Dry hops

[sully626]

I was just wondering what everyone does to dry hop with pellets? I have seen a bunch about whole hops being the best way to go, but I am looking to use Amarillo and haven't seen it other than in pellet form. Any thoughts or does anyone know where I can get hole Amarillo?

[beerking]

Get yourself a hop sack from your LHBS, put some marbles in for weight, and then add the hops. If you tie some monofilament to it, and run that through the lid on the cornie, you can easily lift the hops out after a week or two.

[sully626]

Thanks beerking, guess it's another stop at the LHBS. I think I will start going in with cash and no wallet though, I spend way to much and always see something new I could use! Was eyeing a keg setup last time.

[beerking]

I had assumed you were kegging. Change "cornie lid" to running the mono filament between the stopper and the carboy to help get the hops out. I recommend siphoning the beer off first then working the hops through the neck of the carboy. Can be a bit of a challenge because they will expand a little. You can turn the carboy on its side and open the hop bag while still inside and let the hops out of the bag while the bag is still inside the carboy. After that the bag will come right out.

[markaberrant]

freshops.com has whole leaf amarillo.

[Mad Scientist]

I throw pellets or whole hops in with reckless abandon, no sack or hop bag. Just make sure you don't move the carboy before racking into bottling bucket or keg.

[sully626]

Thanks Mark, I'm checking the site out right now! Looks like there is a min of 12 oz to buy, give me an excuse to stock up, I had been looking for Citra and Sorachi. Is anyone familiar with these? I had a Splendid Splinter at Salem Beer Works that I loved and the bartender said it was hoped with Citra Sorachi. He didn't know anything else about it since it is brand new. I wasn't sure if he was saying Citra Sorachi or Citra and Sorachi.

[Mad Scientist]

They are seperate types. Citra is very new, but Sorachi Ace has been in use by the Japanese for quite sometime.

If you buy from freshops, make sure you have a vacuum sealer available, since they will not be vacuum sealed when shipped to you.

[beerking]

I don't know anything about Citra, other than it is new, but there are a good number of breweries giving Sorachi a try. Personally, I tried a Saison from Brooklyn Brewing which was hopped with 100% Sorachi, and I thought it gave the beer a dill weed character that I did not care for.

[markaberrant]

If you buy from freshops, make sure you have a vacuum sealer available, since they will not be vacuum sealed when shipped to you.

Unless I don't know what vacuum sealed means, I'm pretty sure all the hops I've gotten from there are as such.

[Mad Scientist]

Suck the air out of them. I ordered a big bag from them sometime back, and it was not vacuumed....maybe they changed.

[sully626]

Well the order is in, and I did end up getting some citra and sorachi ace to try. I have to get in touch with Salem beer works and see if I can find out more about that beer.

[corkybstewart]

Suck the air out of them. I ordered a big bag from them sometime back, and it was not vacuumed....maybe they changed.
The last bag I bought from them was closed with a twist tie.

[sully626]

My order arrived today from freshops.com and all the hops are vacu sealed. I have two more questions(about this,many more about everything else): the package says refrigerate or freeze, is freezing hops ok? Also, I now have 2oz of amarillo to dry hop my IPA, should I use 2 oz and how many days is good to get a good strong aroma? Thanks again to everyone for all the info!

[corkybstewart]

Freezing hops is the ideal way to store them. Somebody else can help you with the dry hopping.

[sully626]

Thanks Corky, I had thrown most of the order in the freezer, seemed logical but I wanted to make sure.

[corkybstewart]

When you get totally addicted to homebrewing you'll want to buy hops by the pound and freeze them, it's waaaay cheaper.

[sully626]

I think I might be getting there, my first brew will be ready to drink hopefully this weekend, I have the IPA in the secondary and am brewing an ESB tomorrow night. Where is a good place to buy hops in bulk, not that I need any right now but for future reference?

[corkybstewart]

freshops.com, hopsdirect.com, or just most online homebrew stores will sell pounds.

[Mad Scientist]

sully, I like to dry hop for two weeks.

And I should be doing a big hop order this mid to late fall after the harvest. if you look around here, you find refreneces to the previous orders....I did not do it this fall, I was too busy, and already had enough hops. but everything that came out of me was competively priced and vacuum sealed in 2oz bags. I never had any complaints

[corkybstewart]

but everything that came out of me was competively priced and vacuum sealed in 2oz bags.
Don't y'all have flush toilets in Texas?:eek:

[sully626]

Don't y'all have flush toilets in Texas?:eek:

Lol!!


So, mad, should I put the whole 2 oz in for the 2 weeks? And since they are whole hops I can just throw them into the secondary and not worry about them right? Or should I soak them in vodka 1st?

[Mad Scientist]

Don't bother soaking in vodka, just toss them in. And yes, toss them in for the two weeks, though one ounce or two ounces is up to you. If you are following a recipe, add what it says, if it is your recipe, then do what you want, but you may want to grab a sample first, and determine how much dry hops you want.
I don't know if you are using a bucket or carboys, but I avoid dry hopping in a five gallon carboy, since there just in not enough space for beer plus hops.

[sully626]

I do have a glass carboy for my secondary, but this batch has a littl extra room so I think I will be ok dropping them in and it not overflowing. This is my recipe and I actually wasn't going to dry hop, but when I put it into the secondary I noticed there wasn't much nose to the beer. I am not familiar with how much hops will give how much aroma, I see some guys have put in .05 oz and some put in 4 oz. I'd say I'm a hophead, I love the aroma of beers like Victory hop devil, troegs nugget nectar and lagunitas hop stoopid ale.

I think I just talked myself into using the 2oz, lol, thanks for the help guys!

[beerking]

Add 1 oz now, and the other ounce in ~5 days. you will get a more complex, rich hop aroma (and flavor) for this.

[Mad Scientist]

Wow...I've never added 4oz of dry hops....

I've used a pound in a five gallon batch...hehe....and you clain to be a hophead....

[sully626]

Well that sounds interesting, I plan on having it in the secondary for 3 more weeks, would you still say put the 1st oz in now or wait a couple?

[beerking]

???:confused: ???

He said he was using the whole "2oz," and I said add 1 oz now and the other ounce in 5 days. :confused:

[sully626]

I think he was refering to my previous post, I have seen some recipes with 4 oz dry hopped.

Mad, what was that like with 1lb in a 5 g batch? Maybe try it for the next batch, haha.

[sully626]

Ok,ok, I can admit when I am wrong! I guess no more dry hopping in the 5gl glass carboy, lol. 1oz went in fine, but today i need to add the second oz and there isn't much room now.

Should I use something to push the whole hops down? They are still floating on the top of the brew, though they will need to be submerged to get the next oz in the carboy.

[Mad Scientist]

When using whole dry hops, I put them in before the beer goes in, that way when yuo rack the beer you can use the siphon hose to wet the hops a bit. you might try gently swirling the beer.

[Mad Scientist]

I think he was refering to my previous post, I have seen some recipes with 4 oz dry hopped.

Mad, what was that like with 1lb in a 5 g batch? Maybe try it for the next batch, haha.

Sorry, I missed this one...

what was it like? damn tasty, but all the hops went in starting about 30 mkinutes, so it was a constant parade of watching the timer and adding hops...couldn't go far.... racking out of the kettle was a bitch.

[markaberrant]

I have a double IPA still in primary - added 4oz of pellets last week after fermentation subsided. Will rack to a keg tonight, with another 4oz of pellets. Then 2 more dry hop additions (4oz each), and finally serve it via Randall in mid-April.

I believe the final tally for this beer will be just over 2 lbs of hops (34oz).

[Mad Scientist]

wow....can I bum a bottle off of you?

[vance71975]

wow....can I bum a bottle off of you?
Man its times like these i wish i was in Canada, cause ya i will +1 on this one hands down!

[texasliam]

Bad experience. I dry hopped without using a hop bag. Then I remembered hops can plug up a keg conector so I used a piece of nylon panyhose over the racking cane as a filter. 3 hours later I was done. GET THE HOP BAG....
Liam

[Mad Scientist]

Man Liam, thats a real bummer....longest is has even taken me to rack out of a carboy with hops in there has been 30 to 35 minutes, about twice the normal length.

[Ozkar]

Just wondering, does the beer will only get aroma when dry hop or will it also get taste and bittering from the hops.

[Mad Scientist]

it will get taste, but no bittering

[beerking]

In truth there will be a small amount of bittering, and greater amount of flavor, and a large amount of aroma. Even at fermentation or aging temps, some small amount of isomerization occurs.

[markaberrant]

In truth there will be a small amount of bittering, and greater amount of flavor, and a large amount of aroma. Even at fermentation or aging temps, some small amount of isomerization occurs.

Exactly. And there is more to "bitterness" than just IBUs.

As for my insanely hopped DIPA: I racked into a keg on the weekend, and I decided to add all the dry hops at once, rather than opening and closing the keg a bunch of times. Managed to fit 12oz of dry hops into a hop bag. Should be awesome when we tap it in a month.

[supercanuck]

Hey everyone. This is my first post, as I'm new to the whole home brewing thing!

I am having a similar issue. I am doing a Sierra Nevada-type Ale and just racked the beer to the secondary carboy on Saturday. The recipe called for the addition of 1/2 oz of Dry Hops, so before siphoning the beer into the carboy, I put the hops in the bottom then siphoned the beer in. Well, of course, I'm not surprised because it makes sense, but as of yesterday, most of the hops were still floating on the top.

So for the 2nd fermentation, I would imagine that it really isn't doing a ton of good to have them floating on top, and that the hops should be in the beer, right? If that's the case, do I have any options to try to get them submerged at this point? How much damage can I do by messing with it to try to get them dispersed in the beer?

Any advice is appreciated!

[Mad Scientist]

Welcome canuck,

are the dry hops pellets or leaf?

Basically, I never really see it as a problem since they are in a closed container. They will sink to the bottem soon enough. If it is leaf hops most will probably float near the surface, but the flavors will extract all the same.

I do not put my dry hops in any sort of bag. Ever. They are free...free

[sully626]

The IPA that I was asking about in this thread had been in the secondary a week before I added the wholeleafhops on top. The hops soaked up a little brew, but when I added the second dry hop I used a sanatized spoon to gently push the hops down to get them wet, but they still stayed floating at the top. I was thinking the same thing as you are, but I am drinking the beer now and it has a lot of aroma and hop flavor.

[supercanuck]

They were pellets, but i tried to crush them up some before I put them in the carboy. I like the idea of them floating free, which is why I didn't put them in a bag, I just want to make sure they get dispersed properly.

I'll check again today and see if they're all up there still. I figured they may get saturated over a couple of days and begin to sink, but like i said, I have ZERO experience with this, so that doesn't really account for much.

In terms of secondary fermentation, what are the best practices for doing this? Right now I have my carboy down in the basement/utility closet. Its probably 65-70 degrees, and I covered it with a blanket to block any light getting to it. In order to bottle it (probably this upcoming weekend), I'll have to move it upstairs, is that going to be a problem? Also, how will I know when it's ready to bottle?

Thanks!
Zack

[Mad Scientist]

You have the right idea on temperature. If your basement maintains that temp year round, then just build a light proof box for fermenting in.

There is not need to crush the pellets, they will dissolve in minutes after racking the beer.

As far as bottling, most conventional through wants you to dry hop for two weeks, but some people only wait a week with pellets...your choice here.

When you move it upstairs for bottling, do so at least 12 hours ahead of time, and use the same blanket to keep the light out...more if you feel it necessary. I always move carboys into our utility room, where I can keep doors closed and the light off. The reason I say to move it well ahead of time is to let things settle back out after you stir them up by coming up the stairs & etc.

[beerking]

Welcome canuck,

are the dry hops pellets or leaf?

Basically, I never really see it as a problem since they are in a closed container. They will sink to the bottem soon enough. If it is leaf hops most will probably float near the surface, but the flavors will extract all the same.

I do not put my dry hops in any sort of bag. Ever. They are free...free

"Free range dry hops." Sounds like a marketing pitch!

[Mad Scientist]

Yeah....by bud or miller

[supercanuck]

So as it turns out, i think a lot of what i had been seeing on the surface was just foam from the yeast -- or whatever that is that gathers on the top. I lightly swirled it and got any hops that were still there to drop to the bottom, so I guess that's good, right?

And looking at the carboy, there's a lot of stuff just chillin on the bottom -- I assume that's good and is what is supposed to happen, right? Since I've never done this before, I'm still speculating on what it should and shouldn't be doing!

Thanks!

[Mad Scientist]

Bottle that sucker.

[supercanuck]

Really? Already?

It was in the primary fermentation for a week, then has only been in secondary for 4 1/2 days.

Is there any harm in letting it go a few more days? (only due to time constraints to actually do the bottling.

Thanks!

[sully626]

Nope, no issues with holding off on bottling. I had my brew in the secondary for a week and then dry hopped for two weeks with 2 oz of free range Amarillo.

[Mad Scientist]

My apologies...don't know why I was thinking it was in secondary for longer....

[supercanuck]

So I was wondering how everyone goes about sanitizing their bigger items, such as the 6 gallon buckets or carboys. I have only done one batch, and in order to sanitize them I filled them with water then used like 5 tbsp of sanitizer for each, so essentially i jsut filled the buckets with sanitizer...is there a way to do it without using so much water or more importantly sanitizer?

Thanks!
Zack

[Mad Scientist]

When I used buckets, I used a turkey baster and made sure every surface was well hosed. with carboys, about a pint of starsan and a three of four vigorous skaking sessions of a minutes of so each seems to work well...and then use a carboy drier to drain fro about 20 to 30 minutes....

[cul8rv8]

for buckets I mix up about a gallon or two, then just use my hand to splash the sanitizer on all the surfaces. With the carboys, I make up about the same amount, cover the opening with my hand, and shake the liquid around making sure I have contact on the entire inside surface, and use a carboy stand to let drain and dry.

I could probably get away with using less sanitizer, but like just about everything with homebrewing, since I have a method that works, I don't really want to go changing it. I'd rather focus on getting my brewing techniques down to where I can get better efficiency. I know my cleaning and sanitation work.

[supercanuck]

OK, so as I'm learning, I have a couple of other questions:

1) What is the difference, or what happens differently, when the beer is in the Carboy versus when it's bottled? Meaning, when/why would you want to move it from the carboy into the bottles and how does it process or ferment differently when the switch is made?

2) How can you tell if the beer has somehow been 'infected' or tainted from improper sanitization?

[Mikegobrew]

OK, so as I'm learning, I have a couple of other questions:

1) What is the difference, or what happens differently, when the beer is in the Carboy versus when it's bottled? Meaning, when/why would you want to move it from the carboy into the bottles and how does it process or ferment differently when the switch is made?

2) How can you tell if the beer has somehow been 'infected' or tainted from improper sanitization?

1. Move it to the bottle when it's had enough time to ferment completely (reached FG) and clean up after itself - removing off flavors produced during the main event and gravity has settled out particulates. Getting it off the yeast cake and into the bottle allows the aging process to continue without getting off flavors from the yeast.

2. Drink it. If you can't tell, it's probably not.

[Mad Scientist]

I was going to say the same thing.... especially on #2...you can tell when a beer is messed up.

[Mill Rat]

For keeping beer in a the dark, I've found that an worn-out men's dress shirt, preferably a darker color, buttoned up all the way, make a very well-fitting cover for a carboy, and leave room at the neck for the airlock. The sleeves can wrap around the airlock to keep more light out there. My old dress shirts seem almost designed to shelter 5 gallons of fermenting beer. Does that mean something is wrong or right with the world?