Questions on dry hopping

Assuming an IPA? 7 days should be enough time to finish assuming an adequate amount of yeast is pitched, but it's best practice to check the gravity to make sure. I believe some brewers tend to add dry hops at different points during fermentation and conditioning, but the generally accepted way is to wait until the beer is finished before adding dry hops. This way you preserve the hop aroma without it being carried out with CO2.

You're fine to clean and sanitize everything, but once the vigorous period of fermentation is over I tend to swap the blowoff for a three piece airlock. Allows for easier moving of the vessel if need be.

You can add the hops directly, but if you're using pellets it can create quite the mess which can make siphoning or transferring difficult. If you do this you have to use some sort of filter (nylon straining bag or cheesecloth) over the siphon tube to keep it from clogging. Others bag the hops and weigh it down with something heavy that won't react with the beer. The idea is to prevent the bag from floating and to get all the hops in contact with the beer. I've done this in the past with glass marbles but stopped when I noticed they started to get a hazy appearance. I switched to using a nylon rod that props against the stopper and holds the bag under, which seems to work pretty well. However, it can be a PITA to remove the bag from the carboy due to the expanded hops and narrow carboy opening. I usually just end up cutting the bag open once the beer is transferred, since getting the whole bag back out through the opening is sometimes next to impossible.

 

How much are you using to dry hop? I've done this before in primary on a saison. I waited about 10 days after ferment, took the lid off and just kind of set it to the side of the top of the bucket (that way I didn't have to clean it again). Poured the hops straight into the fermenter, and done.

Just saw you are using a glass carboy though... I would just use a sanitized funnel, and pour the hops in through that. Apparently they say only keep the beer in contact with the dry hops for 10-14 days, or they will begin to impart a grassy flavor to the beer. I've left them in longer before though without any 'grass'.

 

Wait until most (or all) of the airlock activity stops before you add your dry hops to primary. This way all of that gas exiting the airlock doesn't take the dry hop aromas out of the carboy with it. You might also want to decide how long you plan to leave the beer in primary before bottling (x), how long you plan to dry hop (y), and then add the dry hops (y) days before (x). I like adding the hops directly to the fermenter w/o any muslin bag but it's best to do that if you either plan to leave the dry hops in the fermenter long enough to naturally settle to the bottom of the carboy before bottling or if you have temperature control and can "crash cool" the fermenter at close to freezing for a couple of days to encourage the hops to settle before bottling.

 

You should add the dry hops after outgassing has stopped.

I personally place my dry hops in a muslin bag that is weighed down by marbles; I sanitize the bag & marbles by putting them in a pot of water and bring it to boiling.

I have read where folks will just add the pellet hops in directly and then place a paint strainer bag over their siphon to keep the siphon from getting clogged; that technique should work too.

A contact time of 7 days for the dry hopping process is good.

Cheers!

 

As others have said, I find it easiest to just dump the hops in, assuming you're using pellets. I just dry hopped a black IPA last weekend with 4 oz of Simcoe and Amarillo. I transferred to a keg today. Using a 1 gal nylon paint strainer bag at the end of the siphon, I had no problems with clogging and no hop debris was picked up either.