Floating Hops

[Python15]

Hi all, I've made a batch of American Pale Ale from The Range. I've followed the instuctions to the letter and they told me to add hop pellets after 7 days. This I dutifully did 4 days ago. I've just had a look into my bucket and the hops are lying like a green mat across the top of the beer. I can't tell if the beer is finished or not as I can't actually see it. Is this normal? The instructions stated not to stir the hops. Any help or solutions would be appreciated.

 

[Pavros]

It's fine!
Don't do anything and leave it alone.

The hops will eventually drop to the bottom of the fermenter in due course and the beer will start to clear (possibly).

The only way to tell if the brew is finished is to use a hydrometer. When you have the same reading on 3 consecutive days, then the beer is ready to bottle/keg.

 

[Python15]

Cheers Pavros, thanks for answering. I always use a hydrometer when I think the brew is done; just to confirm and calculate strength but I was thinking I wouldn't be able to read it with all the greenery floating about. If you say it will sink then that's good enough for me. I've only ever dealt with the big hop tea bags before.

 

[Pavros]

Ah - I use a turkey baster (£1 from Wilko) to sample some beer into a trial jar, then use the hydrometer to take a reading. Much easier than reading the scale when the hydrometer is in the fermenter.

OR if you do put your hydrometer in the fermenter, you could take a photo of it and enlarge to see the reading.

 

[Python15]

Turkey baster!!! Bloody hell, never thought of that!! That'll be in the home brew armoury tomorrow!!!! Thank's Pavros your a star!

 

[Pavros]

You could also use a sterilised spoon to carefully make a hole in the floating hops in the fermenter then carefully place a hydrometer into it.

 

[The Baron]

Turkey baster at your local Wilko's if they have anything on the shelves.
Near pots and pans cookware

 

[MashBag]

+1 turkey baster. You can even attach a short bit of hose to the end. Brilliant tool.

 

[Python15]

I'm afraid there's not too many Wilko's at my end of the country but it's surely food for thought. Thanks guys!

 

[Clint]

I did use a wilko turkey baster (x2) but found that sanitiser did eventually cause the bulb to disintegrate. I did store it in the sanitiser though which probably didn't help. I now use a great big plastic "Carry on Doctor" syringe which I had off fleabay.
Gentle tapping on the side of the fermenter vessel can encourage hops to drop but as said they'll drop anyway.

 

[matt.]

Wow . That's spooky to read this post. I'm 2 days away from adding the hops to that exact same beer kit from The Range.
Thanks for the heads up about the hop issue. And great tip for the turkey baster.

Btw, I forgot to take an initial SG reading. What's was yours?
I added 1 Kg brewing sugar.

Cheers

Matt

 

[Python15]

Hi Matt, I used 1.5 Kg of sugar and the starting gravity was 1.052

 

[matt.]

Hi Matt, I used 1.5 Kg of sugar and the starting gravity was 1.052

Thanks. Keep in touch / us updated on the brew progress. This kit is new to me. Liquid is a nice golden colour at the moment.
Hops to be added in 2 or 3 days.
Cheers
Matt

 

[Jim Brewster]

The hops will drop but you can speed it up by dropping the temp.
I left my fermenter outside for a few days in the dark and all the hops drop out, also helps clear the beer.

 

[Python15]

Thanks for that Jim. Something else I didn't consider.

 

[Pavros]

Yes - I forgot to mention that I do a version of a 'cold-crash' when fermentation has ended by leaving the fermenter overnight on the concrete floor of my garage. This drops a lot of the sediment/hops quickly.

 

[Python15]

OK, a wee update on how things are. The hops have left the top of the FV! They started dropping shortly after my last post and it was a very gradual affair, they seemed to do it in shifts. The situation I'm in now is the hops sitting about a centimeter below the surface and not moving, just suspended there. I can look through the semi opaque bin and I see a greenish line about an inch thick just sitting there. Would someone please give me an idea of what sort of time frame we're looking at for these hops to fall to the bottom of the bin as I'm beggining to thinks it's gonna take weeks at this rate.

 

[Clint]

Can you chill the bucket? Try tapping the side. Adding the hops can cause C02 to be released from the beer,I think it's called nucleation or something like that! It can also give the impression fermentation has restarted. Perhaps some gas is buoying up the hops?

 

[Python15]

Well the bucket is in the garage now (coldest place here) so hopefully this will work. I have to say though as a 60 odd year old them buckets ain't light! I'm just wondering how much disturbance there'll be moving it back inside for bottling? Also meant to say, checked the gravity, sat at 1.003 and it looks done. Thanks to all you guys for your enduring help!

 

[MashBag]

Tbh, floating hops isn't an issue.
They are being lifted by the co2 created by the yeast. Once the fermentation finished the gas production will cease and the hops will sink.

The bigger issue is from infection.
Anything not "in" the yeasty brew is exposed. The best course of action would be to to gently stir them back in or push them down every day.