Hops up top???

[jlfindley74]

I brewed a Strong Russian Imperial Stout and added 1 oz hallertau and 1 oz saaz at the last 5 mins of boil. My plan was to come out with a hoppy Imperial Russian stout. My question is, as you can see in the pictures, my foam in the carboy rose all the way up and into the airlock and now all my hops are stuck up above the beer inside the carboy. I was thinking about sanitizing my hands and pulling the airlock out and turning the beer completely upside down and then back right side up,
Then return the airlock in place and send it back down to get those hops back down into my beer. Any thoughts on whether or not that's necessary?

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[Hammy71]

The hops were utilized in the boil. You basically have "trub". This is just yeast, hop material and other 'stuff'. Remove the airlock, clean, re-sanitize and return it. In the future you might want to try setting up a blow off of some sort. This can be as simple as sticking a large piece of tubing that fits snug into the top of your carboy, and the other end into a small bucket of sanitizer. Acts as a giant airlock and allows material to be expelled with no mess. No worries, happens every couple of brews.

 

[jlfindley74]

If all of what the hops have to give is utilized in the boil, then would it be safe to say that in the future I should strain off all my hops when pouring into my carboy from my brew pot?

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[Hammy71]

Some people do, some don't bother. I have a whirlpool on my kettle and it keeps a lot of the hop material in the kettle and out of my carboys. But, it isn't necessary.

 

[Calder]

The hops are done in the boil and add nothing more.

I strain going into the fermenter. It is extra work, but I also harvest yeast from most of my beers, so this makes it cleaner.

 

[jlfindley74]

Would it be a bad idea to strain that beer right now into another fermentation vessel or just leave it be until bottling?

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[kombat]

What the heck are hops doing in your primary fermenter? I hope you like the flavour of grass.

Most people screen out hops when transferring from the boil kettle to the primary fermenter. This can be done by either employing an actual screen on the outlet port (such as the HopStopper), containing the hops some sort of resevoir or sack during the boil, or whirlpooling to get them to gather in the middle, then siphoning the wort around them. But in general, you don't want to transfer the hops into the fermenter. You risk vegetal flavours when hops are in contact with beer/wort for extended periods.

 

[jlfindley74]

So then, should I transfer that beer into a seperate fermentation vessel now and strain them off durring the transfer? Or just let it be? It was brewed and went into primary vessel on the 5th.

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[BeerLoverHere]

The hops were utilized in the boil. You basically have "trub". This is just yeast, hop material and other 'stuff'. Remove the airlock, clean, re-sanitize and return it. In the future you might want to try setting up a blow off of some sort. This can be as simple as sticking a large piece of tubing that fits snug into the top of your carboy, and the other end into a small bucket of sanitizer. Acts as a giant airlock and allows material to be expelled with no mess. No worries, happens every couple of brews.

I recommend you do what Hammy71 said. I made a heavy stout a few weeks ago, pitched lots of yeast, and all of a sudden my fermentation temps were 70 degrees in a 64 degree room! I had a small mess one morning when I woke up as all the trub (yeast and hops) were smashed up into my airlock. I cleaned and re-sanitized everything and was good to go; I then iced mine down to low 60s to get a slower and cleaner fermentation.

As far as filtering out hops when transferring from my boil to my fermenting vessel, I don't filter out any hops. You should be fine. It won't taste like grass unless you used lots of hops and even dry hopped and left everything on the yeast cake for a very long time . I think you should be okay, but others may disagree. If you were making a cream ale, perhaps filter out the hops as it would be more noticeable in a "plain" beer, but if you made your stout like most recipes call for, hops won't be too noticeable even if some vegetable/grass flavors get in there. If they do, they will be very subtle.

I would not transfer to another vessel/strain out the hops at this point. It is fermenting so let it do it's thing.

 

[Hammy71]

What the heck are hops doing in your primary fermenter? I hope you like the flavour of grass.

Most people screen out hops when transferring from the boil kettle to the primary fermenter. This can be done by either employing an actual screen on the outlet port (such as the HopStopper), containing the hops some sort of resevoir or sack during the boil, or whirlpooling to get them to gather in the middle, then siphoning the wort around them. But in general, you don't want to transfer the hops into the fermenter. You risk vegetal flavours when hops are in contact with beer/wort for extended periods.

Are you serious? If by 'extended time' you mean dry hopping for months, then I would agree. But just having hop material in your fermenter from the boil does not cause grassy flavors. I don't think the OP has a ton of hops in his fermenter, just some pellet residue. So what? A lot of people just dump their brews into the fermenter, break material and all.

 

[jlfindley74]

It was a standard imperial russian stout recipe. I added 1oz of hallertau and 1oz saaz at the 5 min mark beause I wanted a hoppy russian imperial stout. It shall sit, as is, until I bottle the beauty

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[kombat]

If by 'extended time' you mean dry hopping for months, then I would agree.

Credible brewing literature has documented vegetal flavours becoming evident after just 10 days of dry-hopping at room temperature. That's why the recommended "sweet-spot" for dry-hopping is 7-10 days.

But just having hop material in your fermenter from the boil does not cause grassy flavors.

That would be highly dependent on the recipe. If the brew included a charge of flameout hops and was chilled quickly, I think it's quite reasonable to compare that hop addition to a dry hop, as they'd undergo virtually no isomerization whatsoever. If they're subsequently transferred into the primary fermenter, then I think the same timeline as dry hopping would apply, which is to say one could expect a grassy, vegetal character to manifest just as primary fermentation is winding down.

A lot of people just dump their brews into the fermenter, break material and all.

A lot of people ferment at 75°F, are sloppy with sanitization, underpitch yeast, rush the beer into bottles too early, and a lot of other poor practices, too. What's your point? That lots of people make bad beer in many different ways?

 

[jlfindley74]

I certainly did not brew this beer with the intention of making a "bad beer". I'm still a novice home brewer and i am learning lessons, sometimes the hard way. I simply want to know right now, would it be worth the trouble to pour my beer out of that carboy and strain it into another fermentation vessel and keep those hops out. If it would be worth the trouble then I will do it. Of course in the end I want to come out with a good Russian Imperial Stout that has some hop flavorand aroma and not some crazy off flavors.

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[kombat]

No, I would not mess with it at this point.

You're probably fine with this beer. It's an Imperial Russian Stout, so the higher alcohol content and strong roasted malt flavours will mask any possible small vegetal flavours from the hops. Also, your hop schedule is pretty light anyway, so I don't really think there's any risk. Straining it now would risk infection and oxidation. I'm pretty confident it will turn out to be a delicious beer.

In the future, however, I'd suggest some sort of strategy for at least trying to leave some of the hops and trub behind in the boil kettle when transferring to the primary fermenter. It will minimize any of the aforementioned vegetal/grassy hop flavours, as well as contributing to a clearer final beer in the end, particularly for lighter beers where such off flavours might be more evident.

 

[BeerLoverHere]

Do NOT mess with it now; let it do its thing.

 

[BeerLoverHere]

As far as some other people's recommendation, as a beginning homebrewer there are more important things perhaps to worry about before straining out your hops in the fermenter. Right now, don't worry about it. I've never done it and have had great beers. If you were mass producing beer for a profit or trying to enter a very competitive competition, then perhaps you could do this as every minor detail will be scrutinized by beer experts. It won't hurt your beer if you do this in the future, but if you don't it won't make any noticeable difference in your homebrew right now.

With experience you (and your nose and palate) will learn little tid bits of info along the way that will help perfect your product.

 

[QuercusMax]

And just in case you aren't aware, under no circumstances should you ever transfer beer with anything other a siphon / tubing once you've pitched the yeast. Pouring already-fermented beer through a strainer will do a great job of oxidizing it, giving you 5 gallons of Russian Imperial Cardboard Stout.

The only time you ever want to introduce oxygen is immediately prior to pitching the yeast up until signs of fermentation are visible. Once fermentation has begun, oxygen is BAD, BAD, BAD.

Additionally, from a more practical perspective, pouring beer out of a carboy sounds dangerous, since there's a good chance it could slip and break in a zillion sharp pieces. (Yet another reason to use a siphon.)

 

[BeerLoverHere]

And just in case you aren't aware, under no circumstances should you ever transfer beer with anything other a siphon / tubing once you've pitched the yeast. Pouring already-fermented beer through a strainer will do a great job of oxidizing it, giving you 5 gallons of Russian Imperial Cardboard Stout.

The only time you ever want to introduce oxygen is immediately prior to pitching the yeast up until signs of fermentation are visible. Once fermentation has begun, oxygen is BAD, BAD, BAD.

Additionally, from a more practical perspective, pouring beer out of a carboy sounds dangerous, since there's a good chance it could slip and break in a zillion sharp pieces. (Yet another reason to use a siphon.)

YEP, what he said

 

[jlfindley74]

Thanks for all the help/advice. I'll let it be until its ready for bottling...

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[Hammy71]

That would be highly dependent on the recipe. If the brew included a charge of flameout hops and was chilled quickly, I think it's quite reasonable to compare that hop addition to a dry hop, as they'd undergo virtually no isomerization whatsoever. If they're subsequently transferred into the primary fermenter, then I think the same timeline as dry hopping would apply, which is to say one could expect a grassy, vegetal character to manifest just as primary fermentation is winding down.

Fermentation does nothing? I don't consider late hopping the same as dry hopping. Besides, like you said, depends on recipe. RIS more than likely has very little or no late addtions. However, I can't see how hops added into the kettle, tranfered to the fermeter and allowed to sit in the primary for 3 weeks before packaging.....is the same as three weeks dry hopping.

 

[Hammy71]

A lot of people ferment at 75°F, are sloppy with sanitization, underpitch yeast, rush the beer into bottles too early, and a lot of other poor practices, too. What's your point? That lots of people make bad beer in many different ways?

My point is, that many do not believe that dumping the contents of your kettle into the fermenter is in the same league as underpitching, and sloppy sanitizing. I've never had the experience of grassy beer from this, or heard of any other cases of this on here. Berating the OP and "hoping he likes grassy beer" isn't helpful. Yes, lots of people make BEER in many different ways. Just because it isn't how you or I might make it....doesn't mean it's going to be "bad".

 

[jlfindley74]

I did add late hops. I added 1oz of hallertau at 5 mins left and 1oz of saaz at 5 mins left.

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[Hammy71]

Still your ok (2oz really isn't much). Sorry your thread turned into something else. Leave it be. Let it go a few more weeks and you should be golden.

 

[jlfindley74]

It went into the carboy on the 5th. Im thinking I'll bottle in two weeks... ?? I took a og reading right before I put it in the carboy. And that opens up a whole nother question, is bottling after 2 weeks okay or do I really need to go off gravity readings to decide when it's time to bottle?

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[Hammy71]

Realistically, after 2 weeks fermentation should be done. But it is a best practice to do some gravity readings to make sure it is done. Bottles exploding in your basement or closet aren't worth it. Every brew is different, but a good rule of thumb is three weeks after you put the wort in the fermenter. It's not set in concrete, but a good start. It takes some time to find out what corners your system will allow you to cut.