Dry Hop Issue

[rodwha]

I bottled my IPA yesterday and noticed MUCH more hop particles in the beer, which got sucked into the bottling bucket despite leaving behind more beer than I usually would.

Outside of using whole cones what do you guys do to reduce this?

I'm considering using a muslin bag and dropping that into my reusable hop bag to help. I'd think it ought to reduce it fairly well.

 

[andrewsbromley]

You have a couple of options, I think. The last IPA I made, I cold crashed it before bottling, and that got just about all of the hop debris to settle out (there's still some cloudiness, but I attribute that to the oils that diffused into the beer during dry hopping). I think a lot of people use muslin bags to contain the hops, but others say that decreases the exposure of the beer to the hops. I know some people put cheesecloth (or something similar) over the end of the racking cane during transfer. When I did that, I found it just got tremendously clogged with sediment while transferring the last gallon or so of beer (though I may have just had it too close to the trub).
Just using whole cones isn't the answer either, I don't think; I did that the first time I dry hopped and wound up with a few bits of hop in the bottling bucket.
If you do your best (using a method above or some other technique) and still wind up with hops in the bottling bucket, you could also put a small screen on the inside of the bottling bucket over the spigot to act as a secondary filter.

 

[rodwha]

I had thought about a screen filter in the bottling bucket too, but wondered how well it would work or if it would clog.

And if it did clog what would/could you do about it?

 

[unionrdr]

Use a dual layer fine mesh strainer to strain the wort into the fermenter 1st of all. Then use muslin hop socks sanitized for dry hopping. They don't hold back enough hop oils to make a tremendous difference. That's what I do & stopped getting hop debris in my bottles.

 

[Magic8Ball]

+1 on cold crash + 1 on hop bag, add a sanitized stainless steel washer or 4 to weigh the hop bags down. Use 20lbs+ sanitized fishing line tied to hop bags to pull the bags out post racking. I use cheese cloth dbld up for the bags and just toss it in the trash when done (makes the trash can smell good too). I do feel that I get a little less hop aroma transfer using a bag, so I just up the quantity of hops. 1 oz becomes 1.25 oz etc. Short of a full on filtering setup you are going to get some floaters. Hey its a homebrew, a hop swimmer in your glass is just a nice reminder of that fact.

 

[rodwha]

I haven't seen a problem like this before.

 

[rodwha]

I don't have the space to cold crash, and we have 2 fridges.

I use small pieces of metal from a BBQing iron I haven't used to weigh down my reusable hop bag.

 

[andrewsbromley]

+1 for weighing down the hops; the first time I dry hopped, the hop cones just floated at the top and I got some unpleasant oxidation

As far as cold crashing goes, I've done it before by just putting the fermenter into an extra (clean) trash can and filling it with ice and cold water. Did that before I went to bed, and in the morning my beer was nice and clear.

 

[KeninMN]

I've always used a sanitized muslin bag, weighted down with clean, sanitized lead-free marbles (Marble King, New York, New York) tied off and suspended with a piece of sanitized, unflavored dental floss. Plus sufficient bottle conditioning time to allow everything to drop out of suspension and a proper pour prior to serving. And did I mention that I sanitize everything?

 

[Yooper]

I don't use hops bags, and the few times I did in the past I didn't weigh them down.

Does your racking cane have a black end piece that fits over it? It really helps with racking and not sucking up particles.

I'm an old winemaker, so I'm pretty proficient with racking, but I think anybody can do it.

 

[StonesBally]

Just stick a stainless mesh lint trap for washing machines on the end of you racking cane. I've Don this many times. It keeps the hops out but is still porous enough to not clog. Just used it on an IPA that was dry hopped with 6 + oz. Of dry pellet hops. You don't even need to secure it with anything. It always comes right out of the carboy along with the auto siphon.

 

[rodwha]

My end piece is red, but I'd assume it's similar.

This, but 1/2":

http://morebeer.com/products/easy-siphon-38-inch.html

 

[KeninMN]

I don't use hops bags, and the few times I did in the past I didn't weigh them down.

Does your racking cane have a black end piece that fits over it? It really helps with racking and not sucking up particles.

I'm an old winemaker, so I'm pretty proficient with racking, but I think anybody can do it.

Yes, the black thingy helps a lot, as does allowing things to settle for a while after moving your carboy into position. I usually put it onto my work space the night before I transfer to the bottling bucket...

 

[rodwha]

I put my fermentor on to the counter the morning of to help allow any stirring to settle, and I usually don't get started until 2-3 or so so it sat for quite some time.

I found sponge material in my bottling wand, which shows that fairly large chunks got through the whole thing. I even have a good bit of it in the last 12 pack I bottled as I wasn't sure of what it was I was seeing.