Dry hopping in a muslin bag or loose in the fermenter?

[mgillard1976]

I've always used a bag but is it really necessary?

 

[kingmatt]

It isn't necessary it just makes it easier to filter the beer from the hops when you go to package. I personally dump the hops right in, cold crash and rack from the top, because I feel you get better utilization that way, but either way works.

 

[SRJHops]

Pros and cons. You'll likely get better hop oil extraction if you put them in commando (i.e. loose). But it does add to the yeast/hops cake at the bottom of the fermenter, and some hop particles could get into your finished beer, if that's a concern for you. I recommend commando.

 

[BrewerBrad82]

I agree with going commando. Dump them in loose and then cold crash the beer after your dry hop time frame. Once crash cooled, the hops will all drop to the bottom and with a little care, nothing will get into your keg/bottles.

 

[Jag75]

I'm a bagger

 

[Clonefan94]

I dump loose. Then when I go to transfer, I sanitize a piece of paint strainer bag and a rubber band and put that around the dip end of my auto siphon.

 

[Druman07]

Bag them.

 

[Furious_Tea]

I have a stainless steel mesh hop filter with a screw on lid. They're pretty neat, easy to clean and sanitise etc. Plus once I get round to kegging I hear they are good for hopping directly in the keg.

 

[Beerfly28]

Has anyone used a “depth charge” in a big mouth bubbler?

 

[HB2 HughBHomeBrew]

I just had a bad experience with commando pellets into the fermentor. I'm just getting back to homebrewing after a 20 year retirement and all my equipment is new, so I'm sort of a beginner, sort of not. I put 4 ounces of pellets into my Spike conical. After 3 days decided to closed pressure transfer to keg and hop pieces clogged the works - I think in the beer line or maybe dip tube going into the keg. I don't have cooling coils so I can't cold crash in the conical. Maybe if I had waited longer, more hop pieces would have settled, but I didn't want them in there too long. I think this would be less of an issues if you are racking, like was posted above. I drew about 1/2 a pint off the keg 24 hours later and there were a few hop pieces but all seems fine now. But I did lose some beer in the process when things got stuck.

Trying a bag next time.

 

[FatDragon]

Pellet gunk is hell on a racking cane. I often go commando but I almost always regret it when I do. Last weekend, I bottled a brew with 4 oz of loose pellets and gave up on the racking cane before the first bottle was filled. Fortunately, a length of hose works well to approximate a racking cane, at the expense of needing to keep a close eye on the tap to avoid overfilling.