Help w/ some dry-hopping questions?? ty!

[brewandskivt]

Wondering if its better to rack to secondary when dry-hopping? Is there any advantage to leaving the hops loose in bucket compared to using a bag? If bagging is the suggested method, is a sanitized muslin bag okay to use? Thanks in advance for any input!

 

[Bhamsteelerfan]

I always rack to a secondary (carboy) when dry hopping. As for throwing the hops in vs. using a bag, I've done both. I don't think it matters much either way, but I find it's less messy to use a bag. I actually buy paint strainer bags from either Lowe's or Home Depot. I sanitize the bag in Star San, drop the hops in the bag, then tie a couple feet of fishing line (also sanitized) to it. I drop the bag into the carboy, with the remainder of the fishing line hanging out of the carboy, and plug it with the bung. When it's time to bottle, I just pull on the fishing line, and out comes the bag! Just a little cleaner that way.

 

[brewandskivt]

I'd be racking to a bucket (don't own a carboy). I figured, if not using a bag, I could put a muslin bag over my siphoning tube to strain. Sound okay? Otherwise, i'd have to use the muslin bag to put the hops in.

 

[Bhamsteelerfan]

Secondary bucket is fine. I'd just throw the hops in the muslin bag, toss it in the bucket, and rack it up! What are brewing?

 

[brewandskivt]

An attempt at a DIPA. Nothing overly special, a basic IPA, just w/ a ton of hops. I used 6oz in the boil (3oz Citra, 1oz each of Columbus, Nugget and Amarillo). Dry hopping w/ Citra,Cascade and Columbus.

 

[cjgenever]

I also use paint strainer bags and fishing line. I use 20lb test braided line and thread it all the way around the top of the bag. Just pull it tight and snug up the slip knot. Then toss it in with the line hanging out. It works great, but the bag can be difficult to remove from a carboy.

I squeeze the beer out of the bag and bottle it separate from the batch because It will have a lot of fine particulate hop matter and there is an increased chance of contamination. With an ipa this makes a wonderfully hoppy brew.

The 'hop runnings' from a recent 10 gal iipa yielded over two litters of beer so hop delicious I drank it uncarbonated. It was so fresh and yummy I didn't want to chance changing it with c02.

Little off subject, sorry.

Primary or secondary doesn't seem to matter. It's the time line that matters because the more yeast in suspension, the more hop oils are pulled out buy the yeast.

 

[Bhamsteelerfan]

Well, good luck to you. The beer sounds delicious. Let us know how it turned out!

 

[cjgenever]

I'd be racking to a bucket (don't own a carboy). I figured, if not using a bag, I could put a muslin bag over my siphoning tube to strain. Sound okay? Otherwise, i'd have to use the muslin bag to put the hops in.

I've done this as well. I use an auto siphon with a upside down racking cane on the outlet of the hose. That allows me to hold the straining bag on the cane with a ss hose clamp (light pressure on the polycarbonate! ) This filters the bits of pellet that haven't fallen to the bottom of the fermenter yet.

Both methods of using the paint string bags have worked well for me.

That beer sounds yummy! I like two 1 oz dry hop additions for three to four days each in my iipa @5 gal.