First time Dry Hopping Pellets and not using a secondary

[MagicMatt]

Hello All!

I've currently got an American Wheat that I brewed last Sunday (10/26) using Wyeast 1010 (American Wheat) yeast.

Until this point (~5 AG batches) I've always used a secondary. I know that most of you don't bother with them, and I've decided to try out that methodology on this batch. The main reason I use secondaries is to get the beer off of the yeast as soon as fermentation is done to avoid off flavors and improve clarity, but the main advantage I see for avoiding a secondary is reducing the added risk of infection or oxidation. With this currently batch being a Wheat, I figured that whatever extra "lack of clarity" I get from not using a secondary would be welcomed.

Also, I plan on dry hopping this batch with about 1.25 oz of pellet hops (El Dorado). I've only dry-hopped with cones before, so this is a new space for me.


So here are 2 questions:

1) Once FG is reached, should I crash the primary to get the yeast and krausen to fall out, and then let the temp rise back up before dry-hopping?

2) Dry hop the pellets in a bag (muslin, nylon, stockings, etc) or no?


#1 Expanded: The primary has been going on for 8 days now @ 66*F, and still getting about 2 bubbles a minute in the blow off. I plan to take a gravity reading tonight or tomorrow, but there is still a good bit of krausen on the top. Assuming the gravity has reached FG, should I just pitch the hops on top of the krausen or should I cold-crash to get as much yest/etc to fall out (and then let rise to 66*F again) before tossing in the hops?

#2 Expanded: I've heard most people say just toss in the pellets, but I just can't see all of that hop material settling out enough to not get any in the keg when transferring. But on the other hand, I've heard how frustrating it can be to get a swollen hop bag out of the carboy. So I'm not sure where to go with this.

Thanks!

 

[feinbera]

To partially address #2, cold crashing after your dry-hop (which you should do around room-temp) should send the vast majority of the hop gunk to the bottom. Throw a small, very fine nylon mesh bag on one end or the other of your siphon to catch the rest (throwing it on the keg end may risk greater aeration, but throwing it on the carboy end may risk clogging... it's a trade-off).

You do still have the problem that a lot of the dry hops will get buried in the trub from primary fermentation, though... in this case, racking to secondary might be worth your while, especially if you've got a kegging setup and can purge that second carboy before you rack.

 

[paperairplane]

To be concise:
1. Nope
2. Nope

I only secondary if I am adding oak or something like that. Never ever for regular beers.

I dry hop with pellets all the time - I have never done anything other than chuck them straight in the fermenter.

I do this for pale ales and keg my beer and my beers are crystal clear. If you are really concerned, cold crash before you rack to keg. If you are really really concerned, add a teaspoon of bloomed gelatin when you rack to keg.

I usually ferment for 3 weeks, dry hop for the 4th week, cold crash overnight and keg. I rarely use whirfloc or irish moss. I use S05 for most beers.

 

[JimRausch]

Since I stopped using a secondary(most of the time), when I dry hop I add the pellets 1 week before I plan on bottling. Then 3 days before I cold crash and add gelatin. It settles out the hop particles well. The one time I tried to filter through a bag at bottling time, it didn't work well for me- inconsistent carbonation and I didn't get a good filtering job anyways. But that's just my personal one-time experience. Plenty of people have posted success doing what feinbara mentioned.

 

[Calichusetts]

I used a secondary for the first time in about a year last night. Just did not like the results of primary only. I never get the pellets to drop out the way others do and found raking a mess.

Because I bag them, I found that the bag would hit the bottom and stir up trub and yeast, making it as cloudy as fermentation and giving it a distinct yeasty/trub flavor that took weeks to age out.

Do whatever works for you...I'll see how the secondary goes this time, but I am pretty sure I am switching back to the use of a secondary

 

[Hello]

I have dry hopped in primary only so far. I haven't had much of an issue racking and or anything like that. The key is to be very careful not to disturb the trub and such. Secondary would definitely make life a bit easier I suppose. I just don't do it.