How to add hops and other additions to my fermenter?

[evil.soup]

Hi all,

I currently have a batch of coopers kit lager on the go, I have swapped out the standard yeast for Novalager and it is going for gold bubbling away at the minute.

Now, to add a bit more of a European flavour to my lager I will be dry hopping with 50g of Hersbrucker hops, but I have a few questions in relation to this.

First off, I am using a simple bucket fermenter with a tap and I intend to bottle straight from the bucket using a bottling stick, so it won't be moving to a second vessel to ferment or pour. I have a large nylon produce bag to put the hop leaves in, as recommended in another thread on here, and my intention is to simply pop the lid a little, drop in the bag and leave some of the string from the bag over the edge of the lid so I can lift it out before the cold crash. Now my plan involves the risk of getting air in the bucket, although it will only be open a little and for a moment then sealed again, so can I get away with this or am I guaranteed to ruin the whole batch?

The other question is, should I agitate the bucket a little from time to time while the hop is in there just to mix the hop oils in to the batch or do I not need to do this? I have never done this before and I don't like a strong hop flavour, as with the likes of hop house 13 for example, nasty poison. I intend on doing an incremental taste test just to see how the flavour is developing and imagine I will only have the hop in there for 2 days or so.

Another question, and this is mainly to speed things up, can I dry hop and cold crash at the same time or will this slow the hop extraction process?

 

[MrJay83]

For your set-up (mine previously), I'd put it in a hop sock, Tesco vegetable bag, etc. and throw it in. If you were transferring to a bottling bucket I would just chuck them straight into the primary without the bag.
I've never agitated when dry hopping in a bucket and everything seemed okay but I bet others opinions will differ on that.

 

[SMP Brewery]

If this is the coppers bucket with the insert and a lid on top. I use it to ferment my Saison. Put the hops in a string like bag then just opened the lid up and chucked them in, left them there until I bottled them at the weekend, the only issues you’d probably have with this method if it was heavily dry hopped.

 

[YeastFace]

When using leaf hops I used to add some sanitised baking beans into the bag to help it sink and hopefully increase extraction. Stainless spoons or similar will do.

 

[Agentgonzo]

When using leaf hops I used to add some sanitised baking beans into the bag to help it sink and hopefully increase extraction. Stainless spoons or similar will do.

Do you leave the beans in the tin, or open it and dump them in, tomato sauce and all? . (others have used a sanitised metal spoon etc to weight it down).

Don't worry about introducing oxygen at this stage. As long as it's still actively fermenting and you don't leave it open for ages, the yeast will remove any excess oxygen pretty quickly. And unless you are using a boat-load of hops (you're not) the impact will be minimal, if not completely undetectable.

 

[The Baron]

Use a bit of fishing line on the veg bag you have got easy to sterilise and does not interfere with the seal of the lid too much.
I am with Agent on this too many brewers are getting anal with (introducing oxygen )opening the top/lid as long as it is for a quick drop of the hops and closed straight away. Also use 2 sterilised dessert spoon SS of course so the hops are held below the surface of the beer.
Only time introducing oxygen can be risky is when massive dry hops and if doing a NEIPA which are susceptible to oxidising apart from that dry hop away.
Ps I have done NEIPA's and 200 plus dry hops as long as you are doing it while it is still fermenting say day 3 or 4

 

[evil.soup]

Thanks all for that, it kind of puts my mind at rest with regard to the oxygen issue. I am using the fresh good bags from Lidl, 2 good size ones for 50p, bargain. I also intend on popping a couple SS spoons in there with the hops.
So do you not think 50g will be enough to add a bit of flavour and aroma? I keep reading and find different information in different places, I want to ensure its not a fruitless exercise but equally don't want something like hop House 13, that's just too much.
That's why I was thinking of taste testing along the way or will I not get the finished strength at this point?

 

[MrJay83]

Thanks all for that, it kind of puts my mind at rest with regard to the oxygen issue. I am using the fresh good bags from Lidl, 2 good size ones for 50p, bargain. I also intend on popping a couple SS spoons in there with the hops.
So do you not think 50g will be enough to add a bit of flavour and aroma? I keep reading and find different information in different places, I want to ensure its not a fruitless exercise but equally don't want something like hop House 13, that's just too much.
That's why I was thinking of taste testing along the way or will I not get the finished strength at this point?

Just be careful with the spoons that they are SS. I got a bag of glass marbles from Savers for a quid.

 

[Agentgonzo]

So do you not think 50g will be enough to add a bit of flavour and aroma?

Oh 50g will definitely be a good amount and certainly add flavour and aroma. It's just that with the NEIPA craze, people are adding 250g or even 500g as dry hop. That's when you can really notice a tiny amount of oxidation.

You'll be fine.

 

[Agentgonzo]

That's why I was thinking of taste testing along the way or will I not get the finished strength at this point?

Always taste as you go. That way, you can build up an idea of what different things taste like at different points in the process. That'll help you in future brews when you want to start changing things, modifying your recipe etc. After a while, you'll be able to guess what the finished brew will taste like at the start of fermentation etc. Plus, you learn more about how it changes and what happens at each stage

 

[The Baron]

Yes 50g is plenty to add some flavour without drowning it.
IMO a lot of the oxidising isuue is due to the large amounts of hops which are not totally solid so contain air and as Agent has said large amounts of little amounts of oxygen can cause a issue.
Good Luck

 

[evil.soup]

Fantastic, thank you all! I have just put 50g in with a couple of SS spoons love the marbles idea though, may get a bag just for future brews. This is day 3 plus 3hrs so prob a good Time to hop. I will do a taste Friday morning to give it a chance to start infusion. Just did a gravity check and got 1034, didn't get an OG because I focked up the reading but 1034 sounds the right ball park at this stage. Also had a quick swig, tasted ok, a bit like old school shandy bass from back in the day, still quite sweet but bitterness is mellowing out nice.

I have to admit, I'm loving this brewing game lol!

 

[emmever]

Sorry for jumping in the conversation....
I have a newbie question: what is the purpouse of dry hopping?
Just to add flavour and aroma or it is also supposed to add bitterness?

 

[Agentgonzo]

Sorry for jumping in the conversation....
I have a newbie question: what is the purpouse of dry hopping?
Just to add flavour and aroma or it is also supposed to add bitterness?

Too add hop flavour and aroma but without the bitterness

 

[emmever]

Too add hop flavour and aroma but without the bitterness

Thanks!

 

[evil.soup]

From what I can gather, you can boil hops in the brew at the beginning to add bitterness, if that's what you are after but avoid the boil for flavour and aroma.

I am trying to avoid bitterness in mine.

 

[The Baron]

IMO dry hopping does add further bitterness or perceived bitterness. If you are wanting to reduce bitterness cut down the dry hop(if Largish) to a smaller one and do a whirlpool at sub 80C as this will extract the flavour with very little bitterness

 

[evil.soup]

Well, this morning I pulled the hops after 38hrs, they seem to have added quite a bit of hop flavour and a little bitterness.

If I am going to be honest, unless it mellows out a bit, I think I have ruined this batch, in relation to my own taste preferences at least. It will be drinkable and I am sure the flavour profiles will be perfect for some people as it does taste a lot like a hopped craft lager I had a few months ago. It is currently only 5 days old of course, so it has a way to go, plus, it will taste different when carbonated and cold, but have a feeling I have gone a bit too far with the hop flavour.

Live and learn I guess...

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

unless it mellows out a bit, I think I have ruined this batch, in relation to my own taste preferences at least.

Will definitely mellow out in a few weeks - and as you rightly say, when cold ;-)
Definitely worth keeping a brewing diary with notes on exactly how much you added and the processes etc ... I always think I'll remember, but its amazing how often I end up checking back at my notes

 

[evil.soup]

Will definitely mellow out in a few weeks - and as you rightly say, when cold ;-)
Definitely worth keeping a brewing diary with notes on exactly how much you added and the processes etc ... I always think I'll remember, but its amazing how often I end up checking back at my notes

Yes thanks, I have done that, I am a bit obsessive with things like this so I have everything written down with dates, times and my thoughts for future reference lol!!

As for mellowing out, I really hope you are right. It won't go to waste of course, plenty of people want a bottle or 2 and I don't do waste, so it will get drunk!! :)