post dry hop rack question

[mikemet]

I dry hopped an IPA into a secondary the other day to open room for my primary to cook another batch. This was on Tuesday night.

The hops dropped but I still have a grassy sliver on top- and in addition a little white bubbles starting to form- doesnt look like mold- almost looks like a little residue from oxy ( ) or possibly starsan- or baby C02 bubbles that formed. It doesnt look like mold.


I wanted to bottle on Sunday- but I think I might go Saturday instead- 5 days dry hop instead of 6- Will that cause some less aromas- or did I get the bang for the buck already for the most part?

What about that grassy top- racking will be slightly different this time as my trub from my primary stuck to the bottom and little to no sediment got into my secondary- save the hops I tossed in.

will racking under the top layer- and making sure not to get the bottom hops- and leaving the last bit of beer in the carboy be the best bet at this point?

 

[pabloj13]

The bubbles are likely just CO2 bubbling out of solution because of the nucleation sites that the hop debris provided. You can GENTLY rock the fermenter (no splashing) and often get the hop debris on the surface to drop out. Also if you wrap a little sanitized hop bag over your racking cane when you rack, you will filter that stuff out. Alternatively, you can put a 5 gallon sanitized paint strainer bag into your racking bucket and rack into that. Just make sure your racking hose is sitting right on the bottom as to not introduce oxygen. Then at the end, remove the bag and you have clean beer.

 

[billl]

5 days is fine.

Rack between and gunk - top or bottom - and don't worry about it.

 

[COLObrewer]

Yup, rack in between if you don't want to wait. You may try a little swirl to get the top layer to fall, otherwise dry hoppin is sometimes a challenge.

 

[HootHootHoot]

I usually use pellet hops (until my hop plant starts to produce cones). I had a similar issue. It wasn't a big deal, just CO2 escaping really. When I went to rack I used a hop bag at the end of my siphon to siphon into my bottling bucket.

Don't worry about 5 or 6 days. You're splitting hairs really. 5 is fine

 

[billl]

Just a note on the bag filter in the bottling bucket.

Doing that was the only time I had a major carbonation problem. The whole "beer will mix with the priming solution through gentle swirling" didn't work at all with the bag. I didn't even think about it until the first bottle exploded. Definitely spend some extra time manually stirring and mixing prior to bottling if you go that route.

 

[mikemet]

sweet. Im really anxious- 3 weeks in bottles is going to absolutely kill me. Im going to get the hop bag tomorrow morning- thats a great idea.

thanks

 

[pabloj13]

Just a note on the bag filter in the bottling bucket.

Doing that was the only time I had a major carbonation problem. The whole "beer will mix with the priming solution through gentle swirling" didn't work at all with the bag. I didn't even think about it until the first bottle exploded. Definitely spend some extra time manually stirring and mixing prior to bottling if you go that route.

Yes. Agree completely. Forgot to mention that, thanks.

 

[mikemet]

can you all describe "manually stirring and mixing prior to bottling if you go that route." - a few slow turns of the spoon not to make bubbles and the like? several minutes of slow stirring? I dont need bottles bursting in the pantry- that can get pretty ugly quickly !

 

[unionrdr]

You stir gently for a minute or less without making bubbles or foam. Oxidation at this point will give you liquid cardboard.

 

[pabloj13]

can you all describe "manually stirring and mixing prior to bottling if you go that route." - a few slow turns of the spoon not to make bubbles and the like? several minutes of slow stirring? I dont need bottles bursting in the pantry- that can get pretty ugly quickly !

I just give it a few gentle stirs with a sanitized spoon so that there is a slight rotation of the beer like you'd normally get during siphoning. 15-20 seconds? Never had a problem.