How to dry-hop in water cooler bottles?

[Joerg]

Using the common 5-gal blue water cooler bottles as secondary fermenters
I hung a muslin bag into a Session Ale, employing a copper wire
contraption hooked to the air lock and sanitized glass marbles to weigh
down the bag.

There was only 1oz of pelletized Simcoe hops in the bag but over five
days that swelled up into a little balloon and I had a very hard time
getting it out because one can't reach in and squeeze it.

Yesterday I transferred a Pliny clone to secondary. This will need two
dry-hoppings and at the end the total of various hops in the bag will be
5oz, probably turning the bag into half a football. What I want to avoid
is ending with a bag in there that won't come out at all.

I though about buying a 1" PVC pipe, drilling it full of holes,
sanitizing, drop the bag down into it and insert that tube into
secondary. I could probably reopen the bag after a few days to add the
hop pellets for the 2nd dry-hop. My concern is that it won't allow the
hops to unfold freely and maybe then they won't "cold-steep" into the
beer well enough.

Just plopping all the hops into the beer is another option and I did
that for my very first dry-hopping. It resulted in lots of stuff
floating about in the beer after racking off into the bottling bucket
which is why I used a muslin bag this time.

Any thoughts or ideas?

[baloonon]

Post by Joerg
Just plopping all the hops into the beer is another option and I did
that for my very first dry-hopping. It resulted in lots of stuff
floating about in the beer after racking off into the bottling bucket
which is why I used a muslin bag this time.

You could cut the neck off the bottle and cover that hole with plastic
wrap. If it's secondary, the pressure from fermentation should be largely
over. You wouldn't need a perfect seal even, just enough to keep dust and
bugs out.

If you cut neatly enough, you might even be able to replace the neck after
you cut it and seal it with food safe putty of some kind. There might be
something that aquarium owners use that would work. I wouldn't be surprised
if cake bakers have something they use that might work too.

[Joerg]

Post by baloonon

Post by Joerg
Just plopping all the hops into the beer is another option and I did
that for my very first dry-hopping. It resulted in lots of stuff
floating about in the beer after racking off into the bottling bucket
which is why I used a muslin bag this time.

You could cut the neck off the bottle and cover that hole with plastic
wrap. If it's secondary, the pressure from fermentation should be largely
over. You wouldn't need a perfect seal even, just enough to keep dust and
bugs out.
If you cut neatly enough, you might even be able to replace the neck after
you cut it and seal it with food safe putty of some kind. There might be
something that aquarium owners use that would work. I wouldn't be surprised
if cake bakers have something they use that might work too.

That would be a pretty brutal method. I'd like to keep the bottles
intact though and I kind of need the neck to lift them out of the fairly
tight fermenting chamber (my lower back isn't in great shape).

Alternatively I could buy a 5-gallon food grade pail with lid and use
that for beers that require dry-hopping but then I'd have another
container that needs to be stored some place.

Ideal would be a wire mesh cylinder that is 1" diameter. It would still
keep the hops compressed but at least have maximum access area to it for
the beer. Then maybe give the bottle a shake once in a while.

[baloonon]

Post by Joerg

Post by baloonon

Post by Joerg
Just plopping all the hops into the beer is another option and I did
that for my very first dry-hopping. It resulted in lots of stuff
floating about in the beer after racking off into the bottling
bucket which is why I used a muslin bag this time.

You could cut the neck off the bottle and cover that hole with
plastic wrap. If it's secondary, the pressure from fermentation
should be largely over. You wouldn't need a perfect seal even, just
enough to keep dust and bugs out.
If you cut neatly enough, you might even be able to replace the neck
after you cut it and seal it with food safe putty of some kind. There
might be something that aquarium owners use that would work. I
wouldn't be surprised if cake bakers have something they use that
might work too.

That would be a pretty brutal method. I'd like to keep the bottles
intact though and I kind of need the neck to lift them out of the
fairly tight fermenting chamber (my lower back isn't in great shape).
Alternatively I could buy a 5-gallon food grade pail with lid and use
that for beers that require dry-hopping but then I'd have another
container that needs to be stored some place.
Ideal would be a wire mesh cylinder that is 1" diameter. It would
still keep the hops compressed but at least have maximum access area
to it for the beer. Then maybe give the bottle a shake once in a
while.

There are larger metal tea infusers that might work, although I'd be a
little worried about rust since I don't know if they're meant for long
submersions. That should be easy to test. You might need to use two or
three. Or you can just try using a few mesh bags. I've read some people
even use pantyhose, although that sounds like it might be risky.

Since a single bag used in brewing is probably too big all by itself,
you'd probably want to cut it and tie the ends. A wild guess is that an
ounce of wet hops per bag will fit through with room to spare, but you
might want to go smaller than that the first time.

[Joerg]

Post by baloonon

Post by Joerg

Post by baloonon

Post by Joerg
Just plopping all the hops into the beer is another option and I did
that for my very first dry-hopping. It resulted in lots of stuff
floating about in the beer after racking off into the bottling
bucket which is why I used a muslin bag this time.

You could cut the neck off the bottle and cover that hole with
plastic wrap. If it's secondary, the pressure from fermentation
should be largely over. You wouldn't need a perfect seal even, just
enough to keep dust and bugs out.
If you cut neatly enough, you might even be able to replace the neck
after you cut it and seal it with food safe putty of some kind. There
might be something that aquarium owners use that would work. I
wouldn't be surprised if cake bakers have something they use that
might work too.

That would be a pretty brutal method. I'd like to keep the bottles
intact though and I kind of need the neck to lift them out of the
fairly tight fermenting chamber (my lower back isn't in great shape).
Alternatively I could buy a 5-gallon food grade pail with lid and use
that for beers that require dry-hopping but then I'd have another
container that needs to be stored some place.
Ideal would be a wire mesh cylinder that is 1" diameter. It would
still keep the hops compressed but at least have maximum access area
to it for the beer. Then maybe give the bottle a shake once in a
while.

There are larger metal tea infusers that might work, although I'd be a
little worried about rust since I don't know if they're meant for long
submersions. That should be easy to test. You might need to use two or
three. Or you can just try using a few mesh bags. I've read some people
even use pantyhose, although that sounds like it might be risky.

Tea "eggs" also come in stainless nowadays but they have very small
holes. Not sure if there'd be sufficient hop absorption.

Post by baloonon
Since a single bag used in brewing is probably too big all by itself,
you'd probably want to cut it and tie the ends. A wild guess is that an
ounce of wet hops per bag will fit through with room to spare, but you
might want to go smaller than that the first time.

That's an idea. Although considering that 1oz was already swelling it up
so badly that I barely got the bag out I'd need at least five in a
string on the Pliny clone. Maybe I'll try the drilled tube. Really nice
would be a wire mesh tube. I could make one from chicken coop wire but
it's galvanized and that is too risky.

Longer term I could try to find a small stainless steel cooling rack and
roll that up.

Yesterday when I racked of the Pliny clone to secondary I snuck a sip.
Then another. And to make really sure another. That has the potential to
replace Belgian Tripel as my favorite.

[baloonon]

Post by Joerg
That's an idea. Although considering that 1oz was already swelling
it up so badly that I barely got the bag out I'd need at least five
in a string on the Pliny clone. Maybe I'll try the drilled tube.
Really nice would be a wire mesh tube. I could make one from chicken
coop wire but it's galvanized and that is too risky.
Longer term I could try to find a small stainless steel cooling rack
and roll that up.

Try searching around aquarium supplies. They have all kinds of filters
and other things in narrow shapes that might work, and would obviously
be food safe.

Post by Joerg
Yesterday when I racked of the Pliny clone to secondary I snuck a sip.
Then another. And to make really sure another. That has the potential
to replace Belgian Tripel as my favorite.

I've just started drinking an IPA I made with mostly Centennial and some
Citra, and it's a nice reminder of why big IPAs are so popular with home
brewers. They're straightforward to make, the yeasts tend to be tolerant
of temp variations, the heavy hops cover up a variety of mistakes,
they're ready to drink fairly quickly, and they still taste great even
if you don't hit some specific target you were after.

[Scott Alfter]

Post by Joerg
Just plopping all the hops into the beer is another option and I did
that for my very first dry-hopping. It resulted in lots of stuff
floating about in the beer after racking off into the bottling bucket
which is why I used a muslin bag this time.

I dry-hop in the keg. Before filling the keg, I pull the dip tube up enough
to put a nylon dish scrubbie on the end (or I drop it into the keg and push
the dip tube back down into it). Beer and hops then go into the keg. The
only time I had problems with clogging was when I made beer for an event and
the kegs got jostled around before serving; at home in my kegerator, I've
never had a clog.

_/_
/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( https://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

[Joerg]

Post by Scott Alfter

Post by Joerg
Just plopping all the hops into the beer is another option and I did
that for my very first dry-hopping. It resulted in lots of stuff
floating about in the beer after racking off into the bottling bucket
which is why I used a muslin bag this time.

I dry-hop in the keg. Before filling the keg, I pull the dip tube up enough
to put a nylon dish scrubbie on the end (or I drop it into the keg and push
the dip tube back down into it). Beer and hops then go into the keg. The
only time I had problems with clogging was when I made beer for an event and
the kegs got jostled around before serving; at home in my kegerator, I've
never had a clog.

Thanks, but that doesn't work for me because I do not keg. It's all
bottles and usually only the small 12-ouncers for big beers because my
wife doesn't like high ABV (so can't share).