Dry hopping techniques

Pal · Sep 13, 2024

Hi,

I'm looking at my next kit and it has some hops to do dry hopping during fermentation. I have looked at videos about how to dry hoping and have some questions about which one is the best.

-Putting the hops in a bag. It sounds good as you avoid having sediment hanging about in your beer but I read it isn't very efficient. Do you also need some weight so the bag doesn't float or it doesn't matter that much?

-sprinkle hops. I heard sediment is the biggest problem here. Any good suggestions to avoid getting sediment in the beer?

-I also saw some funky suggestions like putting a magnet in the bag so you can do the dry hopping without having to open the lid to prevent oxygen getting in. Is opening the lid for few seconds that much of an issue? I'm reading a CAMRA book and they seem pretty relaxed about open lids or open fermentation altogether.

Cheers buds

Appleton Brews · Sep 13, 2024

My advice is
1. Put the hops in a bag with a weight (so they sit on the bottom) on day 4 of primary fermentation.
2. Leave the hops in the wort for 3 days.
3. Remove the hops and check that fermentation is complete.
4. If so transfer the wort to secondary fermenter/bottling bucket and cold crash for 2 or 3 days.

The Baron · Sep 13, 2024

So many different opinions on this I personally use a bag and then put in a large SS spoon from the cutlery drawer to weigh the hops down for better contact, 2 if a large dry hop.
I dry hop after day 3/4 when the ferment is slowing but still active. I also do not dry hop longer than 2/3 days as present info says the hops have done their job but again different opinions will be put forward

Pal · Sep 13, 2024

Thanks for the responses. This may sound a bit daft, but how do you take the hops out with minimum disruption and minimising the risk of contamination?

Stu's Brews · Sep 13, 2024

Probably the biggest factors in deciding how you are going to dry hop are the type of fermenter you are using, your ability to cold crash and the style of beer you are making.

For example, I make a lot of very hop-forward beers using a conical fermenter that has a cooling jacket. That means I need to be careful not to introduce oxygen when dry-hopping (very hop-forward beers such as NEIPAs are very susceptible to oxidation spoiling the beer), however my fermenter allows me to bubble CO2 up through the outlet port so I can add the hops post-fermentation and still limit the likelihood of introducing oxygen. The conical fermenter / cooling jacket allows me to add the loose hops directly to the beer, cold crash to drop them to the bottom of the fermenter and then remove using the dump port.

If I was using a plastic bucket type fermenter with no means of performing a cold-crash, then I'd probably use a bag to constrain the hops and add them before the end of fermentation so any oxygen that is introduced can be dealt with by the yeast.

Tanglefoot · Sep 13, 2024

Pellets I chuck in loose on around day 10 once fermentation is finished, they drop out with all the trub after cold crashing.
Whole hops are more problematic as loose they will sit as an immovable raft so I tend to keep them solely for the boil.
If I do dry hop with cones I find best way is to fit a grain bag over top of FV and throw them in loose and refit the top.

Agentgonzo · Sep 13, 2024

+1 to adding a (sanitised) stainless spoon to the hop bag to weigh it down - otherwise it just floats on the surface.

Pal said:
Is opening the lid for few seconds that much of an issue? I'm reading a CAMRA book and they seem pretty relaxed about open lids or open fermentation altogether.

If you're adding the hops early/mid fermentation then it's no problem whatsoever as the yeast is still actively fermenting and will remove any oxygen introduced before it can do any harm.

If you're adding the hops at/after the end of the fermentation, then I'd probably take a bit more care - especially with highly hopped beers like NEIPA.

Pal said:
but how do you take the hops out with minimum disruption and minimising the risk of contamination?

You can just leave them in there, rack the wort off them and then pick them out of the empty fermenter at the end. Otherwise a good trick is to attach a piece of (unscented) dental floss to the bag and leave it dangling out of the fermerter lid. Floss is thin enough that you'll still get a good seal, and you can use this to pull the hop bag out (or even to lower it in without opening the lid much at all if you are concerned about oxidisation).

Personally, I use one of those stainless steel tubes, chuck it in half way through fermentation and leave it in there until I've bottled the beer, then pick it out with my hands.

The Baron · Sep 13, 2024

I think adding hops after fermentation is riskier than during fermentation as co2 is being produced while it is still fermenting so helps to expel oxygen.
If you are doing NEIPA's I do recommend being extra careful than ordinary/normal dry hopping as they are really susceptible to oxygen spoilage.
I do IPA's with large dry hops of 150g sometimes and as long as you are careful with sanitation and not exposing the wort longer than you need to it should be ok.

Buffers brewery · Sep 13, 2024

I dry hop with loose pellets in the fermenter. I strongly recommend the use of a brew fridge for "controlling" fermentation temperature but also to cold crash before transfer. I find after 3-4 days at 3C everything drops to the bottom of the fermenter.
Up until now I've used a bucket fermenter with a snap on lid. I tried dry hopping in bags with weights but when I started brewing NEIPAs devised a "closed" system for dry hopping and transfer to keg. I made my own design of dry hopper that is loaded before the lid is put in position and is held closed using magnets. Four days before cold crash I release the hops (without removing the lid).

achaddy · Oct 8, 2024

Once the dry hops have been added, is there a limit in days that the hops should remain in the brew? Asking because I have added the hop pellets to the brew (Beerworks Brasseris golden Larger) on day 5, kit instructions say test SG on day 10, which has now passed. The Hops were added direct to the brew after mixing with hot water. I have tested SG and it is seems steady at 1.015. But I may not be able to bottle until the weekend meaning the hops will be in for over 2 weeks.
Will this negatively impact flavour or am I okay to leave it till the weekend?

Stu's Brews · Oct 8, 2024

achaddy said:
Once the dry hops have been added, is there a limit in days that the hops should remain in the brew? Asking because I have added the hop pellets to the brew (Beerworks Brasseris golden Larger) on day 5, kit instructions say test SG on day 10, which has now passed. The Hops were added direct to the brew after mixing with hot water. I have tested SG and it is seems steady at 1.015. But I may not be able to bottle until the weekend meaning the hops will be in for over 2 weeks.
Will this negatively impact flavour or am I okay to leave it till the weekend?

There is no fixed limit on the length of time for dry hopping.

Historically, hops were added in casks for shipping to India, so they were in contact with the beer for several weeks if not months.

In more modern breweries, it is becoming popular to reduce the contact time to a handful of days as it is perceived that this results in less green/grassy flavour characteristics being present in the final beer.

So to answer your question - leaving it for over two weeks won't be problematic. You may (strong emphasis on may) get some green/grassy character, but as I assume it isn't a huge amount of dry hops that have been added you'll probably be fine and it should fade after a week or so of conditioning anyway.

Twostage · Oct 8, 2024

Buffers brewery said:
I dry hop with loose pellets in the fermenter. I strongly recommend the use of a brew fridge for "controlling" fermentation temperature but also to cold crash before transfer. I find after 3-4 days at 3C everything drops to the bottom of the fermenter.
Up until now I've used a bucket fermenter with a snap on lid. I tried dry hopping in bags with weights but when I started brewing NEIPAs devised a "closed" system for dry hopping and transfer to keg. I made my own design of dry hopper that is loaded before the lid is put in position and is held closed using magnets. Four days before cold crash I release the hops (without removing the lid).
View attachment 103817

Took me a while to figure out how that works. Eventually spotted the metal lugs which hold the trap doors shut until you take the magnets away. Ingenious. athumb..

Buffers brewery · Oct 8, 2024

Twostage said:
Took me a while to figure out how that works. Eventually spotted the metal lugs which hold the trap doors shut until you take the magnets away. Ingenious.

Yes, one flap has two PTFE coated neodymium magnets fixed either side (spot the white nylon nuts and screws) that are attracted to the magnets on the top of the lid. Slide the magnets away and the trapdoors open.

Buffers brewery · Oct 8, 2024

My new fermenter has a large circular dry hopper based on the same principle.
The hopper is secured to the underside of the lid (sealing the screw holes with rubber washers). Trapdoors are held closed by magnets (the grey disks)..

Doors closed....

The lock/release magnet housing is also screwed to the top so the magnets can be turned 90 degrees to release the trapdoors.

Haven't used it in anger yet, just testing the plumbing at the moment with a pale ale brew. An NEIPA with 250g dry hop is scheduled for the near future.

hop-a-long · Oct 8, 2024

My FastFerment comes with it's own hopspider which fits snugly in the mouth of the FV. So if I want to remove the hops after a number of days dryhopping, I can just pullout the hopspider. Another option is using a SS hoptube. Thats heavy enoug to sink. attach a piece of nylon fishing line for easier removal from the FV.

Anothes option is of course if your dryhops come as teabags with pellets inside. Then all of this might not be nessesary at all.

Dry hopping techniques

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