Suggestions on Dry Hopping 5 One Gallon Fermentors

[Near-Beer-Engineer]

A couple weeks ago I brewed up an experiment to get a bit more familiar with some hop varieties. I made 5 gallons of a standard pale ale (bittered with Magnum), but then near the end of the boil split the batch into 5 one gallon batches, each with different finishing hops (cent/cascade, centennial, mosaic, german hull melon, 7C's).



Unfortunately I used Wyeast 1332 Northwest Ale yeast which has left a hefty krausen on there that just won't drop. How should I dry hop these? I don't have any extra jugs to act as secondaries so that's out. I thought about removing the krausen but that's pretty tough with those skinny necks. Should I cut up a grain bag and make 5 tiny sacks with a couple marbles in each to sink the hops below the krausen? That's a bit of a pain, any other ideas?

 

[Staylow]

Wait it out - the krausen will fall. Until then, you don't need to be adding dry hops.

 

[Near-Beer-Engineer]

Wait it out - the krausen will fall. Until then, you don't need to be adding dry hops.

Fair enough. Do you have any experience with this yeast? I've read around the forums that persistent krausen is a common problem with this strain.


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[CraptainWirtz]

I used 1332 once and rocked the carboy a bit to knock the krausen down. As long as you're sure fermentation is complete, it shouldn't be a problem to do that with yours.

 

[Staylow]

Fair enough. Do you have any experience with this yeast? I've read around the forums that persistent krausen is a common problem with this strain.


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No, I'm not familiar with it. I just recall early on in my brewing getting anxious/worried waiting for the krausen to fall - just needed a little patience.

However, if this yeast does have a persistent krausen, then maybe research a bit more to see what others have done/experienced.

 

[GCPHomebrew]

Cold crash it will drop


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[jahdub]

Cold crash it will drop


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This. I like to cold crash before dry hopping, anyway.

 

[Near-Beer-Engineer]

Just over 2 weeks since I pitched the yeast and the Krausen is still thick and persistent, even with periodic rocking every few days. Will take your advice and try to cold crash all 5 of these before dry hopping.

 

[tacks]

What I always do to dry hop or oak a beer (with chips) is take a knee-high stocking and put a bunch of marbles in it (really anything that will make it sink and can be sanitized reliably), toss in the hops, and drop it in. It doesn't float and you get maximum surface area of hops exposed to your beer, plus you don't have to worry about the extra trub if you just drop the hops in themselves.

 

[Near-Beer-Engineer]

Temperatures in Calgary dropped 25 degrees in 24 hours two days ago...gotta love Canada. The only silver lining of this god awful act of nature is that I could cold crash 5 carboys for free on the porch. Krausen dropped within a couple hours. Will be dry hopping tonight.