Hops bag open or not

[Noel2021]

Hi. Apologies if stupid question!
First time brew.
Evil dog American IPA.
Fermented for 8 days and bubbling almost stopped and gravity measure there and thereabouts. I'll take another reading 2 days to see if stable
I opened the 2 silver foil hops bags and just dropped the tea bag looking things in. I then thought, do I have to also open up the tea bag as they are just floating at the top. Have I done right, or do I need to empty out the contents?
Thanks
Noel

 

[foxy]

Hi. Apologies if stupid question!
First time brew.
Evil dog American IPA.
Fermented for 8 days and bubbling almost stopped and gravity measure there and thereabouts. I'll take another reading 2 days to see if stable
I opened the 2 silver foil hops bags and just dropped the tea bag looking things in. I then thought, do I have to also open up the tea bag as they are just floating at the top. Have I done right, or do I need to empty out the contents?
Thanks
Noel

Some folk prefer to sink em, others to let them float in the bag, or float around loose. My preference is throw then in loose, they drop out with the lees when cold crashing.

 

[smcc]

even a weighted bag will float up unless you really weigh it down it will be fine and they will drop out when chilled. I would keep them max 7 days before kegging or bottling. With higher amounts of dry hop like I do 3 days will often give optimal extraction.

 

[Noel2021]

Thanks for answering. So just to clarify, I popped the bags in yesterday morning (Monday) and they are floating at the top. I intend bottling tomorrow so long as gravity is still same as yesterday. Will the hops have spread through the fermenter even if just floating at the top?

 

[An Ankoù]

As long as they're thoroughly wet, the flavour from the hops should diffuse into the beer. I always push mine under the surface with sterilized spoon and give them a good squeeze before taking them out. They always float back up to the surface, though.

 

[smcc]

Thanks for answering. So just to clarify, I popped the bags in yesterday morning (Monday) and they are floating at the top. I intend bottling tomorrow so long as gravity is still same as yesterday. Will the hops have spread through the fermenter even if just floating at the top?

I mean its basically essential oils that are imparted into the beer, are you adding priming sugar to bucket and syphoning? you will need to stir anyway after adding sugar

 

[Noel2021]

That's great, thanks again