Evil Dog IPA not stabilising and should I remove hop bags?

[IEpicDestiny]

Hi,

I am making an Evil Dog IPA Kit, it has been fermenting for 3 weeks now and my gravity still has not stabilised, the instructions say to add hop bags 1-2 days before bottling, I have added the hop tea bags 2 days ago because I assumed it would be ready by now but its not. Should I simply remove the hop teabags and continue checking gravity every 2 days? Or should I bottle now? (incase I read the gravity meter wrong).

I will be bottling in PET (plastic) bottles, so I should not need to worry about bottle bombs. So should I just bottle it all tonight? Or should I keep the hop tea bags in or take them out?

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

How are you measuring gravity? If you use a tilt or similair it could just be gunk that has been stuck to it coming off gradually.

 

[IEpicDestiny]

How are you measuring gravity? If you use a tilt or similair it could just be gunk that has been stuck to it coming off gradually.

Using a hydrometer. Possibly, thats why I'm not sure if I should bottle or not

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

Then I am not sure whats going on, what gravity are you at now and how rapidly is it dropping?

 

[IEpicDestiny]

Then I am not sure whats going on, what gravity are you at now and how rapidly is it dropping?

It was at 1.016 2 days ago and now its about 1.014. However it keeps changing when I take it in and out of the fermenter

 

[RM-MN]

Hi,

I am making an Evil Dog IPA Kit, it has been fermenting for 3 weeks now and my gravity still has not stabilised, the instructions say to add hop bags 1-2 days before bottling, I have added the hop tea bags 2 days ago because I assumed it would be ready by now but its not. Should I simply remove the hop teabags and continue checking gravity every 2 days? Or should I bottle now? (incase I read the gravity meter wrong).

I will be bottling in PET (plastic) bottles, so I should not need to worry about bottle bombs. So should I just bottle it all tonight? Or should I keep the hop tea bags in or take them out?

The instructions are making some wrong assumptions. They assume that every fermentation is the same when they obviously are not. Never bottle before fermentation has stopped, not even in plastic bottles as overcarbonated beer tends to foam.....a lot. It may explode out of the bottle when opened if sufficiently carbonated. Ceilings painted with beer are not pleasant to look at and even less pleasant to clean.

While it may only take 2 days for dry hopping (doubtful) it also does not hurt to go longer. Although some people report a grassy flavor from hops being left in the beer for more than a few days, I have never tasted that and I leave my dry hops in the fermenter for a week or even more if bottling day gets delayed. I have had to leave the hops in for 2 weeks without bad results.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

I have experimented a bit with dry hopping for many of my brittish ales, as it would be historically accurate, rather modest amounts though, 10-15g for about 20L in my fermenter.
But I just chuck them in with the yeast and leave them in for 10-14 days, haven't gotten any grassy flavours yet.

But I am starting to suspect OP might see some hop creep if the gravity started decreasing a bit after adding hops, leave it a few days then take 2 reading 48hr apart, it should have stabilised then.