Dry hopping- Hallertauer Hersbrucker

Newgrange Warrior

I started a Coppers European larger kit last Thursday.

I have some Hallertauer Hersbrucker hops (approx 4 mths. old in airtight container) left over from a previous brew. Would it be worthwhile adding some for the 2nd week in the primary/secondary.

If so what quantity? Also would you dry hop in a muslin bag or just toss in? Would the hops require sterilisation prior?

Any advice appreciated.

Krusty_Clown

Those with greater levels of experience will be along shortly, however, in the intervening period:
Hops (once opened from vacuum-sealed containers) should ideally be frozen, to preserve the freshness/aroma. Even in an air-tight container, I would imagine that they will have lost significant aroma once exposed to the air, unless your airtight container is vacuum-sealed. I suppose you could just give them a whiff, and get an idea of how much benefit they will provide during the dry-hopping process. Worthwhile? Most likely. If they still have some freshness/aroma, then it'd be a waste not to use them.

Typically the quantity depends on the amount of hop character you want in the beer, but the typical amount seems to be 30g - 50g. Typically hops do not need sanitisation as they are a natural anti-sceptic, so you should be able to dump them straight in (as long as they've been kept in a pretty sterile environment). Incidentally, I'm planning on making the Coopers draught and dry-hopping with Hersbrucker over the next week or two.

Shiny

I would suggest using a muslin bag and leave plenty of room for the hops to expand when they absorb the beer. IMO that allows the beer to get in at them easier as opposed to them being tightly packed. I find using a muslin bag also makes the process of bottling a lot easier as you only have to deal with one bag of hops as opposed to multiple lumps of hops floating around.

Newgrange Warrior

Cheers for the info. Would Primary or secondary addition be best?

tteknulp

Secondary is best or when fermenting is near finished 2-3days in muslin bag ,thats how i do it anyway ,works good nice aroma

Fart

I just chucked some leafy hops in without any muslin bag, as I was advised on a previous thread.

Just bottled today .

Shiny

tteknulp wrote: »

Secondary is best or when fermenting is near finished 2-3days in muslin bag ,thats how i do it anyway ,works good nice aroma

Yeah I made the mistake of putting in a muslin bag of hops straight away in the primary fermenter. What resulted was a huge krausen covered bag which broke up everywhere when I attempted to bottle a few weeks later. Definitely worth waiting a few days.

tteknulp

Shiny wrote: »

Its the flavour and aroma being lost with co2 during ferment ,thats why i wait till near end of ferment makes a huge difference

Shiny

tteknulp wrote: »

Its the flavour and aroma being lost with co2 during ferment ,thats why i wait till near end of ferment makes a huge difference

Never even thought of that!