Dry Hopping

[ChairmanDrew]

I've been looking into dry hopping, but I cant seem to se what the best, most basic method seems to be. I see you can just throw the hops straight into the fermentor, but it seems that can result in a bunch of gunk that can get into your bottle wand, which doesn't sound ideal.

I was wondering if a small, fine mesh laundry bag would be a good idea? Since that's what I already have around home.

[Aussiekraut]

4 minutes ago, ChairmanDrew said:

I've been looking into dry hopping, but I cant seem to se what the best, most basic method seems to be. I see you can just throw the hops straight into the fermentor, but it seems that can result in a bunch of gunk that can get into your bottle wand, which doesn't sound ideal.

I was wondering if a small, fine mesh laundry bag would be a good idea? Since that's what I already have around home.

Commando dry hopping is ok if you cold crash as the hop matter will drop out nicely but I am no friend of it. I use little hop bags I bought in a 10 pack on eBay years ago. I just keep reusing them. You can also use Chux cloths, cut a strip off and use that to tie them up. Just give them enough room as the hops will expand. I guess a laundry bag will do but they're a little on the large side. 

 

[ChairmanDrew]

7 minutes ago, Aussiekraut said:

Commando dry hopping is ok if you cold crash as the hop matter will drop out nicely but I am no friend of it. I use little hop bags I bought in a 10 pack on eBay years ago. I just keep reusing them. You can also use Chux cloths, cut a strip off and use that to tie them up. Just give them enough room as the hops will expand. I guess a laundry bag will do but they're a little on the large side. 

 

A cleaning cloth eh? Not to be pedantic, but what sort of size do you reckon will be needed?

[Aussiekraut]

15 minutes ago, ChairmanDrew said:

A cleaning cloth eh? Not to be pedantic, but what sort of size do you reckon will be needed?

Yep, they work quite well.

That depends on the amount of hops you are using. Most of the time I use about 50g of hops and a regular sized Chux cloth should be fine. I do recommend sanitising the cloth first though. You can boil it in water for a few minutes or soak it in Starsan.

[Classic Brewing Co]

25 minutes ago, Aussiekraut said:

Commando dry hopping is ok if you cold crash as the hop matter will drop out nicely but I am no friend of it. I use little hop bags I bought in a 10 pack on eBay years ago. I just keep reusing them. You can also use Chux cloths, cut a strip off and use that to tie them up. Just give them enough room as the hops will expand. I guess a laundry bag will do but they're a little on the large side. 

 

I agree with AK, there can be a lot of hop residue clogging up bottling wands/beer lines etc. I prefer to use these muslin strips I buy from the LHBS & tie them both ends with butchers string.

You would just cut them to size allowing for expansion & of course they are reusable.

[Shamus O'Sean]

18 minutes ago, ChairmanDrew said:

A cleaning cloth eh? Not to be pedantic, but what sort of size do you reckon will be needed?

I use the 60cm x 30cm ones for up to about 50 grams.  Although the photo below is a Chux cloth with mango pieces, this is how I do a dry hop with a small amount of hops.

If I am doing a dry hop with much more than 50g, I go for the 60cm x 60cm Chux cloths.  Wrapped up like a Huckleberry Finn style "bag" these can easily hold 200g of dry hops.

My process is detailed in this post here.  For weighing down the hop bag, I have switched from glass marbles to stainless steel nuts.

[ChairmanDrew]

This is the bag I was thinking to use (mouse is for size reference).  Would this be suitable? Not too big? The zip is already broken, so I'd probably bunch it at the top and tie it off with string.

 

While we're here, maybe I can get some recommendations for my next brew.

I have:

1.7l Lion Draught extract

1kg dextrose

500gm DME

100gm Nelson Sauvin hops

100gm Moutere hops

Can anyone give any recommendations of what I could do with these ingredients?

Edited May 5, 2023 by ChairmanDrew

[Kegory]

2 hours ago, ChairmanDrew said:

A cleaning cloth eh? Not to be pedantic, but what sort of size do you reckon will be needed?

In one of the Coopers how to videos they use a whole chux and knot it upon itself. Check it out, it's the Adding Flavours to Your Beer video.

[Stickers]

5 hours ago, ChairmanDrew said:

 I see you can just throw the hops straight into the fermentor, but it seems that can result in a bunch of gunk that can get into your bottle wand, which doesn't sound ideal.

not can, will!

i use the chux approach (at $1 for a pack of 10 generic brand it's not really adding much to the cost of your brews). i must admit i've never thought of knoting it, i've used the cooking string approach like @Classic Brewing Co has but lately live just been cutting a 15mm length off the short end of the chux and using that as the string.

[Shamus O'Sean]

7 hours ago, ChairmanDrew said:

This is the bag I was thinking to use (mouse is for size reference).  Would this be suitable? Not too big? The zip is already broken, so I'd probably bunch it at the top and tie it off with string.

You can definitely use that bag.  Make sure you boil it though.  It seems to have lots of sneaky spots that could conceal/capture baddies.  Just make sure it does not melt (not sure what it is make from). 

[Shamus O'Sean]

7 hours ago, ChairmanDrew said:

While we're here, maybe I can get some recommendations for my next brew.

I have:

1.7l Lion Draught extract

1kg dextrose

500gm DME

100gm Nelson Sauvin hops

100gm Moutere hops

Can anyone give any recommendations of what I could do with these ingredients?

Maybe something like Vintner's Lager.

No idea if the Lion Draught has an ale or lager yeast, but just use the yeast provided.

• 1.7Kg Lion Draught Extract
• 500g Dextrose
• 500g DME
• 12.5g Nelson Sauvin and 12.5g Moutere in 5 minute boil in 2 litres plus the DME
• 12.5g Nelson Sauvin and 12.5g Moutere dry hop

If you like hoppy beers you could increase the amount of hops.

[ChairmanDrew]

1 hour ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Maybe something like Vintner's Lager.

No idea if the Lion Draught has an ale or lager yeast, but just use the yeast provided.

• 1.7Kg Lion Draught Extract
• 500g Dextrose
• 500g DME
• 12.5g Nelson Sauvin and 12.5g Moutere in 5 minute boil in 2 litres plus the DME
• 12.5g Nelson Sauvin and 12.5g Moutere dry hop

If you like hoppy beers you could increase the amount of hops.

 At this point I'm looking for brews I can do with a fermentor and a pot on the stove, and this sounds awesome. You the man. I'll give it a go in a few days time and report back in some weeks later.

[ChairmanDrew]

The laundry bag worked out perfectly. Reckon this will be a nice brew too.

 

[BlackSands]

For dry hopping/steeping I usually use one of these:

 

 

[jennyss]

What is it please @BlackSands

[Shamus O'Sean]

1 hour ago, jennyss said:

What is it please @BlackSands

A hop tube, Jenny.  https://www.kegland.com.au/products/stainless-steel-hop-tube-with-chain?_pos=10&_sid=9cfd6c313&_ss=r

[jennyss]

8 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

A hop tube, Jenny

Thanks Shamus, proves I've never seen one! Looks good and easy to use.

[Shamus O'Sean]

9 hours ago, jennyss said:

Thanks Shamus, proves I've never seen one! Looks good and easy to use.

I prefer a Chux cloth for dry hopping because I can squeeze out the hoppy goodness when removing it from the fermenter. 

You cannot squeeze the hop tube.  Although, you could open the top and push down inside the tube to try to get extra hop flavour out.  

The other disadvantage is that the hop tube can take quite a while to drain when you pull it out of the FV.  However, if you dry hopped 3 days before you bottle/keg, you could just leave the hop tube in the FV and it would drain as you are bottling/kegging.

[jennyss]

1 minute ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

I prefer a Chux cloth for dry hopping

Well, there you go, my new brew just gone into the fermenter has a chux bag, made  big enough this time to give the pellets room to expand.

[Back Brewing]

17 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

I prefer a Chux cloth for dry hopping because I can squeeze out the hoppy goodness when removing it from the fermenter. 

You cannot squeeze the hop tube.  Although, you could open the top and push down inside the tube to try to get extra hop flavour out.  

The other disadvantage is that the hop tube can take quite a while to drain when you pull it out of the FV.  However, if you dry hopped 3 days before you bottle/keg, you could just leave the hop tube in the FV and it would drain as you are bottling/kegging.

When do you squeeze it out? Before you keg or bottle? Do you squeeze it by hand?

The reason for asking is I thought that would maybe run the risk of an infection. I was going to do it myself before I kegged my first brew but thought nah better not

[Classic Brewing Co]

7 minutes ago, Back Brewing said:

When do you squeeze it out? Before you keg or bottle? Do you squeeze it by hand?

The reason for asking is I thought that would maybe run the risk of an infection. I was going to do it myself before I kegged my first brew but thought nah better not

If you thoroughly wash your hands (no dirty fingernails) & sanitise them or better still some gloves you wouldn't have a problem, I have done it myself, but I use muslin cloth.

[Back Brewing]

I use a fine mesh hop sock for hops and grain. When I keg this next brew I will sanitise my hands and give it a good squeeze before kegging

 

[Shamus O'Sean]

37 minutes ago, jennyss said:

Well, there you go, my new brew just gone into the fermenter has a chux bag, made  big enough this time to give the pellets room to expand.

Hey Jenny, It is not recommended to add the hops in a Chux cloth at the start of fermenting because it can give the beer a grassy flavour due to being in the FV for so long.  When you do a hop steep, you only add the liquid into the fermenter.  If you did throw in the hops Chux cloth too, I would fish it out.  It would have done no harm in a day or two. 

[Shamus O'Sean]

26 minutes ago, Back Brewing said:

When do you squeeze it out? Before you keg or bottle? Do you squeeze it by hand?

The reason for asking is I thought that would maybe run the risk of an infection. I was going to do it myself before I kegged my first brew but thought nah better not

I dry hop for 3 days.  I use powder-free food handling gloves and sanitise them first.  I usually cold crash after dry hopping.  So the beer sits for another 5-7 days.

[Back Brewing]

I'm going to dry hop tomorrow with 20g of Amarillo hops 

Last brew I dry hopped on day 4 and left them in the FV should I have taken them out after 3 or 4 days?