Quick! Any tips on dry hopping in a glass carboy??

[Jobe5217]

I am racking my IPA into the secondary fermenter, a 5 gal. glass carboy. I was going to put the whole-hops in muslin bags but it seems like it may be a bit of a shove to get it in/out.

Is it possible to put in in loose? Can I bottle it with it loose in the carboy? I mean will it get in the way of racking into the bottling bucket? Or should i just shove the muslin bag in there and figure out how to get it out when the beer is out to be bottled? I am thinking the latter...

Thank you!

 

[Streetrod5]

Jobe,

I've read that John Palmer ("How To Brew" author) recommends adding a few glass marbles in the muslin bag along with your hops. I'm guessing you could easily pull it out using a long 12 or 14-gauge copper wire (such as the ground wire in an electrical cable), but that might disturb the yeast cake...

Good luck

 

[NewWestBrewer]

Just throw em in. Easy to clean out later with hose or bath faucet.

 

[stpug]

If I had to do again (whole hops in a glass carboy) I would put the extra effort into getting them into a muslin bag or use pellet hops in a carboy.

 

[NewWestBrewer]

If I had to do again (whole hops in a glass carboy) I would put the extra effort into getting them into a muslin bag or use pellet hops in a carboy.

Sorry i didn't see the whole hops..yeah they are a lot tougher to clean out of a carboy. Use muslim like stpug suggested.

 

[tnlandsailor]

Pellets are a lot easier to deal with in a carboy and is my standard method. A couple of ounces of whole hops is a lot of volume to shove down that little hole. If you put them in a bag, I don't see how you are going to shove the whole bag in there. Dry hopping with loose pellets works out very nicely. At racking time, they are either sunk to the bottom or in a nice compact cake on top.

 

[Jobe5217]

Thanks for all the tips guys. I am anxious to see how easy/hard it is to get all of the loose hops out of the carboy when this is done. I'll try and post again when it is over!

 

[IL1kebeer]

Jobe,

I've read that John Palmer ("How To Brew" author) recommends adding a few glass marbles in the muslin bag along with your hops. I'm guessing you could easily pull it out using a long 12 or 14-gauge copper wire (such as the ground wire in an electrical cable), but that might disturb the yeast cake...

Good luck

Don't use copper after the beer has started fermenting. It will cause some type of reaction...oxidation reactions I think

 

[stpug]

Thanks for all the tips guys. I am anxious to see how easy/hard it is to get all of the loose hops out of the carboy when this is done. I'll try and post again when it is over!

For me, it wasn't about getting the old hops out of the carboy - that was the easy part

It was transferring my beer out of the carboy into a keg/bottling bucket. My racking cane was constantly getting plugged regardless of the filtering method I was trying. Hopefully you don't have the same troubles I did.

 

[johngaltsmotor]

I've always let them float to maximize surface area contact. Then when you go to rack, put the muslin cloth over the end of your racking tube to prevent sucking them in.
Bigger issue will be the amount of moisture that is retained in the whole leaf. In between those leaves water will be stuck by capillary forces so with whole leaf you'll leave more behind in your secondary than with pellets.

 

[kh54s10]

Don't use copper after the beer has started fermenting. It will cause some type of reaction...oxidation reactions I think

IMO the amount of time a copper wire would be in the wort and the small surface area would cause no concern whatsoever. Oxidation of the wort comes from splashing/introduction of oxygen.

 

[IL1kebeer]

IMO the amount of time a copper wire would be in the wort and the small surface area would cause no concern whatsoever. Oxidation of the wort comes from splashing/introduction of oxygen.

IMO do whatever you want

 

[kh54s10]

Don't use copper after the beer has started fermenting. It will cause some type of reaction...oxidation reactions I think

IMO do whatever you want

To be more blunt I don't think this has any validity! Copper, if clean will not cause any problem.

From BYO:

Copper is relatively inert to both wort and beer. With regular use, it will build up a stable oxide layer (dull copper color) that will protect it from any further interaction with the wort. Only minimal cleaning to remove surface grime, hop bits and wort protein is necessary. There is no need to clean copper shiny-bright after every use or before contact with your wort. It is better if the copper is allowed to form a dull copper finish with use.

However, you need to be aware that copper can develop a toxic blue-green oxide called verdigris. Verdigris includes several chemical compounds — cupric acetate, copper sulfate, cupric chloride, etc. — and these blue-green compounds should not be allowed to contact your beer or any other food item because they are readily soluble in weakly acidic solutions (like beer), and can lead to copper poisoning (i.e., nausea, vomiting). To clean heavy oxidation (black) and verdigris, use vinegar or oxalic acid-based cleansers like Revereware Copper and Stainless Steel cleanser.