Tips on dry hopping in Primary

I use one or two of the better bottle dry hoppers from...

https://utahbiodieselsupply.com/brewingfilters.php

in primary...I would go with the corny keg dry hopper if I had a do over...

I just drain with these in place and get very little hop residue transfered out of my primary to keg or bottles....

I rarely ever secondary unless fruit is involved...

 

I throw my dry hops (pellets) directly into the fermentation bucket. I've never had a problem with siphoning off hop particles when I rack to the keg.

 

LOVE my big mouth bubbler. I prefer glass to plastic, so mine paid for itself after the first cleaning.

 

@CurtFromHershey any problems with the seal on the BMB? Looks like a great design.

 

My method:

After full attenuation, cold crash primary vessel around mid 30s F for 2-3 days,
Transfer to purged Cornelius keg on top of dry hops, once transfer complete purge again through the dip tube,
Add ~2 psi head pressure on head space in keg and let sit at 45-50 F
Shake daily for 5-7 days, except for the day before and day of transfer to serving keg, then CO2 push transfer to serving keg

Note: dip tube on conditioning tank (dry hop keg) is cut 2.5" up to leave behind hop trub

 

Just dry hopped 4 oz pellets in the carboy. I really wanted to avoid a mess at bottling so I placed the hops in a boiled muslin bag weighted with marbles, attached to some dental floss. Lowered it in the primary and reattached the airlock. After I congratulated myself I then watched all the pellets float up and out of the bag. Note to self: tie the damn bag closed!

 

I go commando wih leaf and bag pellets in primary. Cold crash after 5 days. Rack via co2 to purged keg with leaf hops in bag.
I get commercial quality ipas this way!

 

I dry hop directly in my primary (bucket.) When I go to rack to the keg, I place a BIAB bag in my keg, place the siphon tube into the bag and siphon like normal. I don't worry about hop debris getting siphoned in, as the bag catches 99.9% of it. When transfer is complete, pull out the bag, and seal keg/purge as normal.

Maybe someone can explain this to me. I never understood the method of weighing down of a dry hop bag. Wouldn't you want the whole fermentor to come in contact with the dry hops? I think the batch would benefit from putting the hops on top and let them fall as normal. I feel that if you weigh it down, you don't get the full potential of the dry hop......unless I am completely wrong of course.

 

Racking through a bag on the destination end sounds like a good way to oxygenate your beer, which is not normally desirable.

The bag is weighted to keep it from floating. But it doesn't go to the bottom. The floss (or whatever) that's being used to suspend the bag is of an appropriate length to keep the hops in the middle of the keg. Thus maximum exposure.

 

There is no oxygenation, no more than normal racking to keg. The bag goes to the bottom of the keg. the tube is at the bottom of the bag. It is submerged in a matter of seconds.

When I was referring to the weighed down dry hop bag, I was referring to a fermentor and not a keg.

 

I disagree. As the beer rises, it's still passing through the mesh at the surface. Anything that disturbs the surface/causes bubbles is going to dissolve more O2.

What's the difference? Floating hops have less contact with the beer. Hops sitting on the bottom have less contact with the beer. When I used to dry hop in the fermenter, I suspended the hops in a weighed bag, just like I now do in kegs. It is a major PITA to remove a hop bag from a carboy opening, which is one reason among many I switched to kegging.

 

Agree to disagree. I used this method over 30 times with no ill effects.

 

I just wanted to take this opportunity to brag about using 316 stainless ball bearings to weigh down my hop bags and I silently snicker any time someone mentions using glass marbles.

 

So I splurged and got one of these. My first use was disappointing. After fermentation, I placed 4oz of hop pellets in it (in the primary) to DH an IPA. Bottled after 8 more days. I expected the hops to float in the tube, but when I removed it I found one very large solid mass of water-absorbed hops at the bottom. Took a long time to remove the hops, and the hops in the center of the tube were still in pellet form. Very little aroma at bottling and after conditioning 2 weeks later. Any thoughts? I was thinking of mixing in something like rice hulls (analogous to avoiding a stuck mash). @suavo: have you seen this?

For now, I'm back to adding pellets commando to the carboy and cold crashing.

 

Sorry didn't see this earlier.

I have not had any issues w/ the seal, although I have heard others do. The new design, "2.0", is supposed to have fixed that although I have no direct experience