Dry hopping without a bag

I have always dry hopped in a bag because I was worried about clarity. In my quest to improve my New England style IPA were cloudiness is appropriate I’m thinke just throw them in. Anyone do this and what do you think?

There’s a major difference between haziness from the yeast and Polyphenols from hops and that of actual hop particles.

My current APA that I have on tap is brilliantly clear except for hop particles. The d@mn hop bag somehow opened and allowed the hops to spill out. It tastes great just not as appealing in appearance.

I always dry hop with pellets in the primary. The most I have ever used is two ounces. This IPA will be just slightly hazy in a tall pilsner glass. I’ll pour some of the yeast into the glass for additional flavor which also increases the haze.

I realize that , just wondering if one could get away with the particles in a hazy beer. Just wondering if I would gain any flavor from free floating hops

Now that may be an option since I hop in the primary then again in the keg. I can turn them loose in the primary and bag em in the keg

I don’t see any hop particles in the IPA. There is just some haze. I do have a fine mesh strainer at the end of the siphon tube to catch any stray hop particles if I go to close to the trub layer.

1 Like

That’s what I’m thinking, just wondering if free floating hops has any benefit

Just my opinion, but if the hops aren’t bagged there’s less chance of not getting the full goodness from them.

1 Like

I don’t think that you’ll get anything ‘extra’ by having free floating hops in a glass. I also don’t think that bagging them creates less extraction in terms of DH unless you overfill the bag. All DHing is really is using the alcohol as a solvent to draw out those oils.

I do ten gallon batches split into two buckets. Looks like an expieriment is in order. One bucket bagged hops one bucket free floating. I’ll bag the hops that go in the keg.

1 Like

@flars where did you get that clip on the hose?

Got it here in town. I think Northern brewer carries the same one.

@brewman here is your clamp:

1 Like

Thanks @loopie_beer and @flars.

where did you get the mesh bag?

The bag was from the local home brew supply. Same bag I pour through from the boil kettle to the fermentor to take out hop debris. Originally about 16" × 24". Used the sewing machine to make the small tubes.

1 Like

When I get hop particles in the keg I find the flavor to be more sharp, and not really in a good way. It takes just a couple days chilled and undisturbed for them to settle out anyway. And the flavor, IMO, improves. So, I would not intentionally introduce hop debris into the beer. But if you do, it is my experience that it will not be in suspension long anyway/