First dry hop fail

Baldylocks Brewery · May 3, 2022

Hi All
Did my first dry hop yesterday in a cascade pale using a supermarket fruit bag with a draw string and having several doubts about it.
soaked the bag in chemsan for 30mins with a teaspoon then added 25gr pellets and lobbed it in the fermenter.
First issue is the teaspoon wasn’t heavy enough to sink the bag completely.
Second is there are bubbles around the draw string just below the surface of the beer.
Do you think it will spoil the beer and should I take the whole thing out and just lob fresh pellets in?

The Baron · May 3, 2022

No it will be ok but next time use stainless steel desert spoons x 2 for the amount of hops you used they are heavier than Teaspoons. The hops may just not be fully in contact with the beer but you will still get a good flavour from them. The bubbles you are seeing are probably Co2 as it is still fermenting.
All will be good athumb..

Baldylocks Brewery · May 3, 2022

Thank you Baron much appreciated as I hate the thought of ruining a beer that has promise based on a swig out of the hydrometer :beer1:

Cheshire Cat · May 3, 2022

I use the weight off an old pressure cooker, sterilised first obviously.

Clint · May 3, 2022

If you have the means to cold crash your fv just chuck em in. Cold crashing will cause the hops to drop when you're ready to bottle.

Baldylocks Brewery · May 3, 2022

Clint said:
If you have the means to cold crash your fv just chuck em in. Cold crashing will cause the hops to drop when you're ready to bottle.

That sounds interesting. Would overnight outside temperature do it if it’s 10 degrees or less?

Clint · May 3, 2022

I'd say not...cold for me is 3c or a bit less.

Baldylocks Brewery · May 3, 2022

Ok thanks , Think I missed the boat on that Clint at least this year.

Clint · May 3, 2022

Standard practice is to convert a spare/old fridge into a fermentation chamber containing a tube heater and regulated by an "inkbird" temp controller or similar. This enables you to keep your fermentation at its ideal temp without fluctuations and then chill it right down to clear it before bottling.
Sounds daunting but is in fact a doddle.

Baldylocks Brewery · May 3, 2022

Damn! lobbed an old chest freezer a few months ago. Is this a kegerator or keezer as I've seen both terms lately? had my eye on an Inkbird/heater to help with temp control. I have a beer fridge but I doubt it's big enough to get a bucket in but will check. Also have to check what temp it goes down to.

Dutto · May 3, 2022

Baldylocks Brewery said:
Ok thanks , Think I missed the boat on that Clint at least this year.

Don’t worry, all Cold Crashing does is speed up the clearing of beer …

… something that time and gravity will achieve anyway!

With the current cost of electricity, I will probably not bother with CC over the next five months and just put the keg in a cool place for two weeks instead.

Looking back through my Brew Day files I didn’t CC for many years and still produced clear and tasty brews.

However, when siphoning from the fermenter to the keg I use a modified siphon having:

Cut a “V” into the bottom end of the 10mm copper pipe that I use.
Fitted a “Stainless Steel Mesh Inching Siphon Filter” (purchased from Amazon) to the end of the tube.
Use a Siphon Clip so that I control exactly where the bottom of the siphon is located. (For the first keg I position the bottom of the siphon just below the 10 litre mark of the fermenter. For the second keg I move the siphon to the bottom.)

This makes sure that the first keg is virtually ‘debris free’ and the fine filter ensures that the majority of the yeast and hops don’t get transferred to the second keg.
athumb..

Agentgonzo · May 3, 2022

Baldylocks Brewery said:
Is this a kegerator or keezer as I've seen both terms lately?

Kegerator = keg + refrigerator
Keezer = keg + (chest) freezer

Both have their thermostats modded too give you the temp you desire. Functionally, they're the same thing, just given different names depending on their origin

The Baron · May 4, 2022

Dutto said:
Don’t worry, all Cold Crashing does is speed up the clearing of beer …

… something that time and gravity will achieve anyway!

With the current cost of electricity, I will probably not bother with CC over the next five months and just put the keg in a cool place for two weeks instead.

Looking back through my Brew Day files I didn’t CC for many years and still produced clear and tasty brews.

However, when siphoning from the fermenter to the keg I use a modified siphon having:

Cut a “V” into the bottom end of the 10mm copper pipe that I use.

Fitted a “Stainless Steel Mesh Inching Siphon Filter” (purchased from Amazon) to the end of the tube.

Use a Siphon Clip so that I control exactly where the bottom of the siphon is located. (For the first keg I position the bottom of the siphon just below the 10 litre mark of the fermenter. For the second keg I move the siphon to the bottom.)

This makes sure that the first keg is virtually ‘debris free’ and the fine filter ensures that the majority of the yeast and hops don’t get transferred to the second keg.

Spot on What Dutto has said you do not need to spend on fancy gadgets to make good beer. I do not use a fridge to cold crash but the garage as it is the coolest place in my house, in the winter months it is perfect and for fermenting Lagers but even when the warmer weather comes it helps because it is a few degrees cooler than the rest of the house.
No doubt fermentation control is better but if you have other ways you can control the fermentation by choosing a yeast to your temperature.
I use Kveik yeast when it gets warmer for most of my beers as it can ferment upto 40c and other yeasts can be used too just look at their fermentation temp which will be on the packet or Google

bobukbrewer · May 4, 2022

I add the pellets loose on day 3, by day 6 most are on the surface so I remove them with a very fine plastic sieve, when bottling I run through a kleenex tissue to remoce every trace of the pellets.

Baldylocks Brewery · May 4, 2022

Agentgonzo said:
Kegerator = keg + refrigerator
Keezer = keg + (chest) freezer

Both have their thermostats modded too give you the temp you desire. Functionally, they're the same thing, just given different names depending on their origin

Thanks for clearing that up Agent athumb..

Baldylocks Brewery · May 4, 2022

Dutto said:
Don’t worry, all Cold Crashing does is speed up the clearing of beer …

… something that time and gravity will achieve anyway!

With the current cost of electricity, I will probably not bother with CC over the next five months and just put the keg in a cool place for two weeks instead.

Looking back through my Brew Day files I didn’t CC for many years and still produced clear and tasty brews.

However, when siphoning from the fermenter to the keg I use a modified siphon having:

Cut a “V” into the bottom end of the 10mm copper pipe that I use.

Fitted a “Stainless Steel Mesh Inching Siphon Filter” (purchased from Amazon) to the end of the tube.

Use a Siphon Clip so that I control exactly where the bottom of the siphon is located. (For the first keg I position the bottom of the siphon just below the 10 litre mark of the fermenter. For the second keg I move the siphon to the bottom.)

This makes sure that the first keg is virtually ‘debris free’ and the fine filter ensures that the majority of the yeast and hops don’t get transferred to the second keg.

Thanks Dutto I’ll get the clip and filters as they both sound nice cheap improvements to my process.
Then it’s just patience for the clearing process until I can get a chiller of some description acheers.

Baldylocks Brewery · May 5, 2022

the baron said:
Spot on What Dutto has said you do not need to spend on fancy gadgets to make good beer. I do not use a fridge to cold crash but the garage as it is the coolest place in my house, in the winter months it is perfect and for fermenting Lagers but even when the warmer weather comes it helps because it is a few degrees cooler than the rest of the house.
No doubt fermentation control is better but if you have other ways you can control the fermentation by choosing a yeast to your temperature.
I use Kveik yeast when it gets warmer for most of my beers as it can ferment upto 40c and other yeasts can be used too just look at their fermentation temp which will be on the packet or Google

Thanks Baron, I actually bought a packet of kveik to experiment with but wasn’t sure what with but initially thinking Oktoberfest type brew. But now you mention the wider temperature it can cope with it could be a hot weather brewing option. Not really varied outside of S04, US04 and wheatbeer yeast so far. :hat:

The Baron · May 5, 2022

You will not be sorry Baldylocks and if you are doing a standard brew you can underpitch this yeast so just use half the yeast as it works better when stressed.
I use it on all beers except for Bitters and British Ales and its superb in fruity Pales and IPA's.
I pitch at 40c then wrap it up with old towels and let it freefall in temperature

cheshirehomebrew · May 31, 2022

I have tended to use sanitised marbles to weigh the dry hop bag down

Baldylocks Brewery · May 31, 2022

the baron said:
You will not be sorry Baldylocks and if you are doing a standard brew you can underpitch this yeast so just use half the yeast as it works better when stressed.
I use it on all beers except for Bitters and British Ales and its superb in fruity Pales and IPA's.
I pitch at 40c then wrap it up with old towels and let it freefall in temperature

I’m guessing not on an oatmeal choc stout though ?
Itching to get a brew or two going this weekend so time to test the kveik athumb..

First dry hop fail

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