• Welcome to the new forum! We upgraded our forum software with a host of new boards, capabilities and features. It is also more secure.
    Jump in and join the conversation! You can learn more about the upgrade and new features here.

First dry hop

Lawdawg05023

Apprentice
Joined
Jul 26, 2011
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Location
Denver
Getting ready to dry hop for the first time in a few days. Couple of questions, first I was going to dry hop my IPA after the first week, should I put it in the secondary first? Second is it important to wait until it hits the final gravity or not? Third, do I just dump it in or do I use a hop bag?

Thanks,
Lawdawg.
 
No need for a secondary! Wait till the fermentation is done and dump the hops into the primary. Wait a week or ten days to bottle/keg.
IF! you are going to reuse the yeast cake then move to a secondary. Unless your putting in 6 ounces of hops no bag is necessary. If you use a hop bag boil it with a few marbles to weigh it down. Hops float!
 
Like BobBrews said, you can add them to either primary or secondary, I've done it many times both ways. Sometimes as much as 3 different hops at an oz each. If you're into clearer beer, then you might want to use a bag. You will probably lose some utilization, so you might want  to use a little more hops. That's the beauty of home brewing, it's all good. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.
 
If you use a carboy rather than a bucket and use a hop sack, getting dry hop sack out of the carboy can be a bitch.

I never rack to a secondary fermenter as it is unnecessary in all the ales I brew and increases the chance of contamination and oxidation (though I drink my beer too fast to worry about oxidation). 

I ferment in a temp controlled mini-fridge.  After 5 days I let the temp rise to about 69 or 70 and dry hop by tossing all the hops into the fermenter / carboy.  I also remove the blow off and just cover it with foil sprayed with sanitizer.  After the dry hop period is done, 3 - 5 days, I rack to a keg with a couple hop sacks tied to the end of the siphon hose in the keg.  I sanitize these before tying to the tubing.  Wet with sanitizer, the string are well secured to the tube and never slip off.  This captures nearly all the goop going into the keg.

- Joe
 
if you secondary your beer that is the time to do so .You can do it in your primary after all of the blowoff is done otherwise all those precious aromas will be lost .four days of dry hopping works for me some people say you may get grassy flavors using whole hops for extended periods ive gone ten days without a problem and three days also with good results
 
Dryhop AFTER primary ferment done. Just throw the whole hops in primary or 2ndry. 5 ozs of marbles and 1/2 oz hops still float in a hopbag!
Remember to boil and sanitize hopbag.....alcohol will kill nasties in hops.
 
FUZZYV said:
5 ozs of marbles and 1/2 oz hops still float in a hopbag!


No kidding.  I used a large cat's eye marble and about 0.8 oz hops pellets were bobbing on the surface.  Need to find some s/s bearings.
 
Back
Top