IPA Dry Hopping Techniques (newbie question)

[ErkenneDichSelbst]

I'm currently making my first IPA and I have a couple of questions about dry hopping. It's been in the primary (plastic bucket) for two weeks today and I was getting ready to rack to the secondary (glass carboy) and dry hop today when I realized that I had seriously over looked exactly how I was going to make it work (which believe it or not is pretty uncharacteristic for me, I'm usually overly methodical). I have a nylon mesh bag filled with two oz. of whole leaf hops when I realize that there's no way it will fit through the mouth of the carboy to rack on top of. I tried putting the bag into the carboy and then stuffing the hops in but there's so little room to work and it's a lot of hops, I tried rolling the bag really tightly and stuffing it in but couldn't get it narrow enough. So...I ended up adding the bag to the primary, and that's where I am at currently.

My questions are, is there any way I haven't thought of to get two oz. of whole leaf hops in a mesh bag fed through the neck of the carboy, do people usually use pellets or a tool I'm not familiar with? rack into another plastic bucket for secondary to accommodate dry hopping? Will 14 days fermenting and then seven dry hopping in the primary result in a less than ideal tasting IPA? Is there some other method that I'm totally oblivious to? I racked my brain trying to figure out how to get that nylon bag into the glass carboy and I'm pretty sure it isn't happening...

My wife said she can sew a nylon bag with draw-string identical to the one I bought at my local shop about an inch and a half wide and a foot or more long that I feel I could use in the future. It seems it would allow me to snake the bag with two ounces or more all the way down to the bottom of the carboy, are there any issues with how much liquid would be in contact with the hops if I tried this? does it sound worthwhile?

I know that's a tad long for a first post and any and all feedback is appreciated. I'm located in Kingwood, TX. right outside of Houston, I've got a couple batches of simple ales under my belt, but am completely new to dry hopping. My gravity readings have the IPA at 8.2% ABV and it smells absolutely ridiculous, just not sure what I should do about secondary/dry hopping, so as it stands I'll rack to the carboy to bottle out of in a week after 14 days in the primary with another seven in the primary dry-hopping unless I pick up some other ideas, thoughts?

I'm happy to provide more info (as if that wasn't a little much) to get help.

Thanks in advance,

JG

 

[Homebrewtastic]

Leave it in the primary. It's fine.

If you really want to secondary (even though in this case it's not really needed) try dry hopping with pellet hops. They're easier to fit through the neck of the carboy.

 

[Homebrewtastic]

Also seven days is plenty of time for dry hopping.

 

[ErkenneDichSelbst]

I briefly considered putting the hops in the carboy directly but like you said I don't want any sediment in the bottles.

So no one dry hops with whole hops in a mesh bag in the secondary if it's a carboy? Does that mean anyone dry hopping with that much hops uses a plastic bucket secondary? Do I need to worry about pushing the bag down in the beer to keep it submerged?

Lastly, does anyone have good on-line resources for dry hopping techniques? Thanks again.

 

[bruin_ale]

I dryhop in my kegs.. I know this doesn't help you, but just so you have another perspective that we're not all dry hopping in plastic buckets.

 

[Hex]

Have you seen this?

I don't use above, just thought you might want to try one. Personally, I don't secondary until after 21 days in primary. For dry hopping, I rack to a secondary carboy, and with my funnel and a stick, jam ounces of whole leaf hops directly into the second carboy, racking to bottling bucket usually takes care of any debris.

 

[dcp27]

I have dry hopped that much in a carboy with whole hops in a bag, but i'll never do it again. It was a wicked PITA to get the hops in and out. you basically just need to stretch it wicked thin and snake it in. its just easier to dry hop in the bucket and its no worse doing so as long as you give the yeast enough time to floc out a bit

 

[Bartman]

I usually wait till fermentation is complete in the primary. Then I take my dry hops, whether whole or pellets, and place them in a nylon grain bag with a shot glass all sanitzed and drop in the primary. 7 days later all done. No more plugged siphon or hop bits in my beer. hope that helps

 

[ErkenneDichSelbst]

Thanks again, I think ultimately dry hopping into a keg is ideal, and where I'm headed. I've got a lot of useful info by searching threads but some of them go back to '05, didn't know about any new ideas. Still think I'm going to take my wife up on sewing me a nylon back that's the length of the carboy and about the same diameter as the opening, didn't think about weighing it down with a shot glass but that's a good idea.

 

[buzzkill]

the only thing to think about is the hops will swell up. so if you got them in a bag in a carboy. the bag of hops swells up bigger than the neck of the carboy. but you can still pull them out. a glass carboy has a small neck.

make sure the bag is big and loose so they can swell.