For those of you that dry hop with hop bags...?

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San_Diego_Matt

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I haven't posted much here because, up until recently, I hadn't yet brewed anything, but I currently have my first batch in secondary (a Bells 2 Hearted Ale clone) and the recipe calls for a 1 oz centennial dry hop.

I've read a bit about dry hopping and I know some, maybe most, of you don't bother with a hop bag, but I'm going to use one this time.

I brewed my first batch with an experienced buddy, but he doesn't have a lot of dry hopping experience either. We were over at his place last night when he transferred from primary to secondary and he's going to dry hop in a hop bag and he has some marbles that he sanitized that he's going to also put in the hop bad to help weigh it down. His fear is that if there’s nothing to weight the hop bag down it’s just going to float on top and he won’t get the same results he would if the hops were submerged. His idea was to put the marbles in the bottom of the bag and then tie a knot to keep the marbles separate from the hops (he's using whole flower hops) and then put the hops in and then tied another knot in the top of the bag. This will allow the marbles to sit on the bottom of the carboy and let the hops float up a bit off the bottom, but still be completely submerged. He had some trouble stuffing the bag into the carboy though because he didn't leave enough space/slack in the marbles section of the bag to allow him to form the marbles into a shape that was easier to stuff into the carboy. His marbles were bunched up in a tight ball and they barely fit through the neck.

I haven't dry hopped my batch yet, but I was thinking that if I could use something other than a knot in the hop bag to keep the marbles separate from the hops, I'd have some more bag to use and wouldn’t have the problem he's going to have...which is that he's probably going to have to tear his bag open to get it out.

So, could I use a zip tie to pinch off the bag and keep the marbles separate from the hops or could I boil a few feet of thread and use that to tie the bag off instead of having to tie a knot in it? Zip ties are nice hard plastic, but I'm not sure they're food grade and might create some off flavors.

Does any of this make sense? Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

Matt
 
You could use a big bag. This would solve the problem of space for the marbles and allow the hops to flow freely throughout, diffusing more aromas and flavors.
 
The bag I have is pretty big and I'm trying to not have to go buy an even bigger one.

I think the bag I have is 8 x 16. I'm just concerned because it's the same size bag my buddy used and he's now in the unfortunate position of probably having to tear it to get it out.

is the thought of a zip tie just crazy?
 
I’ve tried marbles in the bag and the biggest problem was getting the bag out of the carboy after it’s finished. The big wad won’t come through the neck. What I do now is just weight the bag with a piece of stainless steel. I use a piece of ¾ inch round about 1 ½ inch long with a small hole drilled across the diameter at one end. The muslin bags that I use always have extra string where the bottoms are stitched. I thread this string through the hole in the stainless and tie it. When it’s time to remove the sack the stainless leads the way out of the neck of the carboy and gives something to pull the rest of the sack out with.

Edit (added picture)

hop bag.jpg
 
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