Fermentation and Dry Hopping Question

[pdm1982]

I have a noob question here. I realise that I've made a few mistakes on how I'm fermenting my beer and what I want to know is what's the best course of action moving forward.

I've got a IIPA in my primary right now. It's been in there 12 days. Due to not having a free carboy, on day 9 I decided it would be ok to throw 3oz of dry hops in the primary and just keep it in there for the rest of the time. I haven't taken any SG readings. On day 9 I had thought the fermentation was slowing but here we are on day 12 and the damn thing is still bubbling away. So now (after some reading) I've learned that I've made a few mistakes: dry hopping in primary with a IIPA and doing so while it was still fermenting.

What are my options here? I still feel like it will turn out to be a decent beer but I would like to know if I'd still be better off by racking it to secondary and possibly dry hopping again. Or have I done enough? I could try sitting on my hands for a change...

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Jayhem]

You can leave dry hops in as long as 10-12 days without causing problems but any longer you might start getting "grassy" flavors from the leaves.

When I dry hop my beers I always get 2-5 more days of bubbling from the airlock caused by the dry hop. Just take a gravity reading after 7 days of dry hop and again at 10 and if it hasn't changed you can bottle!

 

[pdm1982]

I see. So you usually dry hop in the primary? I've never attempted it before this but I did some reading after the fact that has me somewhat concerned I'm not going to get much from the dry hops due to the yeast stealing the oils. That's why I wasn't sure how to proceed.

 

[thegreatmaibockaddict]

I have a noob question here. I realise that I've made a few mistakes on how I'm fermenting my beer and what I want to know is what's the best course of action moving forward.

I've got a IIPA in my primary right now. It's been in there 12 days. Due to not having a free carboy, on day 9 I decided it would be ok to throw 3oz of dry hops in the primary and just keep it in there for the rest of the time. I haven't taken any SG readings. On day 9 I had thought the fermentation was slowing but here we are on day 12 and the damn thing is still bubbling away. So now (after some reading) I've learned that I've made a few mistakes: dry hopping in primary with a IIPA and doing so while it was still fermenting.

What are my options here? I still feel like it will turn out to be a decent beer but I would like to know if I'd still be better off by racking it to secondary and possibly dry hopping again. Or have I done enough? I could try sitting on my hands for a change...

Any advice is appreciated.

First and foremost, adding hops to an already fermenting beer defeats the purpose of dry hopping. Yeast will lessen the hop aromas (and flavors) of your beer during the fermentation process. So yes, you noted it was a mistake to add into the primary correctly. Secondly, yes it is a good idea to add more hops to the secondary. If you are bottling, there will also be a reduction in the hop character after fermentation in the bottle. So, it is also a good idea, after boiling your priming sugar (malt extract works best!) turn off the flame, and add a couple of ounces of hops to the priming sugar and let it steep for 10 minutes. Pour into the bottling bucket through a strainer. It does kick up the hop aromas and flavors a bit!

As a word of note (and caution), it has been advised to me by a pro brewer that sanitizing your hops prior to adding is a good precaution as there are some bacterial strains that can co-exist with hops (believe me I know!). Now this may not apply to all the hops you buy, it may certainly apply to home grown hops, depending on the method that the hops were grown (manure as fertilizer, oh the horror!). You do not need to boil the hops, bit just make a 170F hop tea and hold for 10 minutes.

 

[pdm1982]

Thanks that's good info. I hadn't considered adding hops at bottling time. I might have to run down to the LHBS and pick up a few more ounces of hops so I can throw them in the secondary at least. I guess I'll plan to rack to secondary over the weekend, depending on SG readings. My initial dry hops were 1.5oz Citra and 1.5oz Simcoe. Not sure how much of either I should use now...

 

[Conman13]

If I was you, I wouldn't do anything. You're probably fine. You will still get some added hop aroma from the dry hops you added in primary even if it bubbled for a few days afterwards. Your dry hops have not been "for nothing". FWIW, I've never sanitized hops before in my entire 5 yr brewing career and never had an issue either.

Live and learn for next time.

 

[Jayhem]

I've never sanitized hops and I dry hop with home grown hops. Granted when I dry the hops in the dehydrator they probably get up to 130F or so for several hours.

 

[pdm1982]

Thanks for the input. I think this is what I will do. To learn my lesson and to know exactly what to expect from doing it this way I will allow my fermentation period to complete in the primary as scheduled. After that I will transfer to a secondary to help clear it up a bit before bottling. I will sample it at that time and determine if more hops are needed. That will prevent me from blindly adding more and potentially overdoing it.

 

[dcp27]

are you sure its still fermenting? dry hopping adds lots of nucleation sites so you may just be seeing CO2 being released from solution. my money is on this.

So yes, you noted it was a mistake to add into the primary correctly.

dry hopping in the primary is a very common technique, there's nothing wrong with doing so. as long as you wait til fermentation has ceased its the same as adding to a secondary with the added benefit of less oxidation/contamination risks

 

[LovesIPA]

OP, you didn't do a single thing wrong. After 9 days, fermentation is done. Bubbling does not indicate fermentation is still happening, it just means that CO2 was being released. Airlock activity really has no bearing on fermentation.

Dry hopping in the primary is a very common practice, as someone else noted. Many home brewers use this technique with success.

Also, it is not necessary to sanitize hops. They are anti-microbial by nature and don't harbor bacteria or yeast.

 

[unionrdr]

After 9 days,it could be done. More often as not,as you implied,it wasn't done fermenting yet. Mine most often take about 2 weeks to get down to a stable FG. Then 3-7 more days to settle out clear or slightly misty. Then I dry hop 7 days. So wait for it to clear,then try it & see how it smells. Then you'll know if you need to dry hop again. Generally,you wait till it clears to dry hop so the hop oils don't coat the yeast still in suspension & go to the bottom as they settle.

 

[thegreatmaibockaddict]

Also, it is not necessary to sanitize hops. They are anti-microbial by nature and don't harbor bacteria or yeast.

As I stated, you may want to risk your beers and not sanitize... but I already had one go bad and a pro brewer told me that there do exists bacteria that can live on hops (as I found out first hand) and he would never risk a batch to unsanitized hops. Everyone can decide what risks they want to take on their own, but make sure you know all the facts first. Hops can have bacteria. Maybe 99% of the time they are OK, but if you get some that do...

 

[unionrdr]

I've never had problems I could directly attribute to dry hopping. Like not cleaning the spigot,or lid seal,etc. But if it can happen,it seems to be pretty rare.

 

[dcp27]

As I stated, you may want to risk your beers and not sanitize... but I already had one go bad and a pro brewer told me that there do exists bacteria that can live on hops (as I found out first hand) and he would never risk a batch to unsanitized hops. Everyone can decide what risks they want to take on their own, but make sure you know all the facts first. Hops can have bacteria. Maybe 99% of the time they are OK, but if you get some that do...

more like 99.999999999999999%. sorry to hear about your lost batch, but i'd bet dollars to donuts that it wasn;t the hops that did it.

 

[LovesIPA]

As I stated, you may want to risk your beers and not sanitize... but I already had one go bad and a pro brewer told me that there do exists bacteria that can live on hops (as I found out first hand) and he would never risk a batch to unsanitized hops. Everyone can decide what risks they want to take on their own, but make sure you know all the facts first. Hops can have bacteria. Maybe 99% of the time they are OK, but if you get some that do...

So what about late additions? If I throw in a couple ounces at flame out and then quickly cool the wort, wouldn't I be susceptible to infection?

I'm not saying you're wrong, but I'm saying that everything I've read, both on HBT and in books, says that hops do not need to be sanitized.

 

[pdm1982]

So I was able to pull a sample over the weekend. I probably should have done that before starting a thread about my precieved concerns. The sample tasted and smelled awesome and I don't forsee any additonal hops needing to be added. Also, my SG was reading two points lower than what I was predicting so my beer is about 8.6% ABV. (OG=1.080, FG=1.015)

Thanks everyone for the advice. For future batches I'll probably still transfer to secondary and then dry hop but at least I know what to expect if I dry hop in the primary. The beer is far from being ruined and all is well.

 

[unionrdr]

Good to hear. Glad it turned out ok.

 

[cpferris]

Side note but somewhat related question. I have my second all grain batch (IPA) in my fermenter. I am currently on day 8. I added a rather large 4oz dry hop today. There was no krausen, everything had dropped.

It would be fairly easy for me to drain the yeast cake from my conical at this point. Given the larger volume of dry hop, do you think draining the yeast would be beneficial? I have read that yeast can rob some of the aromatics of the dry hop, but I don't know if it would be more prevalent or not given the 4oz volume or not.

Like I said, with the conical it would be super easy to do, but I don't want to add extra work if the effect of dry hopping on yeast would be negligible given a 5g batch.

I am trying an IPA recipe from a friend that was heavy on late addition hops and a heavy dryhop, so it should be interesting to see how this turns out.

 

[pdm1982]

From what I gathered from my beer is that 3oz dry hop on a 5.5 gallon batch still came through ok. I had crazy yeast in my fermenter. The krausen went up the blow off tube; the whole deal. It was caked on the sides of my carboy all the way up to the top.

I brewed a IIPA with a lot of late additions so it may be that the aroma I'm getting is more from those additions rather than the dry hop. Either way I thought the small sample I had came out fine.

I'm not sure what all would have to be done with your setup but if I could go back in time I would have probably transfered off my yeast cake just for the sake of peace of mind.

 

[unionrdr]

In my experiences,it's not the yeast cake effecting the dry hop. It's the yeast still in suspension that does. Hence why those of us that dry hop in primary let it settle out clear or slightly misty first.