Dry Hopping

[Davy6Mac]

Hi All,
Picked up a couple of AG kits from Homebrew Outlet(prompt service) one of which requires dry hopping, have only done 3 AG brews so far. Can anybody tell me what the major pitfalls are with dry hopping etc, worried about contamination of FV contents when i open the vessel to add the hops etc and is it best to put the hops in a muslin bag.

 

[terrym]

Try this
A Newbies Guide to Dry Hopping Your Beer - The HomeBrew Forum
Its down to personal choice whether you chuck em in as they are or use a bag. They both have their pros and cons. But if you use a bag I suggest you use a nylon rather than muslin bag, because muslin wets whereas nylon doesn't.

 

[Davy6Mac]

Thanks for the info, terrym. Will have a look at the guide later

 

[Heveilius]

On this topic, I've noticed that with some kits (e.g. Young's American IPA), dry hopping without a bag resulted in clogging of the syphon tube which was a real pain. However, with Festival Ale Landlord's Finest, bagless hops caused no problem.

I'm about to brew Munton's American IPA. Can anyone recommend whether or not a bag is needed for dry hopping for this one?

 

[Heveilius]

Well, I added the (30g) of hop pellets loose 5 days ago, and have just siphoned the beer into a barrel. Happy to report that there was absolutely no problem with the siphon tube clogging up (I have a small filter bag over the end of the siphon). I suspect the problem with the Young's IPA kit was the sheer quantity of dry hops (100g). In future I'll follow these guidelines:
< 50 g hop pellets: chuck 'em in loose;
>50 g: use a hop bag.