Dry Hopping mid-fermentation

Cork Boy · 28-07-2011 9:06am #1

Hi Folks,

OG = 1.040

Target FG: = 1.009

After 5 days my specific gravity is 1.023 and my question is is this too soon to add my hop pellets for dry hopping? If so, how close to my target FG should I be before dry hopping?

Cheers

BeerNut · 28-07-2011 9:36am

I generally find most beers are done in two weeks and I dry hop at the beginning of the second.

Gravity has nothing to do with it. Dry-hopping is just about time: you want long enough for the hops to get a good soak, but not so long that the flavour compounds start to break down.

oblivious · 28-07-2011 12:25pm

i dry hop in the primary but you want the gravity down a bit more. 1.023 after 5 day might be worth rousing the yest to get them active again

Cork Boy · 28-07-2011 12:56pm

oblivious wrote: »

i dry hop in the primary but you want the gravity down a bit more. 1.023 after 5 day might be worth rousing the yest to get them active again

I was afraid you might say that

I'f I don't get any movement by the weekend I'll wake that mofo up.

I'll report back regardless.

Cheers lads

irish_goat · 28-07-2011 7:41pm

Just be gentle when you're "rousing", you don't want to aerate the beer too much.

Cork Boy · 28-07-2011 9:09pm

irish_goat wrote: »

Just be gentle when you're "rousing", you don't want to aerate the beer too much.

I was so gentle I'm afraid I was too gentle and maybe didn't do the job right. I think I must have though as I lifted the cake off the bottom and swirled it around very slowly to break up the clumps... time to go airlock watching

Edit: Airlock bubble intervals have halved since last night so looks like I woke up the yeast. Next SG reading will tell, stay tuned folks, same bat time, same bat channell!

irish_goat · 28-07-2011 9:52pm

You can't rely on the airlock too much to see if fermentation is happening, gas can get out through other little gaps in the lid (that's not a problem). Only sure way of knowing if fermentation is still happening is by using the hydrometer.

Cork Boy · 28-07-2011 10:05pm

I know the airlock is only an indication and to be treated as such. Luckily I had taps fitted to my FV's so taking readings is simples. I'll take another reading tomorrow just to see if they stir up has kicked things off again, 1.023 yesterday, 1.022 today before the yeast rousing so we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Thanks for all your help on this question and all other questions posted previously by my good self. Hopefully in the future I'll be able to soothe panicked first timers like myself!

Cork Boy · 02-08-2011 9:26am

So after stirring up the yeast the fermentation kicked off again and it got down to 1.014 so I sprinkled in 50g of cascade pellets and hopefully will bottle over the weekend at some stage.

Quick question though, a green hoppy krausen formed after putting in the hops, will this filter down through the beer in time or should i stir it through?

Cheers again!

mayto · 02-08-2011 9:42am

A lot of the hops should settle to the bottom of the fermenter after a week, but some may still be on the surface. Not really a problem though. I would not stir it at all.

oblivious · 02-08-2011 10:22am

Yea I would not stir it again, 1.014 is low enough to bottle

Cork Boy · 02-08-2011 11:11am

Cheers lads,

I'll leave it sit until the weekend to get as much oils and aroma from the hops as possible and sure the hydrometer might even make my target FG of 1.009 by then

I'll report back after the weekend's bottling activities!

merc230ce · 13-08-2011 3:30pm

Any updates CorkBoy?

Cork Boy · 15-08-2011 8:26am

Bottling tonight, I hope I haven't left it too long as it's been in the primary fermenter for 3 weeks and 3 days now! How are you getting on Merc?

merc230ce · 15-08-2011 12:00pm

Cork Boy wrote: »

How are you getting on Merc?

Bottled on Saturday, and expecting ingredients for Brew #2 tomorrow ;-)

It went grand actually, I had expected it to be much more involved / awkward than it was. I did get a bit of sucking / gurgling from the auto- siphon towards the end so I wouldn't be surprised if the last few bottles were dodgy, but overall it was ok.

Cork Boy · 15-08-2011 12:53pm

good stuff, i must use a marker and number the bottles actually! whats the next one gonna be?

merc230ce · 15-08-2011 2:04pm

I got a Coopers IPA kit can, 1.5kg of LME, 500g of hopped DME, and some Apollo hops. Oh and a partridge in a pear tree ;-)

Cork Boy · 16-08-2011 8:55am

Well I bottled last night and i'm not too optimistic to be honest

There was a big sludge on sitting on top from the hop pellets and my bottle wand doesn't form a seal with the tap and so siphoning meant half the beer got on the floor and the other half in my mouth!

Really what I'm worried about was the complete flatness of the beer, I thought it should have some life in it? Or maybe the sugar syrup mix will do that for me... hmmmmm!

Oh yeah, twin lever crown cappers - pain in the hole big time! Thankfully most of my bottles are swingtops!

mayto · 16-08-2011 9:27am

Cork Boy wrote: »

Well I bottled last night and i'm not too optimistic to be honest

There was a big sludge on sitting on top from the hop pellets and my bottle wand doesn't form a seal with the tap and so siphoning meant half the beer got on the floor and the other half in my mouth!

Really what I'm worried about was the complete flatness of the beer, I thought it should have some life in it? Or maybe the sugar syrup mix will do that for me... hmmmmm!

Oh yeah, twin lever crown cappers - pain in the hole big time! Thankfully most of my bottles are swingtops!

Are you using a bottle filling stick at the end of the siphon? Really handy device. I would not worry about the hop sludge as it should only get into bottles when the fermenter is nearly empty. The beer will be flat prior to bottling but will fizz up just fine with the correct amount of priming sugar. A counter top capper really is a good investment, you can easily cap the beer in a few minutes.

Cork Boy · 16-08-2011 9:39am

Ya the bottle stick is well handy alright in fairness, couldn't do without it! I put in 80g of dextrose with 250ml water as per the kit instructions so hopefully that's enough or not too much!

merc230ce · 16-08-2011 11:03am

mayto wrote: »

Cork Boy wrote: »

Oh yeah, twin lever crown cappers - pain in the hole big time! Thankfully most of my bottles are swingtops!

A counter top capper really is a good investment, you can easily cap the beer in a few minutes.

Feck! I hemmed and hawed over that decision for ages and eventually went with the twin handle - it's just been despatched to me this morning :-( Hopefully they'll exchange it for me.

Cork Boy · 16-08-2011 1:22pm

merc230ce wrote: »

Feck! I hemmed and hawed over that decision for ages and eventually went with the twin handle - it's just been despatched to me this morning :-( Hopefully they'll exchange it for me.

To be fair it depends on the bottles too...

Erdinger = no probs
Brewdog = hmmmmmm
Lech = hmmmmm
Heineken = ok...ish

The best way to describe my capping experience last night is to say that it's like trying to tune a guitar string that you think/know is going to snap - the sweats, holding of breath, fear - oh god the fear!!! :eek:

If you plan on collecting bottles, any barman will tell you what are reusable and what get dumped

Donny5 · 16-08-2011 1:43pm

Cork Boy wrote: »

To be fair it depends on the bottles too...

Erdinger = no probs
Brewdog = hmmmmmm
Lech = hmmmmm
Heineken = ok...ish

The best way to describe my capping experience last night is to say that it's like trying to tune a guitar string that you think/know is going to snap - the sweats, holding of breath, fear - oh god the fear!!! :eek:

If you plan on collecting bottles, any barman will tell you what are reusable and what get dumped

Any of the brown German 500ml bottles are designed for indefinite re-use, and I would say you've done right to get a capper. Swing tops are expensive, rare, and periodically require new seals. Caps are cheap, work with almost any beer bottle, and are as easy to use.

Dry Hopping mid-fermentation

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