Pliny Dry Hopping - Advice would be greatly appreciated!!

[BlueberryHill]

I have never dry hopped before. This is only my 4th beer batch (done much more wine). On Saturday I did a Pliny clone extract kit from MoreBeer! and everything seemed to have gone perfectly (there's a first time for everything). OG was 1.072 ish and I just tested it again tonight since the chugging has slowed down and I came up with 1.02. So, things still seem to be going along great. It's been in a ferm chamber with air temp at 65 degrees.

I drank the sample that I just used for the gravity test and I love it. Even all cloudy it still tastes great and I just can't wait until this is done! So excited!

So.... I know nothing about dry hopping. The direction from morebeer don't really help. It just says "dry hops are added to the fermenter after primary fermentation for 5-7 days"

Is now the time? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I have 3 oz colombus, 1oz centennial and 1 oz simcoe and I am almost certain that they are pellets. Do I just dump the pellets in now? Or do I use a muslin bag? Or should I wait until the gravity is lower?

It's off to such an awesome start that I am now paranoid that I will screw it up, haha.

Thanks in advance to you all for any advice that you might have. As anxious as I am to consume this, ultimately, I'm looking for the best result possible. HBT rocks!

 

[brick_haus]

No not now. Pliny should finis somewhere near 1.010 or less. Wait till it's finished fermenting before dry hops are added. Good IPA is an art. Too soon and you don't get the hop aroma that you want. Too late, well, then it's too late. If the gravity is no lower next time you check, the dry hop, but 1.020 is too high for Pliny and is will not be representative of the standard.

 

[BlueberryHill]

No not now. Pliny should finis somewhere near 1.010 or less. Wait till it's finished fermenting before dry hops are added.

Thank you brick haus! You advice is stacked and that's a fact. Should I check gravity in another 2 days or so? I don't want to invade the pail more than necessary.

Just dump the pallets straight in, no muslin bag?

 

[nettekdl]

Personally I'd give more then another 2 days, I would wait a week or so then check a few days in a row and see if it stays the same, if so add the dry hops. I personally use a hop bag for a big dry hop charge but it's all personal preference. Good luck!

 

[Sammy86]

Personally I'd give more then another 2 days, I would wait a week or so then check a few days in a row and see if it stays the same, if so add the dry hops. I personally use a hop bag for a big dry hop charge but it's all personal preference. Good luck!

I agree with this...give it another week...let the yeast do their thing! Check back in a week...if you've reached FG then you can dry hop.

You can dump the pellets right in or use a hop bag sanitized in StarSan...good luck and keep us updated!

 

[brick_haus]

Yea, I usually keep my Pliny(ish) IPA in primary for three weeks, then dry hop (in a bag with pellets) for 7 days. If you don't get 1.010 or better, pitch more yeast next batch. I use WLP 1056 for my IPA's and build it up with a healthy starter. Like I said, it's an art. Keep working on it until it's how you like it, them move on to another style. Fun hobby!

 

[btbnl]

You can also try two-stage dry-hopping (as Russian River Brewing does). When I've used the MoreBeer kit I've kept 1/4 oz of each of the dry hops back and added them after another week.

 

[BlueberryHill]

Thank you all for you excellent advice!!!! Right now I think I'll wait a week and add the hops in a bag. I might even do 2-stage as suggested. Can't hurt right? Only thing is I don't know if I'll want to wait another week. I'm so excited about this batch, I might have to try to accelerate the process, haha. I'm generally patient with this stuff (making wine requires patience) but on this brew I am really getting antsy.

Oh, and on a random note, I just noticed today that my grapes starting to change color. Another couple of weeks and it'll be smashin time! Sorry to pollute the beer forum with this drivel, but it was exciting to see so I felt compelled to share.

 

[BlueberryHill]

It's getting near time to add the hops. I plan to check gravity again tonight (partly so I can taste test it ) But I have 2 questions I just thought of.

1. You said to star-san the hop bag. After I soak it, do I hang it up to dry? Or do I just add the hops when the bag is still wet with star-san and throw it in the pail?

2. Should I rack to secondary? Or should I just leave it in the pail until it's ready to keg?

 

[m00ps]

I soak the bag in starsan, wring it out and toss the hops in WHILE ITS WET. If it dries its basically not sanitized anymore

definitely DO NOT rack to secondary. The only thing thatll happen is a likely possibility your beer could get slightly oxidized and strip your hop aroma. Never secondary an IPA. Secondaries are generally for large additions (several lbs of fruit) or long term conditioning

 

[brick_haus]

^^^ He's right you know!

 

[Spartan300man]

I soak the bag in starsan, wring it out and toss the hops in WHILE ITS WET. If it dries its basically not sanitized anymore

I soak a handful of glass marbles in sanitizer and put them in the bag, too. Especially if they are leaf hops, probably don't need as many with pellet hops. I had 7 marbles in bag with an ounce of pellet and an ounce of leaf, and the darn thing bobbed for the majority of my dry hopping.

 

[BlueberryHill]

1.014 last night. Plan to check again Sunday and hopefully it'll be ready for hops.

 

[BlueberryHill]

Looks like she is all done at 1.014. Been the same for a few days and no signs at all of any activity. I added the hope tonight. Thanks again to you all for your help. Tonight's sample is still delicious. This is gonna be awesome. I'm about to order another one of the same kits I think. Pretty sure once this is done I will not want to be running out.

 

[Natdavis777]

For my Pliney, I waited until fermentation was complete (about 10 days), then added my first round of dry hops to the fermentor (loose not bagged). Did my second round after the initial 5 days of the first DH. Then the carboys were capped and cold crashed @ 33F for a few days and kegged. Beers came out wonderful