Shake fermenter to soak the hops ( leaf )

[thehaze]

Hey there,

I just dry hopped a session IPA with 5.8 oz hops ( Crystal, US Cascade, El Dorado ) and thinking of shaking the fermenter to make the hops soak a bit more.

I use Speidel fermenters and I could be using the spigot at the bottom for bottling.

Is it OK to shake the fermenter a bit to soak the hops? Will this soak the hops or am I simply disturbing the thrub at the bottom, without accomplishing anything good?

If they float ( some will go to bottom, I am aware of that ), will bottling from the spigot be better than transfering into a priming bucket, from where to bottle using either the bucket spigot or an auto-siphon?

 

[Seattle2k]

If you have hops still dry in the headspace, feel free to give it a shake or a stir with a sanitized spoon. But you're right, you'll shake that trub up a bit and may need to wait for it to settle out again. If the hops are wet, I would just let it be.

Bottling from that spigot is going to flow the trub out first, but isn't going to get all of it. Each beer you bottle from that spigot is going to have trub. I'd siphon off to a bottling bucket.

 

[thehaze]

I have now shaken the fermenter a bit to get those hops soaked. I will only leave the hops for 3-4 days, as I have always dry hopped for 7-14 days and want to dry shorter times, to see if it will give better/bigger aroma.

I will siphon the beer to a empty bucket with the priming sugar already added to the bucket and this should ensure the beer mixes well with the sugar solution.

 

[Seattle2k]

I don't see how a shorter dry-hop time will give you better/bigger aroma.

 

[thehaze]

I don't see how a shorter dry-hop time will give you better/bigger aroma.

You can try to read more here:http://brulosophy.com/2015/10/26/dry-hop-length-long-vs-short-exbeeriment-results/

Yes, it was done once, but it does prove something I experienced myself with the longer dry hop. Most times, it gave an OK aroma, but nothing special. Also, after 9-10 days the vegetal flavours are already settled in.

7 days was my limit and barely, as the beers needed a bit of time to mellow out.

 

[Shade]

What views do folks have on agitating the vessel to get better extraction from hops in a hop bag?

I don't typically, I've just ramped up the amount I use and have now split them into two hop bags to give me better utilization. I just put the hops in my current brew, 80g Motueka in one, 100g Citra in the other (so that's 6.3oz in 5.5gal).

I am happy there's no chance of bacteria growing at this point as it's 10 days in, so it's really potential oxidation risk vs potential additional extraction.

I've never been game enough to put large amounts of hops into my primary without a bag (don't have a secondary), seems likely to clog it up when I go to bottle. I've just started buying kegging gear so interested in whether that could change now also.

 

[Calder]

Get some glass marbles or shot glasses. Sanitize them, and then add them to the hop bags to pull them under the surface.

I use about 60 marbles for 2 ozs hops in a bag.