Dry Hopping

[Shamus O'Sean]

21 minutes ago, Back Brewing said:

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?

I choose to dry hop for 3 days to avoid grassiness.  You can leave them in longer.  However, some folks say they have done their work in only a few days.  I did a commando dry hop for 9 days once.  The beer did have a grassiness to it.  However, it actually added positively to the flavour.

[jackgym]

You can buy stainless steel mesh cylinders at eBay which are ideal for dry hopping.

[RDT2]

On 5/21/2023 at 2:20 PM, 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

You could always sanitise some tongs if you don’t like using your hands!

A boil for 15 minutes prior to use!

[RDT2]

8 minutes ago, jackgym said:

You can buy stainless steel mesh cylinders at eBay which are ideal for dry hopping.

Just make sure from a proven buyer???

I bought some stainless ball bearings off eBay once for dry hopping weights! Let’s just say they weren’t stainless!

[Back Brewing]

Maybe if we come across a good supplier on ebay we post a link here

[RDT2]

On 5/26/2023 at 11:43 AM, Back Brewing said:

Maybe if we come across a good supplier on ebay we post a link here

I bought some stainless rings from Bunnings instead they have been really good to clean with no edges or corners for crud to form in.

[kmar92]

5 hours ago, RDT2 said:

I bought some stainless rings from Bunnings instead they have been really good to clean with no edges or corners for crud to form in.

Yeah I use some SS marine rigging rings and they work really well and are sanitary and easy to clean. Quite cheap, too.

[BlackSands]

On 5/21/2023 at 7:22 PM, Shamus O'Sean said:

I choose to dry hop for 3 days to avoid grassiness.  You can leave them in longer.  However, some folks say they have done their work in only a few days.  I did a commando dry hop for 9 days once.  The beer did have a grassiness to it.  However, it actually added positively to the flavour.

There was a "sciency" article circulating around a few years ago - the punch line being that the almost all the extraction actually occurs in the first 24-hours of dry hopping and there was nothing further to be gained with longer times.  However, it does seem longer dry-hops may actually improve oxidative protection so even if there is no aroma benefit to be had from a longer dry-hop a few days still may be preferential.   

And then there's the question of optimal dry-hop temperature... 

[Kegory]

1 hour ago, BlackSands said:

There was a "sciency" article circulating around a few years ago - the punch line being that the almost all the extraction actually occurs in the first 24-hours of dry hopping and there was nothing further to be gained with longer times.  However, it does seem longer dry-hops may actually improve oxidative protection so even if there is no aroma benefit to be had from a longer dry-hop a few days still may be preferential.   

And then there's the question of optimal dry-hop temperature... 

Interesting.

I read on another forum somebody quoting a brewer they had spoken to about dry hopping. Their formula was never less than three days, never more than four.

[Classic Brewing Co]

40 minutes ago, Kegory said:

Interesting.

I read on another forum somebody quoting a brewer they had spoken to about dry hopping. Their formula was never less than three days, never more than four.

I have only ever left it for 3-4 days, seems to work best.

[Kegory]

My first dry Hop addition.

25g HS-Sitiva hops in a loosely rolled chux with a double knot just to be sure. Sank to the bottom without a trace.

Here's hoping my hopping is successful.

[Kegory]

On 6/13/2023 at 2:05 PM, Kegory said:

My first dry Hop addition.

25g HS-Sitiva hops in a loosely rolled chux with a double knot just to be sure. Sank to the bottom without a trace.

Here's hoping my hopping is successful.

If anyone's interested, the double knotted chux hop sock maintained integrity throughout the fermentation.

[jennyss]

2 hours ago, Kegory said:

If anyone's interested

Yes, I am interested. My chux bags are lighter and tied with string. They float to the top and stay there! I will follow your example, and with my next brew I'll be generous with the chux.

[Kegory]

2 hours ago, jennyss said:

Yes, I am interested. My chux bags are lighter and tied with string. They float to the top and stay there! I will follow your example, and with my next brew I'll be generous with the chux.

As fate decrees, I discovered it was floating just below the surface when I went to bottle it today. I don't know if it had been there all along or just floated up recently. It certainly gave the impression of sinking to the bottom when I put it in.

I'm not sure what shape other chux are but my cheapie chux are very rectangular and well suited to that technique.

[GregT5]

When I dry hop I use a chux and usually tie up with a small zip tie (sanitised).  It pretty much always floats near the surface of the wort.

If you want it to sink you could add a couple of marbles, once again, sanitised, to add some weight to it. 

[mrchino73]

Did the experiment with commando and then with the cloth. It's incredible the difference between both of them. Now I do have a freezer so I can do the cold crash. So the hops go down and don't remain floating on the fermentenr. Didn't know the commando technique.....but somebody of you post it a while ago,so decided giving it a try!!!!! It's incredible how useful this group is!!!!!

Thnx and Regards!!!!! (Mariano from Argentina)

[Back2Brewing]

I have time on my hands so I built this for fun. Food grade polyethylene (cutting board) mount and 316 Stainless steel (SS) screws and wire. After making I washed and boiled all components for about an hour, and then soak sanitised and fitted. It's not for the real large dry hops amounts but I'm not into that, so its ok. The release mechanism is like a grenade pin holding a SS ring (connected to the hop basket) in a wide slot in the poly' mount attached to the inside of the FV lid. The pin is connected to food grade silicone covered neodymium (strong) magnets via SS wire, one magnet inside the fermenter and one outside. I sanitise the hardware, pre-fill the hop basket (leaving expansion room) finish mixing up the brew and pop the (loaded) FV lid on. No need to open it again. About day 5, depending on the brew, I slide the exterior magnet across the lid, pulling the inside magnet and pin out, and the hop basket drops into the brew and will hang at the depth I preset. I have found that the hop basket chain, if twisted up by spinning before setting the pin (not too tight), will always (reliably) deploy and spin the hop basket on the way down. This gives a bit of a mix until it reaches the static untwisted length of the attached chain. In the big picture, it probably does not help much or make much of a difference to other methods, but is fun to watch . 

[Kegory]

On 7/24/2023 at 2:42 PM, Back2Brewing said:

I have time on my hands so I built this for fun. Food grade polyethylene (cutting board) mount and 316 Stainless steel (SS) screws and wire. After making I washed and boiled all components for about an hour, and then soak sanitised and fitted. It's not for the real large dry hops amounts but I'm not into that, so its ok. The release mechanism is like a grenade pin holding a SS ring (connected to the hop basket) in a wide slot in the poly' mount attached to the inside of the FV lid. The pin is connected to food grade silicone covered neodymium (strong) magnets via SS wire, one magnet inside the fermenter and one outside. I sanitise the hardware, pre-fill the hop basket (leaving expansion room) finish mixing up the brew and pop the (loaded) FV lid on. No need to open it again. About day 5, depending on the brew, I slide the exterior magnet across the lid, pulling the inside magnet and pin out, and the hop basket drops into the brew and will hang at the depth I preset. I have found that the hop basket chain, if twisted up by spinning before setting the pin (not too tight), will always (reliably) deploy and spin the hop basket on the way down. This gives a bit of a mix until it reaches the static untwisted length of the attached chain. In the big picture, it probably does not help much or make much of a difference to other methods, but is fun to watch . 

IMG_1488.mov

Very inventive. I bought some sous vide magnets the other week but I'll skip the funky engineering for the time being.

[Back2Brewing]

"Deploy the hop grenade!"

[Kegory]

46 minutes ago, Back2Brewing said:

"Deploy the hop grenade!"

IMG_7998.mov

That's awesome, I watched it three times. I love the way you got it to spin.

Congratulations on a job well done.

[Back2Brewing]

23 minutes ago, Kegory said:

That's awesome, I watched it three times. I love the way you got it to spin.

Congratulations on a job well done.

Thank you Sir. A sample of this beer at 5 days was yummy.  This third hop addition after 24-36 hours should be even yummier