Not bagging any hops during boil or dry, and not cold crashing

[HerbivorousBrewer]

Hi guys,

Wondering if anyone doesn't bag any of their hops (including during boil and dry hopping) and also doesn't cold crash. I'm brewing my first DIPA and trying dry hopping for the first time, and I threw my hop pellets (as I normally do) directly into the brew kettle during the boil without a bag. Just about every post I've read from other threads says that people tend to cold crash if they're not bagging their dry hops. Here's my plan... wondering if this would work or if it will have chunks in it:

1. No bagging hops during boil
2. Keeping beer in primary
3. No bagging hops during dry hopping
4. Transfer to bottling bucket
5. Bottle

Any thoughts? Or ways to make it less likely to get residue without bagging or transferring to secondary? I can't use gelatin finings btw (vegan).

 

[kh54s10]

I think the bigger issue, depending on the amount of hops, is how much beer you lose in the trub layer. If you wait long enough the majority of the hop debris will settle to the bottom.

 

[VVbrewery]

Until recently (I got one of those SS mesh hop baskets, jury's still out on it) I've always just tossed the hops into the kettle and fermenter. I do use gelatin but that's more to remove haze causing proteins than hops. Even before I had a way to cold crash the hops settled out with time. You just have to be careful when racking.

 

[HerbivorousBrewer]

I think the bigger issue, depending on the amount of hops, is how much beer you lose in the trub layer. If you wait long enough the majority of the hop debris will settle to the bottom.

I didn't even think of that. I hate losing beer to stupid trub... I wonder if keeping beer in fermenter longer or using a yeast that is high in flocculation would help losing too much in trub from the hops? Or if that doesn't make a difference.

Until recently (I got one of those SS mesh hop baskets, jury's still out on it) I've always just tossed the hops into the kettle and fermenter. I do use gelatin but that's more to remove haze causing proteins than hops. Even before I had a way to cold crash the hops settled out with time. You just have to be careful when racking.

By being careful do you mean just not agitating the fermenter when switching to bottling bucket and maybe holding the racking cane a bit higher to avoid a little more trub than usual?

 

[kevin58]

I hate losing beer to stupid trub... You should be factoring in trub loss in your recipe calculations.

 

[HerbivorousBrewer]

I hate losing beer to stupid trub... You should be factoring in trub loss in your recipe calculations.

I've definitely learned that at some point, but always seem to forget to add that to the calculation.

 

[govner1]

You can use Irish Moss in the boil to drop out proteins and do a manual whirlpool to help concentrate and reduce your trub before transfer to your fermentor.
If you can don’t leave the dry hops in for more the 5-7 days (see Hieronymos) tonavoid vegetal flavors.

 

[HerbivorousBrewer]

You can use Irish Moss in the boil to drop out proteins and do a manual whirlpool to help concentrate and reduce your trub before transfer to your fermentor.
If you can don’t leave the dry hops in for more the 5-7 days (see Hieronymos) tonavoid vegetal flavors.

I'm doing a Pliny clone and it recommends adding the first set of dry hops at 12-14 days left, and the second set at 5 days left. Is the vegetal flavor something to be expected in Pliny (I've never actually tasted it before), or does this recipe have some poor instructions?

 

[govner1]

I’m not sure about you’re trying to accomplish by eliminating any sort of container for either your boil or dry hops especially with such a highly hopped beer.
Having said that I’d split the dry hops per the instructions removing the first hop “charge” before adding the second. Of course this would require some sort of container. Large tea container, mesh bag, SS container.

 

[kh54s10]

I hate losing beer to stupid trub... You should be factoring in trub loss in your recipe calculations.

You can do this, but it is inaccurate. To better dial in the volume use a hop spider, or paint strainer bags, or hop filter cylinder to lessen the amount of trub.

 

[kh54s10]

I didn't even think of that. I hate losing beer to stupid trub... I wonder if keeping beer in fermenter longer or using a yeast that is high in flocculation would help losing too much in trub from the hops? Or if that doesn't make a difference.



By being careful do you mean just not agitating the fermenter when switching to bottling bucket and maybe holding the racking cane a bit higher to avoid a little more trub than usual?

See my last reply. The hops create a large trub layer. You can try to compensate for that or filter the hops out.

 

[4of7]

Hi guys,

Wondering if anyone doesn't bag any of their hops (including during boil and dry hopping) and also doesn't cold crash. I'm brewing my first DIPA and trying dry hopping for the first time, and I threw my hop pellets (as I normally do) directly into the brew kettle during the boil without a bag. Just about every post I've read from other threads says that people tend to cold crash if they're not bagging their dry hops. Here's my plan... wondering if this would work or if it will have chunks in it:

1. No bagging hops during boil
2. Keeping beer in primary
3. No bagging hops during dry hopping
4. Transfer to bottling bucket
5. Bottle

Any thoughts? Or ways to make it less likely to get residue without bagging or transferring to secondary? I can't use gelatin finings btw (vegan).

How about hop tea.

 

[BrewsnBass]

This works great for free throwing hops in a keg but you'll want the bag when bottling. https://www.shop.clearbeerdraughtsystem.com/ I guess you could put a bag on the end of the hose or a auto-siphon when transfering to the bucket.

 

[VirginiaHops1]

I don't cold crash, because I worry about limiting oxygen exposure in my heavily hopped beers and I don't have a good way to do it. I used to throw the dry hops in and still do sometimes when I'm bottling, as it doesn't seem to cause issues with my auto-siphon. However, I've begun trying to utilize closed transfers to my kegs and have found the loose dry hops really screw that up causing clogs. When I bag the hops the transfer goes much smoother.

I've also begun sometimes trying to filter the wort into the fermenter when I know I'll be kegging it, and that eliminates some trub too. The only thing that concerns me with bagging dry hops is I have heard the utilization drops some

 

[govner1]

All the more reason to whirlpool and use some method to “contain” your Hop residue.
I use a closed CO2 transfer system and put a mesh strainer on the pickup end if I’m concerned about hop residue because it will certainly plug up the poppet on your inflow to a keg.
I’ve also placed SS filters on my keg dip tubes to prevent picking up any residue. This is also very handy when I keg condition. You need to shorten your dip tube about 1” when you do this.

 

[HerbivorousBrewer]

See my last reply. The hops create a large trub layer. You can try to compensate for that or filter the hops out.

I might need to start bagging/filtering the hops to reduce trub. I just try to keep my brew day as simple as possible with as few trinkets as possible, but that's not too big of a deal.

However, I've begun trying to utilize closed transfers to my kegs and have found the loose dry hops really screw that up causing clogs.

I use a closed CO2 transfer system and put a mesh strainer on the pickup end if I’m concerned about hop residue because it will certainly plug up the poppet on your inflow to a keg.

I haven't gone into kegging yet, so not a problem for me.

I guess you could put a bag on the end of the hose or a auto-siphon when transfering to the bucket.

That's a good idea. I might have to invest in one of those.

 

[mirthfuldragon]

A big DIPA without a coldcrashing or hop containment is going to leave a lot of bottle sediment. Alternatively, you can let it sit for a while to clear, but the longer it sits, the greater the risk of degradation and oxidation. One of my early beers was a Pliny clone, made without cold-crashing or hop containment, and there's a good 3/8" of sediment in them. If you are careful on your pours and short-pour, you will be fine.

You should be able to use bentonite or sparkolloid as a fining agent, and both of those are mineral agents, not animal-derived.

 

[JimRausch]

I always toss my hop pellets in loose- both boil, whirlpool, and dryhop. I do however cold crash everything. Don't use the gelatin if you don't want, but cold crashing alone with help settle and compact the trub layer. The one time recently that I didn't bother with the c.c., I lost about 1/2 gallon to trub loss and still had a lot of murk on the bottom of my bottling bucket. Perhaps I needed to be better on my siphoning technique. And remember- a cold crash doesn't need a dedicated temp controlled unit. You can do it with a swamp cooler bucket filled with water and ice bottles. Or, if you're like me and it's cold outside(I see you're from Minnesota), move the fermenter out to your cold garage for a couple days.

 

[Rev2010]

I never bag hops in the boil, they just go right in. For dry hopping I do bag them up though, just cause I figure the less loose particulate matter in the fermenter the less chance of clogging the spigot when draining into the keg. Been working great this way for me all these years. I don't cold crash either, though I do like the idea of cold crashing.


Rev.

 

[HerbivorousBrewer]

Or, if you're like me and it's cold outside(I see you're from Minnesota), move the fermenter out to your cold garage for a couple days.

It is plenty cold here in MN. Hopefully not too cold (should get to low 10s or 0s overnight by time of bottling). I do have a cooler and ice... I've never tried cold crashing, but I like the idea of not throwing any more stuff into the beer.

 

[HerbivorousBrewer]

One of my early beers was a Pliny clone, made without cold-crashing or hop containment, and there's a good 3/8" of sediment in them.

Wow, 3/8" sediment is a lot. I wouldn't mind it, but not sure how my wife and buddies would be about it.

 

[Soulshine2]

i dont bag my hop pellet addition either (but I am thinking about it),I did put the whilfloc in later than 15 mins to go . More like 10 mins and then chilled from boil to 100 in 20 mins(constant cold ground water temp through the chiller instead of a pump and ice recirculated) . Seemed to end up much clearer than before . I still end up with a good inch of yeast cake/trub in the fermenter when I rack to the bottling bucket. I just suspend the racking cane with the cap on the end . I tilt the carboy at the end and learned to leave maybe 12 ounces of beer on top so Im not sucking trub into the bottling bucket. I used to try to get every drop in the bucket but would always end up with bottles with too much gunk.

 

[50calshooter]

1. No bagging hops during boil
2. Keeping beer in primary
3. No bagging hops during dry hopping
4. Transfer to bottling bucket
5. Bottle



I've never bagged any hop additions. I know a lot of brewers who don't ever use a secondary-owner of my local home brew store is one of them. I use secondary because it works for me. I never cold crash, I get good clear beer just by kegging and let it age a while (I don't bottle).

 

[chickypad]

I might need to start bagging/filtering the hops to reduce trub. I just try to keep my brew day as simple as possible with as few trinkets as possible, but that's not too big of a deal.

I've done multiple batches on my various systems with and without hop spiders but IME you don't reduce the total trub with a bag or filter, it just now becomes kettle trub rather than fermenter trub. You still have to account for volume loss in the recipe somewhere. When brewing an IPA I count on about 15% volume loss to trub vs. about 10% on a non-hoppy batch.

 

[thehaze]

I use a Grainfather and never bag hops during brewing stages. I also do not cold crash. I've brewed 56 batches in my Grainfather in 18 months and never had any issues.

Whirlpooling after the boil at a lower temp., using Protafloc and leaving the wort enough time to settle, always gets me clear wort in the fermenter. I usually have maybe 1-1.5 cm ( 0.4-0.6 inch ) trub in my fermenter after fermentation is done. Heavily hopped beers will suck more beer, but I don't have issues leaving the hops in the fermenter. ( I never did or will do secondary, not even for fruit additions or 10 oz hops )

Cheers!

 

[Soulshine2]

I use a Grainfather and never bag hops during brewing stages. I also do not cold crash. I've brewed 56 batches in my Grainfather in 18 months and never had any issues.

Whirlpooling after the boil at a lower temp., using Protafloc and leaving the wort enough time to settle, always gets me clear wort in the fermenter. I usually have maybe 1-1.5 cm ( 0.4-0.6 inch ) trub in my fermenter after fermentation is done. Heavily hopped beers will suck more beer, but I don't have issues leaving the hops in the fermenter. ( I never did or will do secondary, not even for fruit additions or 10 oz hops )

Cheers!

56 batches in 18 months...thats impressive!!

 

[z-bob]

I've only done dry-hops once. I put them in a mesh bag. For the boil hops, I've tried it several different ways and I think what I like the best is just adding them loose in the kettle, then filtering them and most of the break matter out with a paint strainer bag when I pour into the fermenter.

 

[Robin0782]

I'll throw in my process. I don't bag 60, 10, or 5 min hops additions. I do bag my flame out additions. I also do not bag my dry hops, but I cold crash and that will help you a lot. Additionally, when I package I sheath my siphon with a fine mesh nylon bag. I have found that you shouldn't use the bag for the pot and then go back to siphoning with it. So I start with a new a bag for siphoning and use it maybe 3-4 times, then change it over and use it about 3-4 times for flame out hops. Then I toss it. Why are you so adverse to using a bag? Try sheathing your siphon with a fine mesh nylon bag that you soaked in star-san.