Me bleedin' 'ops won't sink!

[Shambolic]

Before my most recent brew, I've always dry-hopped in the primary. By the time I was ready to rack to the secondary, virtually all the hops were sunk into the trub, or stuck up high on the side of the fermenter by the krausen. Either way, my beer in the secondary was nice and clear.

Recently though, I was told you get much better aroma if you dry-hop in the secondary. So I chucked about 15g (~1/2 oz.) of Goldings into the secondary and racked on top of that. That was ten days ago, and there is still a significant amount of hops floating on top of the brew. I want to bottle in four or five days, so this is no good.

What should I do?

I think I will buy one of those little stainless steel tea ball things to use from now on, but I don't want my bottle to have floaty hops crap in them this time around...

 

[RLinNH]

I use a nylon bag and Marbles. Immerse the nylon bag and marbles into water between 170-180 for 20 minutes to Sanitate them. Then add the marbles to the bag, hops, and then send them to the bottom of the Beer Bath.

 

[Janx]

Whole or pellets?

You definitely get better aroma if you dry hop in the secondary. The vigorous primary ferment scrubs away a lot of the more volatile hop compounds.

I just toss whole hops in. They stay on top but get soaked with liquid. They definitely impart a lot of aroma that way, but they don't sink much.

I like it that way because hops act as a barrier to oxygen and any bacteria. You can age a beer for a long time with a layer of hops on top.

As far as racking, I just use that little thingamabob that came with your racking cane that goes on the bottom and syphon away. You get most of the liquid and the hops kind of act like a grain bed filter but they don't clog. Works like a charm.

If you're dry hopping with pellets...well, there's the real problem

Cheers

 

[AllHoppedUp]

I think I will buy one of those little stainless steel tea ball things to use from now on . . .

If you figure out how to get that thing into your carboy, let me know. The only ones I've seen are about 3" in diameter.

 

[sheephrdr]

shambolic I recently had the exact same problem, what i did and it worked was when i racked into bottleing bucket i stuck the end of the hose in my grain steeping bag , worked good, all the hop bits ended up in the bag instead of the bottles.

 

[Boston]

For dryhopping I used to use whole hops in the secondary, in a bag with marbles. However, it was a royal PITA trying to get the hops out of the carboy afterward.
I now use pellets for dryhopping....some sink, some float...but I have never had a problem racking around them.
Jeff

 

[Shambolic]

shambolic I recently had the exact same problem, what i did and it worked was when i racked into bottleing bucket i stuck the end of the hose in my grain steeping bag , worked good, all the hop bits ended up in the bag instead of the bottles.

Something like this might be my best bet I think. I certainly hadn't considered that a little tea thingy probably wouldn't fit in the carboy!

And yes, I am using pellets. Because of quarantine regulations, this is the only way we can get imported hops...

Thanks everyone.