Hops not dropping out

[46andbrew]

I'm doing a Pliny clone with 3.5 ounces of dry hops the most I've ever used and they always drop out of suspension. They have been in there for about 4 days and there is about a 1/2 inch of hops on top still. Is this normal with this amount and should I dry to get them to drop

 

[Yooper]

Some float, some sink. It doesn't matter.

I like to start my siphon in the middle, and then lower the siphon as the level of the beer drops. It still gets the vast majority of the beer and you don't risk oxidation.

 

[46andbrew]

Cool good to know thanks yooper ill try that do the hops ever clog your siphon

 

[Yooper]

Cool good to know thanks yooper ill try that do the hops ever clog your siphon

For me, no. But I've been a winemaker a long time and am very proficient with racking. Fruit and grape skins are harder to deal with than hops! But if you do have issues, some brewers use sanitized hops bags over the end of their siphon to prevent sucking up hops debris. That never worked for me, but I know lots of others swear by that!

 

[Tippsy-Turvy]

That never worked for me, but I know lots of others swear by that!

What happened in your experience? I'm planning on tying a filter bag on the end of my siphon for this current batch on bottling day.

 

[slow_boat]

I always use a nylon bag. I just dunk it in some StarSan first, throw my hops in and tie it off. Since then, no clogging. Saves a lot of headache. Very little difference in aroma, but I sometimes add an extra .5oz of hops.

 

[unionrdr]

I just dry hopped my Maori IPA yesterday. I used the remaining .8oz of each of the flavor addition hos,NZ motueka,pacifica,& wakatu. I soaked the muslin hop sacks in starsan & wrung them out before filling & tying them off. When I cracked the lid on the fermenter & dropped them in,they all sunk,with only one coming back up to float like an iceburg before I sealed it up again. And even that one was mostly below the surface. First time I had unweighted bags sink like that. but I did have .3oz more in each bag than the usual .5oz I usually have in each bag. So maybe that's the reason?...

 

[Yooper]

What happened in your experience? I'm planning on tying a filter bag on the end of my siphon for this current batch on bottling day.

The silly bag kept clogging my siphon! I find that I just don't need the bag. I know that others do it quite well, but the bag caused me issues that I never had before.

I have dryhopped with both pellets and whole hops quite a bit, and usually do pretty well at siphoning and getting the beer out without trub and hops.

 

[Yooper]

I just dry hopped my Maori IPA yesterday. I used the remaining .8oz of each of the flavor addition hos,NZ motueka,pacifica,& wakatu. I soaked the muslin hop sacks in starsan & wrung them out before filling & tying them off. When I cracked the lid on the fermenter & dropped them in,they all sunk,with only one coming back up to float like an iceburg before I sealed it up again. And even that one was mostly below the surface. First time I had unweighted bags sink like that. but I did have .3oz more in each bag than the usual .5oz I usually have in each bag. So maybe that's the reason?...

I bet it was just that the bag was "heavy" with the sanitizer or the hops. They normally do float.

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah,they usually do float. Especially whole leaf hops. I was thinking it to be a combo of sanitizer soak & the extra .3oz of hops in each bag.
But I can tell you this. Being all NZ hops used in the boil & dry hop,the flavoras & aromas are promissing to make a quite different IPA than is normally expected/experienced with the style. More of a sort of tropical frutiness so far. Even tasted a sort of oaky cinnamon & allspice kind of thing too. Can't wait to sample the final product to see what comes through. The color is looking to be a nice amber/orange in the mid-range. It'll get bottled next weekend after the 1 week dry hop. I'm also curious how well the super moss will have worked come fridge time.
I wonder how the dry hop oils will react with my having used the super moss to clear up the protien haze at that point?...

 

[Yooper]

Yeah,they usually do float. Especially whole leaf hops. I was thinking it to be a combo of sanitizer soak & the extra .3oz of hops in each bag.
But I can tell you this. Being all NZ hops used in the boil & dry hop,the flavoras & aromas are promissing to make a quite different IPA than is normally expected/experienced with the style. More of a sort of tropical frutiness so far. Even tasted a sort of oaky cinnamon & allspice kind of thing too. Can't wait to sample the final product to see what comes through. The color is looking to be a nice amber/orange in the mid-range. It'll get bottled next weekend after the 1 week dry hop. I'm also curious how well the super moss will have worked come fridge time.
I wonder how the dry hop oils will react with my having used the super moss to clear up the protien haze at that point?...

That sounds really good, as much as I love traditional "C-hops", I think that the NZ hops would make a great beer.

The hops oils won't be impacted by the super moss at all, but you may notice a very slight hops haze even in a super clear beer if there are a lot of dryhops. I normally don't notice it in my beers, except for a slight oily sheen on the top of the beer in the bottling bucket in beers that I dryhopped aggressively.

 

[unionrdr]

Ok,so I'll look for the usual bit of hop haze,if any. I've seen that oil on water thing in my dry hopped beers before. I just hope the super moss clears it up well otherwise. A lil hop haze is ok...but those NZ hops should be really different in a tropical fruit sort of way. Can't wait to drink it. If it comes out decent,maybe I'll shoot ya couple bottles to try...

 

[Yooper]

Ok,so I'll look for the usual bit of hop haze,if any. I've seen that oil on water thing in my dry hopped beers before. I just hope the super moss clears it up well otherwise. A lil hop haze is ok...but those NZ hops should be really different in a tropical fruit sort of way. Can't wait to drink it. If it comes out decent,maybe I'll shoot ya couple bottles to try...

That would be great!

 

[unionrdr]

I should be bottling it next weekend,so 3-4 weeks past that,then a week fridge time for mine. The ones I ship out usually get a few days in the fridge first.