which float to the surface and escape.
 
There's CO2 in solution, the hops provide a place for the CO2 to nucleate and form bubbles which float to the surface and escape.

Pour a glass of beer, then shake some salt into it and it will foam up for the same reason, nucleation points.
 
Twofold.

Principle reason is nucleation as said above. The hop particles drive dissolved residual CO2 out of solution. In a closed off conical I'll actually see the PSI slightly rise after dry hopping (falling again after going back to equilibrium).

Second, more recent research is showing some hops can restart fermentation. Had this happen a lot when dry hopping with Cascade. Typically I'll dry hop 3-4 days with no gravity change, but with Cascade I give it a week, drop maybe 2 points, and do a forced VDK test to make sure there's no precursors hiding (otherwise have had it cause a diacetyl problem down the road).
 
So, if I may revive this older thread and ask another question with regard these bubbles. Should dry hopping affect the amount of priming sugar I used to carbonate bottles? Does dry hopping affect how my beer eventually carbonates?

If dry hopping somehow triggers fermentation to restart, and gravity to drop a few more points, then is it realistic to expect over carbonation to occur in a bottle, if I bottle too soon?

I just threw half ounce of citra into an IPA, and the thing hasn't stopped farting. My gravity has been steady at 1.010 for about 5 days. Guess I can take some readings before I Package.
 
Personally I would not worry about the additional carbonation from dry hopping unless you are dry hopping at an insane rate like these triple or quadruple dry hopped beers.
 
It does seem to be worse with higher hopping rates, but even in modest dry hops I've seen it.

What's happening, enzymes present in the hops themselves start breaking down unfermentable sugars into fermentable ones, which the yeast then start to ferment.

There's a couple ways around this. One is to make sure there's no way for the yeast to work. Getting rid of the yeast, dry hopping cold. Ideally complete removal of yeast via filter or centrifuge. This is impossible with bottle conditioning.

The other is dry hopping sooner, before fermentation is over, so that still active yeast can metabolize any hop creep effects quickly.

The latter is far less predictable than the former.

But there are a whole bunch of factors at play. Trying to bank on it to carb is a bad plan. I'd sooner ignore it and accept the risk of overcarbonation.
 

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