San_Diego_Matt
Well-Known Member
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 theres nothing to weight the hop bag down its just going to float on top and he wont 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 wouldnt 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
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 theres nothing to weight the hop bag down its just going to float on top and he wont 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 wouldnt 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