Swirling the fermenter, do you?

The only time I would do so was if fermentation was really slow to start to rouse the yeast. I would quit this practice

 

I never have, or seen a need to. I think if you have all of the following, it should be necessary only very rarely...

- Adequate pitch of healthy yeast
- Adequately oxygenated wort
- Adequate nutrients
- Fermentation temperature appropriate for yeast strain

 

Possible oxidation

edit: Probable* even

 

Dissolving additional O2 from the headspace into the beer (as opposed to wort).

 

Dropping it.....shit happens.

 

Would think also if you wanted clear beer that wouldn't help a lot. I have always racked my beer off the primary fermentation vessel so a secondary to help with clarity. If you shake or swirl it you get a lot more sediment in your secondary and your keg/bottles. Also what everyone else said.

 

Yeah - absolutely no reason to swirl your fermenter. You're introducing a very strong risk of oxidization for no reason. The only time you may want to consider a gentle rousing of the fermenter is if you're experiencing a big lag in fermentation starting. Leave it alone!

 

I agree with almost all of the points made above in support of not swirling the fermenter; however, I would add one or two caveats:
1.) If you are using a highly flocculant yeast (such as WLP002) and the yeast flocks out in the middle of fermentation (which can happen if the temp drops below 65), you may need to give the fermenter an occasional swirl to rouse the yeast so that it continues fermenting and
attenuates out.
2.) If you are dry-hopping a very hoppy beer, I generally give the carboy a swirl every couple days to ensure maximum contact with the beer so the hop pellets don't just float on top of the beer or sit on the bottom of the fermenter the whole time. Not sure if this is necessary, but it has never negatively impacted my beer, and I've had great results with the aroma I get in my
hoppy beers.

Regarding oxidation

 

I just had this question as I dropped 3 oz of Citra into my fermenter for dry hopping. I added the hops prior to fully complete fermentation, thinking that the CO2 being produced at the moment will help keep O2 away. The hops dropped into the krausen, then I was like "now what the frak? they're just sitting there. will they drop down?" so I gently rotated the fermenter today. The whole time worrying about oxidation.

I don't ever plan on using hops in a bag with weights for dry hopping in the fermenter, and don't know any other way.

 

Why wouldn't you use weights? It would solve your problem of hops floating in the krausen.

 

First, I'm an engineer, so I over think EVERYTHING (not always to my own benefit). But I just started using bottling buckets as fermenters for hoppy beers, as I want to use CO2 to transfer to my keg. I see a dangling mass of hop trub from dental floss not dangling so well as the beer flows to the keg. Any issue with hop bag blocking the spigot? I don't want to open the lid until cleanup. Hop bag falling into the trub and losing my "clear beer"? Just spit-balling here. I know it's all opinion, but what about hop contact with wort when it's in the bag (I've never dry hopped in a bag, only loose)?
Cheers you helpful brewers!

 

I don't think swirling would necessarily oxidate your beer, but splashing definitely would. I've given my fermenter a few quick rotations (a towel under it helps). Just enough to agitate the yeast cake, and get the yeast moving again.

 

Part of the kegging benefit is that IT IS your secondary...no need to dryhop in the primary...dryhop in the keg

 

Is there benefit for dry hopping just prior to fermentation being complete? I've read many differing opinions, but I have joined the side of yes, drop the dry hops in just before fermentation is complete.

 

I've heard it protects from oxidation & also creates some flavors it wouldn't be able to otherwise. I know nothing of the science of it but I'm sure someone here can better explain

 

I've tried dry hopping in the primary three times with a few gravity points left and have concluded it isn't something I need to try a fourth time based on the three strikes rule. Sadly, the so called hop bio-transformation and alleged reduction in oxidation did not produce better results than dry hopping in a keg.

 

Adding dry hops prior to completion of primary fermentation was discussed by Dave Green (@telejunkie) in his article entitled Advanced Dry Hopping:

“Matt Brynildson, on the other hand, adds his hops during fermentation, and the hardware garnered for his hop-forward beers should make any brewer re-think their approach. Matt has three reasons for his method: "This is to take advantage of the active yeast for (1) dissolved oxygen protection (2) natural mixing which we believe helps in better extraction of wanted oils and (3) biotransformation of hop oil compounds." But he also warns of the potential pitfall of adding dry hops to an active fermentation. "The dreaded 'beer volcano' can happen easily resulting in beer loss . . ."

So what are biotransformations anyway? Once again I turned to Peter Wolfe to help dissect this term. He explained that when we talk about biotransformations on hop compounds we are talking about oil components that yeast have modified. An important aspect is that we are talking mainly about terpenoids and glycosides. Terpenes are rarely affected by biotransformations. Biotransformations of hop compounds in beer can occur in two forms. The first is fairly straightforward when one compound is transformed into another. An example of this would be the transformation of geraniol to ß-citronellol. The second biotransformation is the hydrolysis of the glycosides which was introduced earlier. Certain yeast strains have shown the ability to transform non-aromatic glycosides into aromatic terpenoids. Shellhammer and Wolfe found that certain aromatic terpenoids increased their concentration over time in the presence of yeast. This may be just one reason many people find bottle conditioned or unfiltered beer to be superior to filtered beer.”

https://byo.com/stories/issue/item/3187-advanced-dry-hopping-techniques

Cheers!

 

Well, yes there are differing opinions, but probably a majority of people... homebrewers and commercial geeks alike, dry hop after primary fermentation is over.

http://byo.com/stories/issue/item/1982-dry-hopping-techniques

I think because a lot of people don't secondary/keg, dryhopping in the primary is almost a necessity.