Dry hopping

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Buffers brewery

Buffers brewery

Complicated Brewer
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So far I’ve dry hopped in the FV using vacuum packed hops in a draw string net bag, usually for 5 days at 14-15 degrees C. Then transfer the beer to a barrel for conditioning. I’ve noticed the amount of liquid (beer) retained by the hops in the hop bag. So my question is, putting to one side the risks of oxidation and contamination, if it were possible to remove the hop bag from the beer and squeeze it out, would the resulting liquid add to the “hoppiness” of the beer or ditract? Any thoughts?
 
I have squeezed my bag of dry hops many times and not noticed any problems it creates and it can only add to the flavour IMO
 
I just crash the beer for a couple of days to allow any debris to settle and then direct to corny and bottles. you could gelatin/fine the beer but again this is one of those it strips the hop flavours away/no it doesn't issues so make up your own mind but if its a highly hopped its generally going to be hazy anyway
 
Buffers brewery said:
So far I’ve dry hopped in the FV using vacuum packed hops in a draw string net bag, usually for 5 days at 14-15 degrees C. Then transfer the beer to a barrel for conditioning. I’ve noticed the amount of liquid (beer) retained by the hops in the hop bag. So my question is, putting to one side the risks of oxidation and contamination, if it were possible to remove the hop bag from the beer and squeeze it out, would the resulting liquid add to the “hoppiness” of the beer or ditract? Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
After 4 to 5 days whatever you are going to extract has been extracted, what bit of beer you have left soaked in the hops will be very little. Hops have polyphenols, by sqeezing the bag you are in with a chance of extracting the unwanted polyphenols which can lead to haze and astringency. Not worth the risk.
 
foxy said:
After 4 to 5 days whatever you are going to extract has been extracted, what bit of beer you have left soaked in the hops will be very little. Hops have polyphenols, by sqeezing the bag you are in with a chance of extracting the unwanted polyphenols which can lead to haze and astringency. Not worth the risk.
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Thanks for that foxy. Thought there might be a potential downside somewhere.
 
So, I just bottled and barrelled my latest brew. After I’d finished decanting the beer I squeezed out the dry hop bag on to the trub at the bottom of the FV. Then measured the total remaining liquid and it was a little over a litre. So all in all seems there are more risks than benefits for an extra litre of beer.
 
I double dry hop for certain styles it makes the difference in haze aroma & flavour. Once at high krausen & 4 days before packaging.
 
Buffers brewery said:
So, I just bottled and barrelled my latest brew. After I’d finished decanting the beer I squeezed out the dry hop bag on to the trub at the bottom of the FV. Then measured the total remaining liquid and it was a little over a litre. So all in all seems there are more risks than benefits for an extra litre of beer.
Click to expand...
Even 2 litres is a good forfeit.
 
Buffers brewery said:
So another question on dry hopping that google won’t answer. When using vacuum packed hops for dry hopping, should you leave them in their compressed state or break them up?
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Just use as is they will break up naturally as soon as hitting the beer
 
What a faff. Dry hop for two or three days in a hop sock or bag. Loosen the lid of your FV. RInse your hands and shake off the water, pluck out the hop sock and squeeze every last drop out of the buggger. Cold crash for a day or two and bottle. Job done.

Edit: If you're using leaf hops that is. If your dry hopping with all pellets, it's probably enough just to let the beer run out of the hop sock.
 
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If you only have one litre of waste from brewing 20 odd litres of beer that's about par for the course, and I accept it as part of the brewing process. Taking extraordinary lengths to get the last ml of liquid from a brew given what it actually costs seems a bit odd to me.
 
Buffers brewery said:
So another question on dry hopping that google won’t answer. When using vacuum packed hops for dry hopping, should you leave them in their compressed state or break them up?
Click to expand...
You can get bags on either eBay or Ali express, Chinese use them for the herbs going into soups or hot pots. Just put them in a bag either separated or not, if you haven't separated, they will once they are in the wort. It is important to cold crash, that will get everything to sink to the bottom, including the hop bag. The approximate freezing temps are. ABV 4 -2.3 C ABV 4.5 C -2.5 ABV 5 -2.7 C but unless you have every confidence in your temperature controller I would be taking 1 degree off those figures. Two to three days every thing should be pretty clear, and provided everything you have done in the mash and boil is right and have prevented any trub going into the fermenter you should end up with a clear beer.
 
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What's the benefit of dry hopping in a bag? What's wrong with just throwing the hops in and then cold crashing to get them to the bottom when it's time to transfer to keg?
 
I’m probably a bit odd cos I draw my beer from the bottom of the FV. The fitting for the tap is sufficiently thick (high) that the trub level is below the outlet. So having hops in a bag keeps everything tidy.
E55043D9-0AE6-4B7A-BB3D-43EC2A994F82.jpeg
 
Leard said:
What's the benefit of dry hopping in a bag? What's wrong with just throwing the hops in and then cold crashing to get them to the bottom when it's time to transfer to keg?
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As above just makes dry hopping less messy, there will be enough oils dissipated even in the bag for aroma after four days.
 
Bag vs a dry hop spider. What's your opinion? I've got both but used neither to dry hop, just chucked the pellets in.
 
I’ve used both. Now I use a nylon popsock very cheap , fine mesh and washable. I had some strange idea that the spider might make it taste metallic. But I have no proof of that whatsoever. So if anybody want a spare hop spider I’ll post it to them because I don’t use it. By the way make sure you use a pale coloured popsock not a black one because the colour comes out into the wort!
 

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