Dry hop pellets trouble

It will probably stay like that but I wouldn't be too worried about it.

I usually "lightly stir" it with my wine thief the next time I take a gravity reading which opens up a pocket in the carboy. I then cold crash for 2-3 days once dry hopping is done which gets the "sludge" to drop out of suspension to the bottom of the carboy

 

I like to rock it back and forth a couple of times every other day. Most of the hops will drop. Leave it still at least two days before bottling, with a cold crash if possible.

 

cold crashing will drop most things out of suspension including yeast and hops. you don't even need to crash that low if you don't want to.

 

As close as you can get to freezing.

 

I dry hop in a nylon paint strainer with stainless steel ball bearings to weigh it down. Not quite as messy this way.

 

Paint strainer bag over the end of the auto siphon works well for me.

 

Glad to hear you didn't cold crash....never cold crash an IPA in a carboy or bucket unless you have almost zero head space...cold crashing in a keg is fine or if you have the carboy filled to the neck. You're sucking in a lot of oxygen to your system by cold crashing a bucket or carboy not topped off.
I use the paint strainer on the auto-siphon as well, works perfectly for me.

 

I have had problems with the flow stopping when I got to the bottom a couple times but I think I figured out why. I had the paint strainer bag pulled to tight against the bottom of the auto siphon. Now I leave a little slack on the end and I haven't had the same problem since I started doing this.

 

My last two batches I've cold crashed to around 50. This seems to prevent the suck back people report when going all the way down to the 30's since the liquid in my air lock remains intact. And from my experience 50 seems cold enough to drop the hops. I also use a fine-mesh bag attached to the end of the auto siphon tube when racking to bottling bucket, just in case I accidentally dip too low and get some of the sludge off the bottom.

 

Haven't used one before but my guess is it would work and think I have read about people using them. You might have to find a way of attaching it to the siphon so it won't fall off. The paint strainer bag is long enough that I can hold it near the top of the siphon and not worry about it coming off.

 

I use a glass carboy with a solid stopper/bung to crash and usually do so at about 40-45 degrees; haven't had any issues with oxidation or off taste so far...

 

Sounds like a good plan putting in the solid stopper. I still wouldn't recommend doing it unless you really need it. It's not really so much off flavors, but if you get oxygen in the carboy, you're going to be oxidizing hop oils which is diminishing potential aroma.