I've been a chuck it in kinda guy. I try to get the dry hop in when the fermentation still has a few points to go. I control my ph and just by that been able to avoid oxydation so far (knock on wood). I did used ascorbic acid in the mash (per Genuis breweing method)when I went to 3oz+ type dry hops. I see a hop rocket is in your future ;). You seem to be adding a lot to your brewhouse lately.
@@1TheLord1 It does seem like it, but for the most part I'm pretty sure my fermentation side is done evolving for a long time! I'm also a big fan of ascorbic in the mash.
I have two FZ all rounders. I brew in the first piping the co2 from the gas post of the first to the liquid post of the second and have a spunding valve on the gas post of the second. At high krausen I dry hop to the empty second fermenter so the hops are mostly sitting in co2 only. After the ferment I enclosed transfer from the first fermenter to the second (on top of the hops) then after the dry hop period I crash then enclosed transfer to a keg. I used to use a Fermzilla and dry hop through the jar but have found cleaning two all-rounders is way easier than dealing with the valve on a single FZ.
I am drinking my first dry hop in a keg beer. I put 2 oz citra in there then purged the pony keg and pressure transferred the beer. Best beer ever for this style ( NEIPA). I did add a pound of crystal malt to the grain bill so it may not be a classic neipa but I made it for me😁. It’s been 3 weeks now and is still great In my opinion. Definitely no grassy flavor but it is getting stronger. Everyone who has tasted it is floored by the flavors and overall presentation. I’m brewing a more blond version right now which I plan to do the same dry hop method, since it’s for a fishing trip I doubt it will last the weekend so.... Love you videos, your quite brilliant
I’m just about to try this… do the hops not get effected at all during primary fermentation sat out of the fridge in the top of the bucket? Do they lose aroma?
Thanks for posting this. It introduced me to the magnetic hop drop and I tried it for the first time. Hopefully the results will be good and I'll do that in future. It certainly simplified the hopping, just remove the magnets and listen for a little splash! My fermentation is stainless steel and it worked a treat - I tested it and the magnets held very strong. Is there any other reason you said maybe avoid magnets with a stainless steel fermenter?
When dry hopping in the keg using whole cone can keep particulate matter down. Also you can use magnets to keep the bag a submerged as desired so once the beer drains beyond the bag you’ll avoid those long exposure off flavors
Great video. Thanks for the tip on dry hopping in the keg. I was about to throw some hops into my freshly kegged red ipa but didn’t even think about the off flavors developing over time!!
Awesome educational stuff here TY. Question about dry hoping. Could you dry hop in a big mouth secondary fermenter by simply adding CO2 into the head space and then quickly take top off and drop hop basket in and then do the reverse when removing it?
I literally just got done dry hopping my pale ale 15 minutes ago with 2oz of mosaic. Looking forward to trying it. Love the shirt, Night Shift has fantastic beer. Cheers 🍻
I ferment in a keg and with the beer I just brewed yesterday, I was planning to do the sous vide magnet and hop bag but I found some challenges with this. With the 5oz of hops (7 days into fermentation) I was planning, one magnet seemed not quite enough, so it was a pain to keep them in place, line up the magnets etc. I'm guessing less hops would be less of a problem, but kegs don't have a ton of room between the opening and the side of the keg. Also it was a challenge tying these cheap bags closed so they don't just open immediately, or I pull the string through one side accidentally. Perhaps with more patience and practice I could get it to work with smaller hop schedules, not sure. So I just bailed on the magnet/bag and decided I'm just going to fill the headspace with C02, open the lid, drop the hops in, close the lid, then re-purge the headspace with c02. I can't imagine there would be much risk of oxidation with this as it's only going to be 30s at most where the fermenter is open and there will be a layer of c02 in there, and any oxygen will be immediately purged out. If anyone can think of a major risk of doing this, or something I might not have thought of let me know.
Good timing. I just finished my second dry hop charge on a Catalyst fermenter. It was very tough, there was not enough headspace above the liquid to do the magnet method, and the bottom port only accepts mason jars. I ended up trying to fill a mason jar with co2 once my hops were in just by blowing co2 into it with a lid partly covering it, then closed the jar. Then I slide the lid off while attaching it to the fermenter. It worked... Ish. But there was still sediment on top of the bottom valve so the hops just got buried, and overall was not a process conducive to reproducibility. I bought a larger mason jar (32oz), a glass drill bit and a ball valve with a nipple attachment, that I'm going to experiment making a dry-hopper with specifically for the Catalyst. Will update when I finish.
Yo! I also have the Catalyst and was literally YouTubing methods of cutting glass to make a puragble mason jar. All the ones you can find/buy have attachments on the top but that's where it connects to the catalyst. I've also done the fill with CO2 thing and it worked pretty well but you know there's still some oxygen coming in and it feels hacky. Would love to get a side-purgable mason jar for re-attaching during trub dumps, dry hopping and yeast harvesting. I also will keep my eye out for a plastic wide mouth mason jar that might be a little safer to hold pressure and drill. Btw, here's one of the good TH-cam vids I found for drilling a hole into the side of a mason jar: th-cam.com/video/zXWU8NniM3I/w-d-xo.html
@@joshuapinter I'll take a look, and might upload my own. I ended up drilling a hole onto the side of a 32oz jar under water in my sink. Works pretty well!
@@nickdefrancis You'll need a glass vessel with sloped sides at the bottom, otherwise you're going to be shaking the heck out of the whole setup to get the pellets to go down the tube. Let us know how your do with this, very interested!
Missed moving the beer to a pre-purged keg with a drop hopper filter already in it and then after 3 to 7 days based on the recipe moving the beer once again to a final keg. This is my preferred method as it works great without oxygen concerns.
This is a great method and what I tend to do. Once you get into kegging and having the equipment + space for multiple vessels, pressure transferring can be used every time you move beer around, primary > secondary > brite/conditioning > serving. Using these methods, my homebrew tastes fresher far longer than it used to, with hardly any O2 exposure. Thanks for the content @TheApartmentBrewer
@@tachikoma805 You nailed it about the if you are kegging, have the equipment and the space otherwise it can be a bit more difficult. I do the the primary>Serving (acts as the brite/conditioning with a floating diptube) but if it is an IPA or any beer requiring a dry hop or like conditioning then the steps are primary>secondary(dry hop or other)>Serving.
Nice vid! I dry hop in the keg, loosey goosey. Usually I drink beer pretty fast/share with friends. But I agree if you are planning to keep it around its not the best method for long term!
@@blakefaulds I might get a little bit in first couple pours but from there on out its fine. If you are doing a huge charge of dry hops probably best to use some filter in there I suppose to keep your dip tube from clogging.
I've never brewed beer so this is just a question. Could you dry up to a keg and then transfer it from one keg to another after you got the flavor you wanted?
Another effective method would be dry hopping in keg with a tonne of hops. After 3 or 4 days proceeding to do a closed transfer to another keg through a filtration device.
Hi, im new to homebrewing and to your channel, im loving them both. I got a brewing journal as a present and noticed it is the same one as yours. Would love you to do an episode on how you fill out your journal and what information you think is important. Thanks
I would like to start dry hopping. I use a firmzilla, thinking of using a large stainless steel tea ball and magnet. Would it be a good idea to retrieve the hop ball to the top using the magnet after say a week after fermentation has resided?
I have a stainless steel fermenter. Do you think I could get a hop bag to drop that has a magnet in it attached to the inside of the lid, by using the reverse polarity of another magnet on the outside of the lid? Of course I could just test it but I don’t have magnets yet
I've heard of tying up a hop sock / muslin bag with a piece of (unflavored) dental floss that you hold in place using the fermentor bung. Just lift a bit to let the hops drop. I have NOT done this though. I have dry hopped a mead by just plonking a bag in, but they are less prone to oxidation. Have not dry hopped a beer, specifically because I don't want them to oxidize. I'm no longer struggling with oxidation as I was with my old system (auto-syphon and a bucket, so easy to oxidize), so I'm going to start experimenting with dry hopping soon.
Seems like a good method as well! Don't be too afraid of the oxidation from dry hopping. Its a risk for sure, but its not a huge terrible thing if you take the lid off for a few seconds.
After dry hopping in the primary, I pressure-transfer to a purged keg for another dry hop. The keg is fitted with a capped, grommeted hop spider screen through which the liquid outlet line passes through. The hops are placed in the keg loose. Beer is transferred from the primary through the gas inlet on the secondary (not an issue because the keg is purged). When dry hopping is done, the beer is pressure-transferred to a purged serving keg via the liquid out line while the screen filters out the loose hops. When I eventually get a pressure capable ss bucket, I'll use your sight glass method.
I like the magnet idea👍🏻 man I still have that fermzilla (still boxed) haven’t used it yet, maybe I’ll take it out soon. Hey man it was cool seeing ya with CH the other night, I had to cut out early to get up for work. 👍🏻👍🏻🍺🍺cheers man
Man you are getting a lot of the blame here when I explain to my wife why I need a spike fermenter :D Really like that last dry hop method, especially seeing as though you can do multiple charges. I just made a NEIPA and tried the magnet method in my fermzilla all rounder. Didn’t have enough magnets to hold the hop addition with a stir plate in the bag though so after a bit of deliberation ended up throwing them in at yeast pitch. Brulosophy did an experiment on this a few months back and, like them I didn’t get any grassy flavours from it. Just made sure to transfer to the keg as soon as I’d reached FG at 7 days.
You don't NEED one...but dont tell your wife I said that! Yeah I've had some variance as to how long it takes to get grassiness. Usually its around 7 days for me where I start to pick up on it, but it has a lot to do with the amount of plant matter in the beer.
Haha, you do need one! I just got a BrewHa and will be using the sightglass charge method myself. The only downside is the smaller TC fittings, but I am seeing more conicals coming out with larger diameter fittings so that is promising!
Ok, so the magnet trick is only viable for high krausen dry hopping, right? You can’t wait say 2 weeks for fermentation to finish and then dry hop that way.
Thank you for this concise tutorial on dry hopping. I gather dry hopping is mainly for aroma and not for bittering. But is there a way of increasing the ibu’s or bittering hops during or after fermentation by adding hops/hop extracts? (I was hoping to explore possible ways of avoiding the boil entirely in the brew stage.)
The bittering hops are mostly functional in their purpose , it really does help stop beer going bad , put it together with good sanitization and you have a solid foundation for good clean beer. You get your boiled hops in your fermenter right from the getgo to help keep your fermentation right
Yes its for aroma not bittering. What nobody days is that ITS LIKE COOKING GARLIC OR GINGER, the flavour looses a LOT of sharpness compared to raw ginger/garlic . Boiling dramatically changes the flavors you get , and in fact it cooks most of it off
I’ve been an open and chuck guy but I want to try the magnet route. I’m going to check out those magnets you linked as everything I’ve got does seem strong enough.
Great content as always. I dry hop my fermenter king jr by depressurising and unscrewing the collar, pumping co2 down the dip tube so I have positive pressure and quickly dumping the hops in when the lid pops up. I always purge a couple of times after putting the lid and collar back on just in case. Then I re-pressurise back to my fermentation pressure and don't bother with the spunding valve if near the end or at the end of fermentation to keep all that aroma in there.
It definitely is worth trying to see if you can build something similar. The only thing I would caution you about is trying to add more than 1 to 1.5 ounces every time otherwise you will probably need a 3" sight glass.
What's you preferred method to transfer a low oxygen dry hopped beer? Ran into a bit of a headache trying to pressure transfer from spike conical thru ball lock into the corny kegs....do you run an inline filter?
Really nice tips. I use the open the lid In fermzilla approach and to minimize oxygen contact I ferment under pressure (15psi) and when I dryhop I depressurize and open the lid to put the hops. What happens is, even If fermentation is over, CO2 will come out of the beer cause the headspace is at 0 psi. So I just release this CO2 to purge out O2. Cheers!
I ferment 3 gallons in a 5 gallon corny. Do you think the magnet trick would work if I put it on the side of the keg? You mentioned not using it for stainless steel.
I've been playing around with hopping in the keg more recently. First, it can definitely save a so-so beer once kegged but that aside, dry hopping in the keg really ups the aroma for me. Doesn't really change the taste all that much but I've found using the same hops as in the boil is the best way to do this. I've tried different hops (mostly just because I have some to get rid of) and getting to crazy ruins things. It's still a work in progress. I've not noticed grassiness even after 3 months in the keg.
That's interesting that you haven't noticed any grassy flavor after that long of a time. Are you only dry hopping with a small amount? When I dropped in the keg think it was something around 2 oz.
@@TheApartmentBrewer That's not to say I haven't witnessed it changing. I rarely use more than 2 oz in the keg but I have lots of LupoMax hops I'm going to try soon. No way should those go grassy. But hey, shame on me for not drinking a keg faster than 3 months. :)
Have you ever suspended the hops in tea strainer balls? They dip just below the surface so that way when you pull the first several pints they are no longer sitting in the beer.
Hi, first thanks for the video on different techniques! So I've been making NEIPA's for a while now, double dry hopping in the fermenter, the second dry hop addition coming about 4 days before transferring to keg and via the just-drop-it-in method. I'm interested in trying out this magnet idea with my Speidel 30L fermenters for that second addition, but to what end? I know oxygen is the enemy of beer, but like what happens when that small volume of air comes in contact with the beer when I drop my hop bag in 4 days before packaging? Does it dull the hop flavor I'm trying to achieve or the malt flavors? If so, how immediate is that effect? Or does air exposure produce some kind of off flavor? I'll say I've never detected an off flavor or unpleasant smell in doing this, but I will also admit my hop saturation flavor in the final beer (while improved over time) definitely is not quite where I wish it was. So I'm curious to know what the actual affect of this amount of air contacting the beer is, and how immediate (or not) that affect might be. Thanks!
Well, air is a good percentage oxygen and with enough time it will mess things up for the beer. Generally, oxidized hoppy beer tastes dull/uninteresting and starts to darken the color towards brown/gray/purple. I'm hesitant to jump on the bandwagon that a few seconds of exposure will ruin your beer, I really don't think that's the case. But a few minutes of exposure, or even worse, splashing/incorporating bubbles into the post-fermentation beer will definitely cause shelf life issues a few weeks down the road for something like a hazy IPA. Of course, this is mostly preventable if you flush out headspace with CO2 or add some ascorbic acid as an antioxidant at some point in the process.
Its a good question, but no I've never had an issue with the hops staling. Stale hops has far more to do with long term oxygen exposure than temperature. True, keeping them in the fridge or freezer helps extend their packaged shelf life as well but they can handle a few days at higher temperatures if there's no oxygen exposure
Excellent video man! I have a really simple equipment so usually use the first method. I'm waiting to buy a new fermenter to try another dry hopping technic. Thanks for the tips!
Hi - Just found your page - love it. So much good content. I am dry hopping a beer next week in a spike conical and love the TC port idea. A couple of questions. 1) Why have the butterfly valve open during fermentation with an air lock? Couldn't I just have a closed butterfly valve, attach the sight glass as shown and the pressure manifold. Pressurizes as you show and drop the hops. Then close the butterfly valve. No need to attach the blow-off again. Seems like I don't need it on either end. But I might be missing something - Pressure build up on the butterfly valve maybe? 2) I was planning on dry hopping for 3-4 days after primary and at final temp - something like 72-74 degrees - cold crash 2-3 days, dump yeast/hops and then keg. Is that about right/ Thanks for all of your brewing - Cheers!
If you close off the butterfly valve the fermenter will continue to build up pressure past its rated level. *This is extremely dangerous if the pressure gets too high* which is why you either ferment with a spunding valve or an airlock in this case with the butterfly valve open. Your dry hop plan sounds good, but I wouldn't rush to cold crash in case you get hop creep. Then you might have some diacetyl to worry about
@@TheApartmentBrewer - My thinking is that I have a blowoff tube on a separate TC port to so pressure build-up is not an issue. When you say to not rush the cold crash - do you mean that I should wait to cold crash for more like 5-6 days? How do I tell when the Diacetyl is cleaned up. Thanks again
Great video! Any ideas how to dry hop if you ferment it kegs? I going to start doing this and haven't figured out a way to do this.... Thanks as always for your great content!
That's a good question, and I actually don't necessarily know off the top of my head. I think maybe the best bet would be to hook up gas flowing into the keg via one of the posts, and then open it up and add your dry hops. I think you should be OK flushing oxygen out that way, but of course be sure to purge after closing the lid again. And again there could be an issue when you open the keg if you're fermenting under pressure, you don't want a beer explosion!! Maybe the magnet technique will work for you?
@@TheApartmentBrewer thanks! That seems the safest bet... I will be fermenting under pressure, but will purge before opening... I Appreciate your content and clear, thorough explanations, while being open to input... I learn from the comments as well
If stainless steel is NON magnetic then... is there a risk of dropping something into your wort that has "rust" properties fot it to be magnetic? cheers another great vid
It depends on the particular alloy of steel, or whether or not it's a steel plated object. Some stainless steels are not magnetic but others do have ferrous content, however that doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to rust when they spend just a few days in your beer. I would recommend testing it out in some water before you decide to use it, but I've never had any issues using regular old stainless dinner utensils as a weight. You can also use another magnet.
A bit off topic maybe, but whats your input on unwanted hop flavors in relation to exposure time? I had some issues with off-flavors that I feel might come from too much dry hops in combination with number of exposure days. I used the metod of ONLY dry hopping at full fermentation activity, but still had issues with some off-flavors from the dryhopping. So even with close to none exposure to oxygen I had issues that I thought was oxidation. The exposure time of that dryhopping was 7 days.
There are three main "off flavors" related to dry hopping. The first is so called "hop burn" which is a harsh tannic type sensation at the back of the throat and you can get that from dry hopping simply with too much at once (1.5-2 oz per gallon). Second is that grassy flavor mentioned in the video and that mainly comes from too much plant material for too long of a contact time (usually I try to keep it under 5-7 days). Third is a phenomenon called hop creep, where dry hopping at too warm of a temperature for too long can cause a buildup of diacetyl. That can mute other hop flavors, cutting down on the brightness of the hop character in general and can be mistaken for oxidized beer. That's my guess as to what's going on in your case.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Thanks for the input! Hop burn has not really been an issue, had the idea that the "grassy" notes was what I got. But since it doesn't really change alot with contact time (Or that I rather get the stale off flavor even with short exposures), Im not so sure anymore. So Im leaning towards that it might be oxygen anyway, since I get really low fruit notes with high amount of dry hops. Should look into hop creep as well. Thanks! And thank you for your work on the channel!
@@TheApartmentBrewer thanks for explaining all aspects in a few sentences, i'm a beginner brewer and your videos/comments really helps me better understand this hobby
I was able to use it through a thick bucket lid, I'm not sure if that's similar to the thickness on the Spiedel fermenter, but if it is a stack of about 5 or so of those strong magnets will work.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Thanks for the answer. I tried "normal" magnets through the side. I added Glas marbles to the hop sack, so it would sink. was way too much weight. I think I need super strong neodyne magnets. work in progress.
Question: The piece that to attach to the top of the sight glass that you describe as a tri clamp accessory with a pressure release value and gas post. Where can I get that? I've looked all over amazon to no avail. Any direction would be greatly appreciated.
I have the ss brewbucket and have been adding dry hops while pumping CO2 in from the racking port at the bottom. I feel like I'm getting that same positive pressure to keep oxygen out. I then keep the CO2 going for another 30 seconds after I seal the lid to try and purge the headspace in the fermenter. It seems to work but I'd be interested to see actual data on that or a brulosophy-type experiment.
The newest idea it seems is to crush a tablet of sodium metabisulphite and add it to the bottom of the keg. Fill a stainless canister of hops and drop that in. Then rack your beer into the keg. The crushed tablet supposedly prevents oxidation. I plan to try this idea out with some 2021 Chinook hops.
I bag all of my dry hops in 15" muslin bags (the bigger ones) -- do you think there is any issue with hop contact/utilization doing this? Like the magnet trick, will have to try.
Did u know spike has a new 3 port lid for the fermenter. I got no problem with the new lid at all even with the gasket. It stays on with no problem 👍 cheers 🍻
Why should I not use magnet technique in my stainless-steel fermenter? I was planning on using food grade silicone magnets, and slowing moving the magnets down into the beer and then after a few days slowly move the magnets back up to the lid out of the beer.
I just caution it sometimes because they can be very thick-walled and it can be difficult to keep the magnets and hop bag suspended. Use the silicone magnets.
The hoppier the beer, the less risk there is, but hop-resistant bacteria does exist! As for high alcohol, you really need to be looking at like 30-40% ABV before it starts to become sanitary, so its not really bulletproof
I’ve used the magnet technique in my Fermzilla Allrounder, with French press bags. Works great. Got the bags and magnets from Amazon. Learned the method from Martin at The Homebrew Challenge.
It's a great method, I think I initially found on a forum somewhere but I also saw Martin using it a few times after that. How do you like using the French press bags?
@@TheApartmentBrewer The French press bags work great. And they’re cheap. They have a drawstring attached which makes it very easy to tie the bag to the magnets. The magnets have a center hole which makes attaching the string easy.
if you are just dropping the hops in below via the last method, how do you prevent your transfer to the keg from getting clogged? Should the hops fall down to the bottom?
@@TheApartmentBrewer I even swapped out my sanitizer airlock bucket tube (have a tube going out of airlock into a 2 liter water thing filled with sanitizer) now it stopped bubbling
I've been using the "magnet" technique. I've been worried a bit tha CO2 generated from the fermentation removes the nice aroma of hops before the addition while it is hanging on thr head space. I could actually feel that the aroma coming out of airlock diminished over time. So by the time I tossed the hops at 10ish day of fermentation, the aroma was already almost gone. Any though about this issue?
That's not been my experience, but you could always set them up during primary where it's safe to open the fermenter, or if you have a pressure capable fermenter, you can pressurize it to avoid that
im pressure fermenting. and i bought the hoppe drop setup from fermzilla. and i had inormes difficulties geting all of my 100g of hoppe in ther. Im going to try the collection yare metode this time
FYI for dry hoping in the Fermzilla for instance a 3-5 day dry hop, the hop pellets seem to plug up the ball lock connection when dong a "keg transfer" as this was my experience :-( Any tips on this other than using hop bags and cold crashing due to the 32" size of the Fermzilla. Thanks
I’m planning a NEIPA to brew next week using the grain build you recently posted and planning a single dry hop at yeast pitch as outlined in Brulosophy Episode 163. Will be pressure by fermenting in my AllRounder. Have you tried this method?
Sounds like a great idea, I've never tried dry hopping at yeast pitch before, but I have dry hopped a few days later with great results. Let us know how it turns out!
@@TheApartmentBrewer The NEIPA turned out great. Nice hop character - not too bitter. I only used 2oz of Amarillo / 2oz Citra hops at yeast pitch and it finished fermentation in 3 days and I transferred to keg @ 5 days and let chill/finish carbonate for 2-3 days. Funny thing is the beer is clearing up and is semi-hazy even with 2lbs of flaked oats/wheat/white wheat. But I don't care because it has a great mouth feel and tastes good. Thanks for the inspiration to brew it!
I had both the regular fermzilla and the all-rounder. I love the all-rounder, but the collection jar on the fermzilla had lots of durability issues. Specifically plastic threads cross-threading and cracking. You still have to take the carbonation caps off the collection jar when you clean/sanitize and they never seemed to get a good seal after one or two times.
Maybe one of you can help me with something I’m not getting. Assuming you don’t have a hop dropper/doser, from my understanding adding dry hops into carbonated beer is how you get a beer geyser to happen from all the nucleation points hitting CO2 and causing it to rush out. As I understand it the tank needs to be depressurized first, or is there a difference between the head space having CO2 pressure and the beer itself?
@@TheApartmentBrewer Ok so there needs to be absolutely no CO2 in solution or in the head space when I drop those in. Good to know! So what’s the method then? You purge the tank, throw them in and seal it up as quickly as possible and then purge the headspace with CO2? I’ve read a lot of people suggesting to put a little bit in first, wait for that nucleation to settle out and add the rest but this was also for a production scale as opposed to a 5 gallon batch.
Some CO2 in solution is fine, but if the fermentation has been pressurized for a long time the risk is high. A little at a time is really best way to do it
@@TheApartmentBrewer I was planning on doing something similar the method you’ve been using of letting it ferment out, wait a few days for a diacetyl rest, soft crash to 56F and then add hops. I assume that should help not to add when it’s too active but of course increases oxygen risk.
I've definitely gravitated toward that more now. It's easy to bubble CO2 up through the fermenter if you have a conical, that keeps the oxygen from being too much of a hazard
Any magnet will do BUT inside the fermenter one should use stainless steel tea spoons or whiskey rocks etc as the thing that is attracted to the magnet and will secure the hop bag until the drop. Anything put inside the fermenter should be food grade. Of course the magnet should be very strong or multiple magnets should be combined.
In my opinion, that largely depends on the rest of your recipe, especially the other hops you used at other points in the process. That being said I love cascade for any part of the brewing process.
Or just buy a $20k screen filter and line early filter plates with hops, then purge and transfer beer through plate filter to both dry hop AND filter at the same time - Perfectly feasible fore every home brewer :p
I noticed a huge difference in flavor when using or not a hop bag. With a hop bag I couldn't smell any of the hops, so I am just throwing hops directly
That's interesting, I think in my experience I have noticed a small difference, but nothing too mind blowing. And also it does definitely help to you have a bag for cleanup
@@TheApartmentBrewer Yeah definitely the bag keeps the beer clean from all the hops residual. But I added a filter to the fermenter tap to prevent that =)
Do you have a preferred method of dry hopping? Let me know down below!
I've been a chuck it in kinda guy. I try to get the dry hop in when the fermentation still has a few points to go. I control my ph and just by that been able to avoid oxydation so far (knock on wood). I did used ascorbic acid in the mash (per Genuis breweing method)when I went to 3oz+ type dry hops.
I see a hop rocket is in your future ;). You seem to be adding a lot to your brewhouse lately.
@@1TheLord1 It does seem like it, but for the most part I'm pretty sure my fermentation side is done evolving for a long time! I'm also a big fan of ascorbic in the mash.
the magnet released hop bag is brilliant. I will use it too!
I have two FZ all rounders. I brew in the first piping the co2 from the gas post of the first to the liquid post of the second and have a spunding valve on the gas post of the second. At high krausen I dry hop to the empty second fermenter so the hops are mostly sitting in co2 only. After the ferment I enclosed transfer from the first fermenter to the second (on top of the hops) then after the dry hop period I crash then enclosed transfer to a keg. I used to use a Fermzilla and dry hop through the jar but have found cleaning two all-rounders is way easier than dealing with the valve on a single FZ.
I share your opinion on the cleaning piece. I'm a big fan of the all rounder. That sounds like a great technique and thanks for sharing!
You just saved me a ton of money with your tri-clamp drop hopper solution! Thanks!
Great to hear!
I am drinking my first dry hop in a keg beer. I put 2 oz citra in there then purged the pony keg and pressure transferred the beer. Best beer ever for this style ( NEIPA). I did add a pound of crystal malt to the grain bill so it may not be a classic neipa but I made it for me😁. It’s been 3 weeks now and is still great In my opinion. Definitely no grassy flavor but it is getting stronger. Everyone who has tasted it is floored by the flavors and overall presentation. I’m brewing a more blond version right now which I plan to do the same dry hop method, since it’s for a fishing trip I doubt it will last the weekend so....
Love you videos, your quite brilliant
Thanks! Keg dry hopping will get you massive hop flavor at first since its so fresh for sure. Cheers and good luck on the fishing trip!
I have been using your “magnet drop” method ever since I watched you do it a year ago. It has served me well.
I didn't invent it by any means but I'm glad you were able to use it!
I’m just about to try this… do the hops not get effected at all during primary fermentation sat out of the fridge in the top of the bucket? Do they lose aroma?
Not in my experience. The CO2 from fermentation does a pretty good job of keeping them fresh
Thanks for posting this. It introduced me to the magnetic hop drop and I tried it for the first time. Hopefully the results will be good and I'll do that in future. It certainly simplified the hopping, just remove the magnets and listen for a little splash! My fermentation is stainless steel and it worked a treat - I tested it and the magnets held very strong. Is there any other reason you said maybe avoid magnets with a stainless steel fermenter?
When dry hopping in the keg using whole cone can keep particulate matter down. Also you can use magnets to keep the bag a submerged as desired so once the beer drains beyond the bag you’ll avoid those long exposure off flavors
Thats a great idea, thanks for sharing!
That magnet method is brilliant - simple and effective, will use it next brew I make!
En que momento echas el dry hopping y que cantidad por litros
Great video. I make cider so I add a little more apple juice, sugar, or sometimes a high carbonated seltzer to add co2 if I'm introducing dry hops.
Great video. Thanks for the tip on dry hopping in the keg. I was about to throw some hops into my freshly kegged red ipa but didn’t even think about the off flavors developing over time!!
Awesome educational stuff here TY. Question about dry hoping. Could you dry hop in a big mouth secondary fermenter by simply adding CO2 into the head space and then quickly take top off and drop hop basket in and then do the reverse when removing it?
Thank you. I'm ready to play with dry hopping.
My pleasure!
Wow, the magnet idea is inspired!
I literally just got done dry hopping my pale ale 15 minutes ago with 2oz of mosaic. Looking forward to trying it. Love the shirt, Night Shift has fantastic beer. Cheers 🍻
They make great beer! Good luck with the pale ale!
I ferment in a keg and with the beer I just brewed yesterday, I was planning to do the sous vide magnet and hop bag but I found some challenges with this. With the 5oz of hops (7 days into fermentation) I was planning, one magnet seemed not quite enough, so it was a pain to keep them in place, line up the magnets etc. I'm guessing less hops would be less of a problem, but kegs don't have a ton of room between the opening and the side of the keg. Also it was a challenge tying these cheap bags closed so they don't just open immediately, or I pull the string through one side accidentally. Perhaps with more patience and practice I could get it to work with smaller hop schedules, not sure.
So I just bailed on the magnet/bag and decided I'm just going to fill the headspace with C02, open the lid, drop the hops in, close the lid, then re-purge the headspace with c02. I can't imagine there would be much risk of oxidation with this as it's only going to be 30s at most where the fermenter is open and there will be a layer of c02 in there, and any oxygen will be immediately purged out. If anyone can think of a major risk of doing this, or something I might not have thought of let me know.
Good timing. I just finished my second dry hop charge on a Catalyst fermenter. It was very tough, there was not enough headspace above the liquid to do the magnet method, and the bottom port only accepts mason jars. I ended up trying to fill a mason jar with co2 once my hops were in just by blowing co2 into it with a lid partly covering it, then closed the jar. Then I slide the lid off while attaching it to the fermenter.
It worked... Ish. But there was still sediment on top of the bottom valve so the hops just got buried, and overall was not a process conducive to reproducibility.
I bought a larger mason jar (32oz), a glass drill bit and a ball valve with a nipple attachment, that I'm going to experiment making a dry-hopper with specifically for the Catalyst. Will update when I finish.
Good luck! I know that the glass makes it difficult, be safe with that
Yo! I also have the Catalyst and was literally YouTubing methods of cutting glass to make a puragble mason jar. All the ones you can find/buy have attachments on the top but that's where it connects to the catalyst.
I've also done the fill with CO2 thing and it worked pretty well but you know there's still some oxygen coming in and it feels hacky. Would love to get a side-purgable mason jar for re-attaching during trub dumps, dry hopping and yeast harvesting.
I also will keep my eye out for a plastic wide mouth mason jar that might be a little safer to hold pressure and drill.
Btw, here's one of the good TH-cam vids I found for drilling a hole into the side of a mason jar: th-cam.com/video/zXWU8NniM3I/w-d-xo.html
@@joshuapinter I'll take a look, and might upload my own. I ended up drilling a hole onto the side of a 32oz jar under water in my sink. Works pretty well!
@@nickdefrancis You'll need a glass vessel with sloped sides at the bottom, otherwise you're going to be shaking the heck out of the whole setup to get the pellets to go down the tube. Let us know how your do with this, very interested!
Missed moving the beer to a pre-purged keg with a drop hopper filter already in it and then after 3 to 7 days based on the recipe moving the beer once again to a final keg. This is my preferred method as it works great without oxygen concerns.
Thansk for sharing, sounds like a great technique!
This is a great method and what I tend to do. Once you get into kegging and having the equipment + space for multiple vessels, pressure transferring can be used every time you move beer around, primary > secondary > brite/conditioning > serving. Using these methods, my homebrew tastes fresher far longer than it used to, with hardly any O2 exposure.
Thanks for the content @TheApartmentBrewer
@@tachikoma805 You nailed it about the if you are kegging, have the equipment and the space otherwise it can be a bit more difficult. I do the the primary>Serving (acts as the brite/conditioning with a floating diptube) but if it is an IPA or any beer requiring a dry hop or like conditioning then the steps are primary>secondary(dry hop or other)>Serving.
Hi. Your hop dropper solution is great. Where did you get the gas manifold or if you made it how did you go about doing that?
Thanks
It's spike brewing's old gas manifold. Not sure if they still sell it but it is very effective.
Nice vid! I dry hop in the keg, loosey goosey. Usually I drink beer pretty fast/share with friends. But I agree if you are planning to keep it around its not the best method for long term!
Thanks for watching Trent! Yeah I agree, if you can turn it over or pull the hops out in time, its fine. Cheers man!
Hey BruSho! loosey goosey? No bag or SS hop spider? Don't you get hop matter in your pours??
@@blakefaulds I might get a little bit in first couple pours but from there on out its fine. If you are doing a huge charge of dry hops probably best to use some filter in there I suppose to keep your dip tube from clogging.
do the loose hops sink to the bottom ? and if so how long does it take for them to sink?
I've never brewed beer so this is just a question. Could you dry up to a keg and then transfer it from one keg to another after you got the flavor you wanted?
Another effective method would be dry hopping in keg with a tonne of hops. After 3 or 4 days proceeding to do a closed transfer to another keg through a filtration device.
Keep the videos going, thank you
Hi, im new to homebrewing and to your channel, im loving them both. I got a brewing journal as a present and noticed it is the same one as yours. Would love you to do an episode on how you fill out your journal and what information you think is important. Thanks
I don't know if it's enough to talk about by itself for a video, but I will try to work it into a future update
Yeah i keep a brew journal too after time it became one of my beloved possessions with a lot of memories
I would like to start dry hopping. I use a firmzilla, thinking of using a large stainless steel tea ball and magnet. Would it be a good idea to retrieve the hop ball to the top using the magnet after say a week after fermentation has resided?
I have a stainless steel fermenter. Do you think I could get a hop bag to drop that has a magnet in it attached to the inside of the lid, by using the reverse polarity of another magnet on the outside of the lid? Of course I could just test it but I don’t have magnets yet
I think you could easily do that. I don't think regular 304 stainless steel is magnetic, so that would probably be fine
I've heard of tying up a hop sock / muslin bag with a piece of (unflavored) dental floss that you hold in place using the fermentor bung. Just lift a bit to let the hops drop. I have NOT done this though. I have dry hopped a mead by just plonking a bag in, but they are less prone to oxidation. Have not dry hopped a beer, specifically because I don't want them to oxidize. I'm no longer struggling with oxidation as I was with my old system (auto-syphon and a bucket, so easy to oxidize), so I'm going to start experimenting with dry hopping soon.
Seems like a good method as well! Don't be too afraid of the oxidation from dry hopping. Its a risk for sure, but its not a huge terrible thing if you take the lid off for a few seconds.
What are your thoughts on Hop Tea instead of dry hopping. I started to use this method recently, and seems to be very successful so far.
After dry hopping in the primary, I pressure-transfer to a purged keg for another dry hop. The keg is fitted with a capped, grommeted hop spider screen through which the liquid outlet line passes through. The hops are placed in the keg loose. Beer is transferred from the primary through the gas inlet on the secondary (not an issue because the keg is purged). When dry hopping is done, the beer is pressure-transferred to a purged serving keg via the liquid out line while the screen filters out the loose hops. When I eventually get a pressure capable ss bucket, I'll use your sight glass method.
Thats really creative, thanks for sharing!
I like the magnet idea👍🏻 man I still have that fermzilla (still boxed) haven’t used it yet, maybe I’ll take it out soon. Hey man it was cool seeing ya with CH the other night, I had to cut out early to get up for work. 👍🏻👍🏻🍺🍺cheers man
Thanks man! I had a great time the other night, hopefully I can come back on at some point in the future! Cheers!
Haha! My favorite is to brew beers that don't require dry-hopping. ...not an ideal solution, but it works.
Definitely an effective method haha
Man you are getting a lot of the blame here when I explain to my wife why I need a spike fermenter :D Really like that last dry hop method, especially seeing as though you can do multiple charges. I just made a NEIPA and tried the magnet method in my fermzilla all rounder. Didn’t have enough magnets to hold the hop addition with a stir plate in the bag though so after a bit of deliberation ended up throwing them in at yeast pitch. Brulosophy did an experiment on this a few months back and, like them I didn’t get any grassy flavours from it. Just made sure to transfer to the keg as soon as I’d reached FG at 7 days.
You don't NEED one...but dont tell your wife I said that! Yeah I've had some variance as to how long it takes to get grassiness. Usually its around 7 days for me where I start to pick up on it, but it has a lot to do with the amount of plant matter in the beer.
Haha, you do need one! I just got a BrewHa and will be using the sightglass charge method myself. The only downside is the smaller TC fittings, but I am seeing more conicals coming out with larger diameter fittings so that is promising!
I just finished watching you on The Hoppy Hour. That has to be a record for the longest one. Pretty funny!!
😬 Glad you enjoyed it, I was certainly feeling it after a little while there haha
Ok, so the magnet trick is only viable for high krausen dry hopping, right? You can’t wait say 2 weeks for fermentation to finish and then dry hop that way.
Thank you for this concise tutorial on dry hopping. I gather dry hopping is mainly for aroma and not for bittering. But is there a way of increasing the ibu’s or bittering hops during or after fermentation by adding hops/hop extracts?
(I was hoping to explore possible ways of avoiding the boil entirely in the brew stage.)
The bittering hops are mostly functional in their purpose , it really does help stop beer going bad , put it together with good sanitization and you have a solid foundation for good clean beer. You get your boiled hops in your fermenter right from the getgo to help keep your fermentation right
Yes its for aroma not bittering. What nobody days is that ITS LIKE COOKING GARLIC OR GINGER, the flavour looses a LOT of sharpness compared to raw ginger/garlic . Boiling dramatically changes the flavors you get , and in fact it cooks most of it off
Best educational and time saving videos! Thanks dude!
Incredibley informative video. Thank you so much.
I switched to a 1.5“ to 2“ reducer and a 2“ butterfly valve for dry hopping... works like a charm. The 1.5“ butterfly valve was a pain in the a**
I’ve been an open and chuck guy but I want to try the magnet route. I’m going to check out those magnets you linked as everything I’ve got does seem strong enough.
Yeah they work great on the side of the all rounder, if you need more magnetism, just stack a bunch together. Cheers man, and great last video!!!
1g/10l ascorbic acid goes in when i dryhop my beers.Works great to avoid oxidation
Agreed! Sometimes I do that, but I dont always remember to. Good tip!
Do you add to mash as well?
@@flashcdog Nope only as i dryhop 🍻
Do you have a link to that top tri clamp piece with prv and ball lock? I'm having trouble finding that.
Sorry I don't, but you can find it on the spike brewing website. It's the spike gas manifold
@@TheApartmentBrewer thank you!
Great content as always. I dry hop my fermenter king jr by depressurising and unscrewing the collar, pumping co2 down the dip tube so I have positive pressure and quickly dumping the hops in when the lid pops up. I always purge a couple of times after putting the lid and collar back on just in case. Then I re-pressurise back to my fermentation pressure and don't bother with the spunding valve if near the end or at the end of fermentation to keep all that aroma in there.
Good stuff, thanks for sharing that technique!
Where did you get that shirt? Its awesome. Great video as well. thanks
Omg the sight glass thing is so smart!!! I was about to get the prebuilt one I think you were talking about and waist almost $200
It definitely is worth trying to see if you can build something similar. The only thing I would caution you about is trying to add more than 1 to 1.5 ounces every time otherwise you will probably need a 3" sight glass.
Great video! I am looking for a source for the tri clamp attachment with the gas post, gauge, and pressure relief valve that you can pull. Any ideas?
You can find it on Spike Brewing's website
Can you sanitize a rare earth magnet for inside the hop bag? The stainless steel I have is non-magnetic.
Great video! Would you happen to have a link for the tri clamp manifold/prv? That's the last piece to my puzzle haha.
The one I use is only available from Spike brewing as their gas manifold. You can find it on their website.
What's you preferred method to transfer a low oxygen dry hopped beer? Ran into a bit of a headache trying to pressure transfer from spike conical thru ball lock into the corny kegs....do you run an inline filter?
Really nice tips. I use the open the lid In fermzilla approach and to minimize oxygen contact I ferment under pressure (15psi) and when I dryhop I depressurize and open the lid to put the hops. What happens is, even If fermentation is over, CO2 will come out of the beer cause the headspace is at 0 psi. So I just release this CO2 to purge out O2. Cheers!
Positive pressure from CO2 is a very easy way to keep oxygen out, just got to be careful not to have the beer explode on you!
I ferment 3 gallons in a 5 gallon corny. Do you think the magnet trick would work if I put it on the side of the keg? You mentioned not using it for stainless steel.
It might, the issue with steel is that they are so thick-walled sometimes
I've been playing around with hopping in the keg more recently. First, it can definitely save a so-so beer once kegged but that aside, dry hopping in the keg really ups the aroma for me. Doesn't really change the taste all that much but I've found using the same hops as in the boil is the best way to do this. I've tried different hops (mostly just because I have some to get rid of) and getting to crazy ruins things. It's still a work in progress. I've not noticed grassiness even after 3 months in the keg.
That's interesting that you haven't noticed any grassy flavor after that long of a time. Are you only dry hopping with a small amount? When I dropped in the keg think it was something around 2 oz.
@@TheApartmentBrewer That's not to say I haven't witnessed it changing. I rarely use more than 2 oz in the keg but I have lots of LupoMax hops I'm going to try soon. No way should those go grassy. But hey, shame on me for not drinking a keg faster than 3 months. :)
Have you ever suspended the hops in tea strainer balls? They dip just below the surface so that way when you pull the first several pints they are no longer sitting in the beer.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Yes, mostly I keep it to under 3 oz. When I keg hop it's always in a stainless strainer.
Another great video, Steve. Thanks for all of the great info.
My pleasure, glad you enjoyed it!
I'm planning to make the sight glass dry hopping but how to get rid of the hops on your fermenter if you dont have a way to cold crash?
You really just have to work around it. Most of them will settle to the bottom though
Night shift brewing shirt! I plan on visiting there in June. Pretty excited for that trip. They make great beer!
They do!! Thank you for watching, cheers!
So I have been dry hopping in a keg and then transfer the beer into a different keg via co2 after 5-7 days. Seems to work great for me.
Hi, first thanks for the video on different techniques! So I've been making NEIPA's for a while now, double dry hopping in the fermenter, the second dry hop addition coming about 4 days before transferring to keg and via the just-drop-it-in method. I'm interested in trying out this magnet idea with my Speidel 30L fermenters for that second addition, but to what end? I know oxygen is the enemy of beer, but like what happens when that small volume of air comes in contact with the beer when I drop my hop bag in 4 days before packaging? Does it dull the hop flavor I'm trying to achieve or the malt flavors? If so, how immediate is that effect? Or does air exposure produce some kind of off flavor? I'll say I've never detected an off flavor or unpleasant smell in doing this, but I will also admit my hop saturation flavor in the final beer (while improved over time) definitely is not quite where I wish it was. So I'm curious to know what the actual affect of this amount of air contacting the beer is, and how immediate (or not) that affect might be. Thanks!
Well, air is a good percentage oxygen and with enough time it will mess things up for the beer. Generally, oxidized hoppy beer tastes dull/uninteresting and starts to darken the color towards brown/gray/purple. I'm hesitant to jump on the bandwagon that a few seconds of exposure will ruin your beer, I really don't think that's the case. But a few minutes of exposure, or even worse, splashing/incorporating bubbles into the post-fermentation beer will definitely cause shelf life issues a few weeks down the road for something like a hazy IPA. Of course, this is mostly preventable if you flush out headspace with CO2 or add some ascorbic acid as an antioxidant at some point in the process.
Does the hop freshness go away leaving the hops at 65-75 degrees in the fermenter with magnets? Can’t find anything on it.
Its a good question, but no I've never had an issue with the hops staling. Stale hops has far more to do with long term oxygen exposure than temperature. True, keeping them in the fridge or freezer helps extend their packaged shelf life as well but they can handle a few days at higher temperatures if there's no oxygen exposure
Where'd you get the topper for the sight glass?
Thats from Spike brewing. Its their gas manifold
Excellent video man! I have a really simple equipment so usually use the first method. I'm waiting to buy a new fermenter to try another dry hopping technic. Thanks for the tips!
Glad you enjoyed the video, nothing wrong with simple equipment!
Why do you NOT recommend the magnet method with a stainless fermenter?
Hi - Just found your page - love it. So much good content. I am dry hopping a beer next week in a spike conical and love the TC port idea. A couple of questions.
1) Why have the butterfly valve open during fermentation with an air lock? Couldn't I just have a closed butterfly valve, attach the sight glass as shown and the pressure manifold. Pressurizes as you show and drop the hops. Then close the butterfly valve. No need to attach the blow-off again. Seems like I don't need it on either end. But I might be missing something - Pressure build up on the butterfly valve maybe?
2) I was planning on dry hopping for 3-4 days after primary and at final temp - something like 72-74 degrees - cold crash 2-3 days, dump yeast/hops and then keg. Is that about right/
Thanks for all of your brewing - Cheers!
If you close off the butterfly valve the fermenter will continue to build up pressure past its rated level. *This is extremely dangerous if the pressure gets too high* which is why you either ferment with a spunding valve or an airlock in this case with the butterfly valve open. Your dry hop plan sounds good, but I wouldn't rush to cold crash in case you get hop creep. Then you might have some diacetyl to worry about
@@TheApartmentBrewer - My thinking is that I have a blowoff tube on a separate TC port to so pressure build-up is not an issue.
When you say to not rush the cold crash - do you mean that I should wait to cold crash for more like 5-6 days?
How do I tell when the Diacetyl is cleaned up.
Thanks again
Great video! Any ideas how to dry hop if you ferment it kegs? I going to start doing this and haven't figured out a way to do this.... Thanks as always for your great content!
That's a good question, and I actually don't necessarily know off the top of my head. I think maybe the best bet would be to hook up gas flowing into the keg via one of the posts, and then open it up and add your dry hops. I think you should be OK flushing oxygen out that way, but of course be sure to purge after closing the lid again. And again there could be an issue when you open the keg if you're fermenting under pressure, you don't want a beer explosion!! Maybe the magnet technique will work for you?
@@TheApartmentBrewer thanks! That seems the safest bet... I will be fermenting under pressure, but will purge before opening... I Appreciate your content and clear, thorough explanations, while being open to input... I learn from the comments as well
If stainless steel is NON magnetic then... is there a risk of dropping something into your wort that has "rust" properties fot it to be magnetic? cheers another great vid
It depends on the particular alloy of steel, or whether or not it's a steel plated object. Some stainless steels are not magnetic but others do have ferrous content, however that doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to rust when they spend just a few days in your beer. I would recommend testing it out in some water before you decide to use it, but I've never had any issues using regular old stainless dinner utensils as a weight. You can also use another magnet.
can i use the magnet method with a stainless steel 304 fermenter?
I think 304 is only partially magnetic so you should be alright
Hey man! Can’t find that tri clamp gas post with pressure release set up you have with the gauge. Any chance you can link something similar??
spikebrewing.com/products/gas-manifold
Great vid Steve ! Cheers 🍻🤙🏼
Thanks hellbrews!! Cheers man. Good seeing you Wednesday evening
A bit off topic maybe, but whats your input on unwanted hop flavors in relation to exposure time? I had some issues with off-flavors that I feel might come from too much dry hops in combination with number of exposure days. I used the metod of ONLY dry hopping at full fermentation activity, but still had issues with some off-flavors from the dryhopping. So even with close to none exposure to oxygen I had issues that I thought was oxidation. The exposure time of that dryhopping was 7 days.
There are three main "off flavors" related to dry hopping. The first is so called "hop burn" which is a harsh tannic type sensation at the back of the throat and you can get that from dry hopping simply with too much at once (1.5-2 oz per gallon). Second is that grassy flavor mentioned in the video and that mainly comes from too much plant material for too long of a contact time (usually I try to keep it under 5-7 days). Third is a phenomenon called hop creep, where dry hopping at too warm of a temperature for too long can cause a buildup of diacetyl. That can mute other hop flavors, cutting down on the brightness of the hop character in general and can be mistaken for oxidized beer. That's my guess as to what's going on in your case.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Thanks for the input! Hop burn has not really been an issue, had the idea that the "grassy" notes was what I got. But since it doesn't really change alot with contact time (Or that I rather get the stale off flavor even with short exposures), Im not so sure anymore. So Im leaning towards that it might be oxygen anyway, since I get really low fruit notes with high amount of dry hops. Should look into hop creep as well. Thanks! And thank you for your work on the channel!
@@TheApartmentBrewer thanks for explaining all aspects in a few sentences, i'm a beginner brewer and your videos/comments really helps me better understand this hobby
I have 3 speidel 30l Fermenters. thick Plastik makes magnet method difficult. Still trying to find a good solution. Great video as always, keep it up
I was able to use it through a thick bucket lid, I'm not sure if that's similar to the thickness on the Spiedel fermenter, but if it is a stack of about 5 or so of those strong magnets will work.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Thanks for the answer. I tried "normal" magnets through the side. I added Glas marbles to the hop sack, so it would sink. was way too much weight. I think I need super strong neodyne magnets. work in progress.
Were can I find that gas manifold that you are using.
That would be the spike gas manifold, you can find it on the spike brewing website
@@TheApartmentBrewer Okay. Thanks. No EUROPE resellers, and they don't export. I think I must make something diy. Cheers .
Question: The piece that to attach to the top of the sight glass that you describe as a tri clamp accessory with a pressure release value and gas post. Where can I get that? I've looked all over amazon to no avail. Any direction would be greatly appreciated.
It's the Spike brewing gas manifold. I believe you can only get it on their website
@@TheApartmentBrewer Thanks for that!
I have the ss brewbucket and have been adding dry hops while pumping CO2 in from the racking port at the bottom. I feel like I'm getting that same positive pressure to keep oxygen out. I then keep the CO2 going for another 30 seconds after I seal the lid to try and purge the headspace in the fermenter. It seems to work but I'd be interested to see actual data on that or a brulosophy-type experiment.
Seems like it would be a good method, cheers!
The newest idea it seems is to crush a tablet of sodium metabisulphite and add it to the bottom of the keg. Fill a stainless canister of hops and drop that in. Then rack your beer into the keg. The crushed tablet supposedly prevents oxidation. I plan to try this idea out with some 2021 Chinook hops.
I bag all of my dry hops in 15" muslin bags (the bigger ones) -- do you think there is any issue with hop contact/utilization doing this?
Like the magnet trick, will have to try.
I dont think so, I usually do the same thing in most cases.
Did u know spike has a new 3 port lid for the fermenter. I got no problem with the new lid at all even with the gasket. It stays on with no problem 👍 cheers 🍻
Nice, I'll have to check it out!
Why should I not use magnet technique in my stainless-steel fermenter? I was planning on using food grade silicone magnets, and slowing moving the magnets down into the beer and then after a few days slowly move the magnets back up to the lid out of the beer.
I just caution it sometimes because they can be very thick-walled and it can be difficult to keep the magnets and hop bag suspended. Use the silicone magnets.
@@TheApartmentBrewer thank you! I have the silicone magnets and will give it a go.
What brand of ascorbic acid do you use? How much do you place in your hops before dryhopping
Whatever the local homebrew shop sells. It's so cheap and you use so little of it that the upcharged "homebrewing version" is still totally fine.
Is there really much infection risk once the fermentation is done? What could grow in a hoppy alcoholic environment?
The hoppier the beer, the less risk there is, but hop-resistant bacteria does exist! As for high alcohol, you really need to be looking at like 30-40% ABV before it starts to become sanitary, so its not really bulletproof
I’ve used the magnet technique in my Fermzilla Allrounder, with French press bags. Works great. Got the bags and magnets from Amazon. Learned the method from Martin at The Homebrew Challenge.
It's a great method, I think I initially found on a forum somewhere but I also saw Martin using it a few times after that. How do you like using the French press bags?
@@TheApartmentBrewer
The French press bags work great. And they’re cheap. They have a drawstring attached which makes it very easy to tie the bag to the magnets. The magnets have a center hole which makes attaching the string easy.
Awesome, I'll have to check that out!
if you are just dropping the hops in below via the last method, how do you prevent your transfer to the keg from getting clogged? Should the hops fall down to the bottom?
It's kinda a chance. Sometimes they float, sometimes they clog
@@TheApartmentBrewer sigh
It kinda helps to have a conical in that case though
@@TheApartmentBrewer I do I just added some today to my wc ipa, I dumped them into the top but fermentation still going
@@TheApartmentBrewer I even swapped out my sanitizer airlock bucket tube (have a tube going out of airlock into a 2 liter water thing filled with sanitizer) now it stopped bubbling
I've been using the "magnet" technique. I've been worried a bit tha CO2 generated from the fermentation removes the nice aroma of hops before the addition while it is hanging on thr head space. I could actually feel that the aroma coming out of airlock diminished over time. So by the time I tossed the hops at 10ish day of fermentation, the aroma was already almost gone. Any though about this issue?
That's not been my experience, but you could always set them up during primary where it's safe to open the fermenter, or if you have a pressure capable fermenter, you can pressurize it to avoid that
thanks for sharing.
im pressure fermenting. and i bought the hoppe drop setup from fermzilla. and i had inormes difficulties geting all of my 100g of hoppe in ther. Im going to try the collection yare metode this time
FYI for dry hoping in the Fermzilla for instance a 3-5 day dry hop, the hop pellets seem to plug up the ball lock connection when dong a "keg transfer" as this was my experience :-( Any tips on this other than using hop bags and cold crashing due to the 32" size of the Fermzilla. Thanks
I had good results when bagging the hops with the fermzilla, otherwise using a dip tube filter is a good way to go if they are loose
Why wouldn’t you use magnets for stainless conical that doesn’t have other valves on top to use the sight glass?
You still can (I think, I havent tried) but I wanted to show a bunch of different methods
very informative video. thx!
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
Whirlpool is my favorite dry hop method lol
But actually though!!
I’m planning a NEIPA to brew next week using the grain build you recently posted and planning a single dry hop at yeast pitch as outlined in Brulosophy Episode 163. Will be pressure by fermenting in my AllRounder. Have you tried this method?
Sounds like a great idea, I've never tried dry hopping at yeast pitch before, but I have dry hopped a few days later with great results. Let us know how it turns out!
@@TheApartmentBrewer The NEIPA turned out great. Nice hop character - not too bitter. I only used 2oz of Amarillo / 2oz Citra hops at yeast pitch and it finished fermentation in 3 days and I transferred to keg @ 5 days and let chill/finish carbonate for 2-3 days. Funny thing is the beer is clearing up and is semi-hazy even with 2lbs of flaked oats/wheat/white wheat. But I don't care because it has a great mouth feel and tastes good. Thanks for the inspiration to brew it!
Thanks for following up and I'm glad you got a great beer out of it! Enjoy!
If you use the magnet method, make sure you don't drop them into your brew. The chromium coating on a neodymium magnet can influence flavor.
Are magnets in direct contact with beer dangerous?
Depends on whether they have food grade coating or not. Thats why I suggest using something that can be sanitized instead of a magnet inside
@@TheApartmentBrewer i took those recommended in the description and i immersed them..it's correct?
You'll be fine, but next time I'd recommend keeping them on the outside and using a steel object on the inside
@@TheApartmentBrewer thank you!
Nice Night Shift shirt. Have you tried Santilli?
Yup! Great beer!
What’s your issue with the fermzilla design?
I had both the regular fermzilla and the all-rounder. I love the all-rounder, but the collection jar on the fermzilla had lots of durability issues. Specifically plastic threads cross-threading and cracking. You still have to take the carbonation caps off the collection jar when you clean/sanitize and they never seemed to get a good seal after one or two times.
Very informative :)
Maybe one of you can help me with something I’m not getting. Assuming you don’t have a hop dropper/doser, from my understanding adding dry hops into carbonated beer is how you get a beer geyser to happen from all the nucleation points hitting CO2 and causing it to rush out. As I understand it the tank needs to be depressurized first, or is there a difference between the head space having CO2 pressure and the beer itself?
Yes, you need to let the head pressure out before dry hopping, but there still is a risk of geysers even after.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Ok so there needs to be absolutely no CO2 in solution or in the head space when I drop those in. Good to know! So what’s the method then? You purge the tank, throw them in and seal it up as quickly as possible and then purge the headspace with CO2? I’ve read a lot of people suggesting to put a little bit in first, wait for that nucleation to settle out and add the rest but this was also for a production scale as opposed to a 5 gallon batch.
Some CO2 in solution is fine, but if the fermentation has been pressurized for a long time the risk is high. A little at a time is really best way to do it
@@TheApartmentBrewer I was planning on doing something similar the method you’ve been using of letting it ferment out, wait a few days for a diacetyl rest, soft crash to 56F and then add hops. I assume that should help not to add when it’s too active but of course increases oxygen risk.
I've definitely gravitated toward that more now. It's easy to bubble CO2 up through the fermenter if you have a conical, that keeps the oxygen from being too much of a hazard
Any magnet will do BUT inside the fermenter one should use stainless steel tea spoons or whiskey rocks etc as the thing that is attracted to the magnet and will secure the hop bag until the drop. Anything put inside the fermenter should be food grade. Of course the magnet should be very strong or multiple magnets should be combined.
In the last method, do you prefer to grind the hops a little?
I suppose it would probably help to break them down a bit, but I haven't tried it
Is it fine to dry hop without a bag?
Yup, only consideration is cleanup and dealing with potential clogs. Usually is fine for smaller amounts
@@TheApartmentBrewer Thank you for the quick reply! Will do that. And use sous vide magnets and bags for big amounts!
Dry hoping will not infect the beer ? Since we are not boiling..
Its not likely. Hops are microbe resistant
On the topic of dry hopping, does anybody have any recommendations for dry hopping a white IPA? I was thinking cascade was a safe bet...
In my opinion, that largely depends on the rest of your recipe, especially the other hops you used at other points in the process. That being said I love cascade for any part of the brewing process.
Or just buy a $20k screen filter and line early filter plates with hops, then purge and transfer beer through plate filter to both dry hop AND filter at the same time - Perfectly feasible fore every home brewer :p
Hold on, let me check my wallet...
I noticed a huge difference in flavor when using or not a hop bag. With a hop bag I couldn't smell any of the hops, so I am just throwing hops directly
That's interesting, I think in my experience I have noticed a small difference, but nothing too mind blowing. And also it does definitely help to you have a bag for cleanup
@@TheApartmentBrewer Yeah definitely the bag keeps the beer clean from all the hops residual. But I added a filter to the fermenter tap to prevent that =)