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Whole Hop Dry Hopping - Loose or Bags?

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  • Whole Hop Dry Hopping - Loose or Bags?

    Plenty of dry hopping threads about pellets, but I'm using whole hops/plugs. I've had great results using 1 to 1.5 lbs/bbl added at about 90% attenuation, for four days at fermenting temp. then another week after dropping to conditioning temp. I've been using large nylon coarse mesh bags with weights, works well. BUT... I want to just toss the darn things in without a bag. Will they sink eventually? Will they just float on top forever? Will racking to another tank help?

    I'm sure the aroma contribution will be much better adding loose, but will it just be too much trouble in the end?

    See YALL in Austin at the CBC!

    Jamie Fulton
    The Covey Restaurant & Brewery
    Fort Worth, TX
    ______________________
    Jamie Fulton
    Community Beer Co.
    Dallas, Texas

    "Beer for the Greater Good"

  • #2
    Way back in the day, when I was a beer-moving, yeast-harvesting grunt (Well, I'm still one!), I learned to just put the hops in the bag, and toss 'em in. When it was time to empty the grundy, they were saturated and sunk. IMHO, though, you'd be best served by using the bag, I think loose whole hops would be a recipe for disaster of some type.
    "By man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world" -- St. Arnold of Metz

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    • #3
      They will sink eventually and can create a challenge when they block your tank drain. Regardless, I still use them "free-range" and whole in my aging tanks. I prefer the flavor of whole hops and believe they may help clarity whereas I have heard complaints that pellets worsen clarity.

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      • #4
        In regards to your post Moonlight, I also have noticed that, even when in bags, the whole hops help clarify the beer much faster. I don't think I'll ever be in the mood to try unclogging my stand pipe of hop debris; so I think I'll just stick with bags.
        ______________________
        Jamie Fulton
        Community Beer Co.
        Dallas, Texas

        "Beer for the Greater Good"

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        • #5
          Hoppyness

          If you can tie them off some how in a nylon mesh bag they will stay out of the yeast and cold break - Thus more exposed surface area. Cheers, LoLo.

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          • #6
            I have never used plugs, what size are they typicaly? All my tanks have 1 1/2"
            ports so I have always used pellets in the uni's and if I use whole I have to put them directly in the server through the manway just before transfer, but relying only on server hops leaves me with the problem of contact time initially as I have to pour from the servers imediately. I suppose I could transfer from uni to uni in order to utilize whole hops but so far that is too much of a pain in the a**! Now I pelet hop in the uni and whole in the server for my pale. It picks up the whole hops gradually as it sets and the pellets give it an initial boost but obviously consitency varies throughout the batch.
            Big Willey
            "You are what you is." FZ

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            • #7
              Hop plugs are approximately 1 1/4" in diameter and have an average weight of about 1 ounce per plug. They definitely have some advantages as the cones are pretty much intact with fewer ruptured lupulin glands as compared to pellets and less exposure to oxygen as compared to loose whole leaf. I have not used them in years as we now use pellets in the fermenters and whole leaf with a nylon bag in conditioning/servers. I am not sure who is producing them anymore. I believe they used to be used in the UK for dry hopping in the cask.

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              • #8
                What about using pellets in a brite tank (with stand pipe), then transferring to a serving tank (also with stand pipe)? I should be able to minimize hop debris in my serving line that way, no?
                "By man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world" -- St. Arnold of Metz

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                • #9
                  Top Manway

                  I didn't think about how many brewers have side manways in their uni's when I posted this thread. I have always worked with top manways and I have mine on the top and love it. There is no shadow, good for any additions to the beer/wort, and it also allows me to skim resins during ferment of my lighter lagers and ales (gotta be careful on the ladder though!!). Point being, I can add large bags of hops, I'm not limited to the PRV port.

                  My plugs that I get from HopUnion are ~1/2 oz. each. They are much easier to work with than the whole hops.

                  Since yall had no insight, I went ahead and bagged 'em again. Four days and great aroma!
                  ______________________
                  Jamie Fulton
                  Community Beer Co.
                  Dallas, Texas

                  "Beer for the Greater Good"

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                  • #10
                    jFulton,

                    Thanks for refreshing my gray matter, you are correct in that plugs are approx. 1/2 ounce per plug.

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