Bottling after dry hopping

[danwlx]

Hi all,

I'm dry hopping with whole hops loose (rather than in a bag) for the first time at the moment. I'm bottling at the weekend and am wondering about the best method of keeping the hop material out of the bottles.

My only real idea is to filter through a fine material such as some thoroughly santised tights! Would This work ok and if so would it do such a good job that it would also filter our all the yeast?

Are there any better ideas that do not require specialist equipment?

Thanks for any help!

[mysterio]

That's your best bet, you run the risk of blocking your siphon unless you use something fine like that. You'll still have plenty of yeast.

[alix101]

I often keg that way if I've dry hopped without a bag by using a muslin cloth over the end of the syphon tube ... I've never had a problem with aeration. .. But if I was bottling I would suggest transferring it to another fv before bottling..

[Lars]

I never use a filter or hopsock when I DH. Just siphon as normal and avoid agitating the hops or yeast. There should be
Little or no material in your bottles after it. Just siphon as normal. Don't sweat it....

[orlando]

I never use a filter or hopsock when I DH. Just siphon as normal and avoid agitating the hops or yeast. There should be
Little or no material in your bottles after it. Just siphon as normal. Don't sweat it....

One word of caution: aeration. The last time I did this a hop flower got sucked into the end of the syphon and set up turbulence that sucked air into the syphon, Far better to get a very fine hop/fruit bag strainer, boil it and spray or dunk into some star san and then tie it on. As for filtering out yeast, no, you need a filter less than .5 of a micron to do that.

[danwlx]

Thanks for all the replies, I'll syphon through a fine material then. For future reference, is there a piece of equipment or technique that is a little less rustic!?

[orlando]

For future reference, is there a piece of equipment or technique that is a little less rustic!?

Well there is this but for us there are relatively few options other than "rustic".

[hophit]

I dry hop a lot and have experimented with various techniques. Write up of my experiences below, which may help:

1) Chuck whole hops straight into primary or secondary - works well, though they tend to float and not fully submerge unless left for at least a week, they still remain at the top of the FV though so don't tend to make it to the syphn tube - you occassionally get the odd leaf blocking things, but you can always turn the tap off and rinse out the bottling wand, and continue.

2) Chuck hop pellets straight into the primary or secondary - does not work well - the particles are too fine and mix through the beer and you end up with them in the bottles.

3) Use a nylon/muslin boiled mesh bag with whole hops into th primary or secondary - need to use weights inside, such as a load of sterilised marbles, to make the thing sink. Works well, though unless you have a decent size bag, the hops swell up when they hydrate and you get less flavour out of them as they are in a kind of compact soggy bale.

4) Use a nylon/muslin boiled mesh bag with pellets - works well, again need weights and a decent sized bag.

Of the above, for me, option 4 works best because 1) Although in theory you lose a bit of aroma etc from the pelleting process, you can compensate by using another 10% hops. Pellets hydrate better for dry hopping than whole hops and I am assuming that the increased surface area to weight ratio of ground up hops rather than whole hops means more efficient falvour and aroma impartment to the beer- so you don't need to dry hop for as long a period/you just get more aroma out of them. 2) No risk of particulates from the hops going into the bottles.

[mark4newman]

Hi

I use pellets, and just bung them in the primary as I'm about to crash cool. They then all sink to the bottom, and never end up with any in the bottles.

Personally I don't like using hop bags, as I think they run the risk of an infection. However, if I am forced to use whole hops I will use a very large nylon bag. I do this because they can block taps, which isn't fun.

[hophit]

Hi

I use pellets, and just bung them in the primary as I'm about to crash cool. They then all sink to the bottom, and never end up with any in the bottles.

Personally I don't like using hop bags, as I think they run the risk of an infection. However, if I am forced to use whole hops I will use a very large nylon bag. I do this because they can block taps, which isn't fun.

So you crash cool in primary rather than racking to secondary? I have been dry hopping for 5 days in primary not crash cooling. Was intending for next batch to do that then transfer to secondary after dry hopping for a 2 week crash cool before bottling, but just for beer clarity purpose.

Think I may try your technique instead.

[critch]

i d.h. in the primary on day three then crash chill @ 2 points over fg (for cask priming purposes), ive never had a problem

[Rick_UK]

Avoid the whole issue by using hop tea. Just as much aroma as dry hopping if you get it right

Rick