Dry hopping

[joiner_8]

I have a mangrove jack juicy ipa brewing and i am at the dry hopping stage, i have put the hops in a muslin bag instead of placing on the top.
it just seems to be sitting on the top of the brew in a big lump rather than spread all over the top of the brew.
Is this still an effective way of dry hopping or should i just take the hops out of the bag and put them back in on top of the brew, this is the first time i have used the muslin bag for dry hopping

 

[Clint]

I used to put some sterilised cutlery in my bag. I just chuck em in now.

 

[joiner_8]

I used to put some sterilised cutlery in my bag. I just chuck em in now.

Is it too late to take them out of the bag and will they still disperse in the brew

 

[Clint]

You'll have a claggy mess if you try to get them out the bag...if you can, sink the bag...put a sterilised spoon or similar in it. It may sink on it's own though..

 

[joiner_8]

I'll try that today its only day two, is the hop bag method as effective as just throwing them in

 

[Clint]

I used to use a bag and results were good but the bag was just another thing to sterilise and clean afterwards.
What I would say is being able to cold crash the brew that's had the hops just chucked in,in my view,is essential as it helps everything drop to the bottom. So if you haven't got temp control I'd stick to bagging for now or instead of dry hopping try doing a hopstand...cooling your hot wort to around 80c then chucking the hops in and leave for half hour or so.

 

[peskytat]

I have a mangrove jack juicy ipa brewing and i am at the dry hopping stage, i have put the hops in a muslin bag instead of placing on the top.
it just seems to be sitting on the top of the brew in a big lump rather than spread all over the top of the brew.
Is this still an effective way of dry hopping or should i just take the hops out of the bag and put them back in on top of the brew, this is the first time i have used the muslin bag for dry hopping

I put a 2 inch glass marbles in a bag, if you leave the drawstring dangling out of the fv it can draw the beer up and drip drip drip though so put the drawstring in a glass

 

[Cestrian]

I used to use sterilised marbles in a hop bag, but don’t think you get all the flavour out of them compared to just chucking them in, which is what I do these days. Whole hops are a pain for dry hopping cos they just sit on the top looking at you. Pellets are much easier for dry hopping. They sit on top for a few days and then sink to the bottom, so it’s easy to rack off without getting hops in your keg or bottling bucket.

 

[joiner_8]

I used to use a bag and results were good but the bag was just another thing to sterilise and clean afterwards.
What I would say is being able to cold crash the brew that's had the hops just chucked in,in my view,is essential as it helps everything drop to the bottom. So if you haven't got temp control I'd stick to bagging for now or instead of dry hopping try doing a hopstand...cooling your hot wort to around 80c then chucking the hops in and leave for half hour or so.

I used to use sterilised marbles in a hop bag, but don’t think you get all the flavour out of them compared to just chucking them in, which is what I do these days. Whole hops are a pain for dry hopping cos they just sit on the top looking at you. Pellets are much easier for dry hopping. They sit on top for a few days and then sink to the bottom, so it’s easy to rack off without getting hops in your keg or bottling bucket.

I put a glass jar in the bag and check my fv and the hops are sitting just below the surface ill leave them till Monday, also. Should I take a couple of sg reading to make sure it's finished fermenting

 

[Clint]

Take a reading in a few days.

 

[ChrisR73]

I used to put some sterilised cutlery in my bag. I just chuck em in now.

What a cracking idea, I never thought of that.
i just chuck them in the bucket & let them sit on top...

 

[Bobmac1959]

I put Hop Pellets in a jug, then dribble hot water as I stir with a fork until I have a loose paste. I thenspoon the hop paste gently into my Wort, reseal and leave for 3 days before racking, gelatine fining and leaving for 3 days more. Then I bottle. Lovely hoppy, clear beer.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I prefer to use whole hops rather than pellets. If the dry hop addition is small I just throw them in loose. If the addition is large I still thrown them in loose but I use a sterilised slotted spoon to gently push them under the surface or they form a thick raft above the beer.

The thing with dry hopping is that there’s no right way and all ways seem to do the job about the same regardless. We all have our own preferences for duration too but there’s little difference between 2 days and 2 weeks.

What does make a difference is oxygen. I normally add one dry hop addition but I tried adding a proportion of the hops every day instead. Disaster - the constant opening of the fermenter allowing oxygen in resulted in oxidised beer. It was quite hoppy, but ruined.

 

[Rodcx500z]

I prefer to chuck em in i used to use a bag but as Clint says a pita, what i do after 3 or 4 days is give the fv a a gentle nudge to break the hops up and they then sink and no need to open the lid

 

[peskytat]

I prefer to chuck em in i used to use a bag but as Clint says a pita, what i do after 3 or 4 days is give the fv a a gentle nudge to break the hops up and they then sink and no need to open the lid

I use around 200gms to 220grms per 25ltrs, and it takes an age for them to sink, thats why I ended up using bags, and to be honest I haven't noticed any difference between bags or no bags.

 

[The Baron]

Use a bag with stainless steel spoons as said but you can use fishing line to hang the bag and it is so fine you can still put the lid back on or suspend it through the bung which will hold the line when put back in

 

[Rodcx500z]

I use around 200gms to 220grms per 25ltrs, and it takes an age for them to sink, thats why I ended up using bags, and to be honest I haven't noticed any difference between bags or no bags.

I only use up to 50g in 23L, i think you are right to use a bag

 

[peskytat]

I only use up to 50g in 23L, i think you are right to use a bag

Ha ha, honestly it took 11 days for it to drop one time, even then there was still remnants floating around, I use a bag for each different hop now

 

[moto748]

I'd never attempted dry-hopping at all, but thought I'd have an experimental go on a batch of parsnip stout, figuring it was unlikely to have much impact on a stout anyway, and I couldn't do much damage. So I bunged muslin bags of pellets into half the demi-johns and made a split batch. And really, I just tried the first one (it was only bottled a couple of weeks ago), and it smells just lovely, and you can taste those floral notes...

That has really exceeded my expectations, and I look forward to trying it on 'proper' beer!

Looking back, out of interest, in my records, it was only one demi-john, and it wasn't full, so probably about 4 litres. I put 9 g of Challenger pellets in.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

I'll bet the commercial breweries if they dry hop pour them in and then take the beer out later. I can't see them bagging and weighting hops.
But I think they do put other adjuncts in bags such as coffee, cacoa nibs.
That said I use bags with swelling space and pellets moved in and out with magnets. You can give them a good swish round with the magnet as well which helps to mix the hops.