Dry Hopping? Why Secondary?

I’m doing my first dry hop, and have read that most homebrewers do this in a secondary vessel. But I fail to see the utility in doing so.

Can I not wait for primary fermentation to finish, stick the pellets in a sanitized bag with some weights, and dry hop in the primary vessel?

What’s the benefit of doing this in a secondary? I’ll have to rack into a keg either way.

A lot of people like to put the hops down first and rack on top of them. You can just add them to primary if you want though.

Better yet, you’re kegging, so dry hop in the keg. Put the hops in a paint strainer bag, or knee high stockings, throw them in your keg first, and then keg as usual. Some people suspend the hop bag from the top so as the keg gets lower you’re not dry hopping anymore. But I personally just let it stay on the bottom, haven’t noticed any negative to leaving the hops in there.

If you don’t want to secondary, don’t. Dry hop in primary. Maybe dry hopping in primary effects reusing yeast. Not sure on that but I am sure others can verify.

[quote=“Chris-P”]I’m doing my first dry hop, and have read that most homebrewers do this in a secondary vessel. But I fail to see the utility in doing so.

Can I not wait for primary fermentation to finish, stick the pellets in a sanitized bag with some weights, and dry hop in the primary vessel?

What’s the benefit of doing this in a secondary? I’ll have to rack into a keg either way.[/quote]

Careful Chris, you’re treading dreadfully close to the age-old ‘secondary or not’ “discussion”

:mrgreen:

In all seriousness, I’m with you. I see no benefit from a secondary, even when dry hopping. I actually use Tasty McD’s method, and add the dry hops at the tail end of fermentation. This helps drive off oxygen trapped in the hops. The counterargument is that it is also blowing off hop aroma, but that is a recipe issue (ie, add more dry hops).

My last IPA of 1.065, I added 3oz of dry hops with this method and it was awesome. Took 2nd in its flight in a local comp.

Depending on how quick you drink them, you could also keg hop it for really fresh and distinct hop aroma. Leaf hops are probably a better idea for this, in a sanitized muslin bag, tied about 3/4 of the way down on your dip tube.

I also wouldn’t worry about weighting it. Just throw them in ‘commando’. Without getting into the nuances of fluid dynamics (that I don’t fully understand), to use your phrase, I see no utility in doing so. the hops are wet, and in contact with the beer. Their compounds will diffuse throughout it. A tangent to this: i was talking to a commercial brewer, and he said that once the hops drop to the bottom, you are not getting any more hop character from them, so best to go ahead and keg at that point.

If you plan to harvest yeast, throw in primary in a strainer bag. If not harvesting, toss in loose and you will likely get better utilization

That’s why we’re top croppers up here in Bawlmir.

:mrgreen:

I’ve put them in the primary a few times (commando) and it was fine. I prefer secondary hopping though so that my yeast can be re-harvested. I have stopped keg hopping because most of my kegs are gone before the aroma from dry hopping in the secondary fades.

I’ve dry hopped all 3 ways but I prefer doing it in the keg with a nylon stocking.

I dry hop in secondary. The only reason I secondary is when I dry hop. I harvest yeast, so I don’t want the added debris to mess with. I’ve dry hopped in the keg, but had a real hard time getting beers to clear. I have dry hopped primary, but only when I didn’t want to harvest yeast. I give my APA’s and IPA’s 3 weeks primary, then secondary, dry hop for a week, then crash and keg. Aroma has been great and they come out clear. It may be extra steps, but it seems to be worth it for me.

That’s why we’re top croppers up here in Bawlmir.

:mrgreen: [/quote]

Are you really in Bawlmir, hon?

That’s why we’re top croppers up here in Bawlmir.

:mrgreen: [/quote]

Are you really in Bawlmir, hon?[/quote]

Until I move in a month to NY!

For the people dry hopping in the keg, do you ever have trouble with hop particles ending up in the glass? Does it settle down after the first few beers? Or do you use whole hops instead of pellets and that helps?

bistro, I use pellet hops and put them in a sanitized nylon knee high stocking with the elastic band cut off. I get 3 pairs for a buck at the dollar store.

Before I started kegging, I dumped the hops straight into the carboy (primary) and was quite happy with that approach.

After I started kegging, I changed my procedure. I rack to a spare keg for dry hopping. A few reasons I like this approach:

  1. I ferment in a carboy and I use whole hops most of the time. Much easier to get the hops into a keg than a carboy.
  2. Although only a minor point, no off-gassing occurs in the keg–so all of the glorious hop aroma stays trapped
  3. A no oxygen environment means I can shake the keg to get the hops to fall, without worrying about aerating the beer

When done dry hopping, the beer can be pushed to a clean, purged keg using CO2.

Good podcast on dry hopping here with John Palmer and Jamil: http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/Brew … ry-Hopping.

I have not plans of harvesting the yeast cake, so I’m just going to throw them in the primary. Dry hopping in the keg seems like it could be interesting. I’ll give that a try next time.

Thanks all for the feedback.

I have plenty of rinsed yeast on hand so my preference is to DH in primary.