Dry hopping with whole hops - First time

Northern Brewer General
1

Hi all,

I brewed a second batch of a Zombie Dust clone yesterday. Hope I didnt mess it up…but thats another story.

My first batch, I used pellet hops straight in and racking to the keg was a nightmare! This batch, the LHBS had dried whole hops so I figured I would try those for the dry hop stage.

For whole, do you all just dump in ot use a bag, etc etc etc?

Actually I will be using both whole and pellet…recipe calls for 3 oz citra but LHBS only had 2 oz’s whole left.

I do plan to use a bag for the 1oz of pellet this time.

2

when you rack just put a mesh bag over the siphon.

3

Since you keg, I suggest getting one of these: http://www.stainlessbrewing.com/Dry-Hop … p_155.html

Dry hopping is no longer a PITA with one of these.

4

[quote=“kcbeersnob”]Since you keg, I suggest getting one of these: http://www.stainlessbrewing.com/Dry-Hop … p_155.html

Dry hopping is no longer a PITA with one of these.[/quote]

Thanks for the link- that’s exactly what I was looking for. I’m not a fan of the nylon mesh in the Hop Spider. The quality of their products looks really good.

5

[quote=“Helvetica”]
Thanks for the link- that’s exactly what I was looking for. I’m not a fan of the nylon mesh in the Hop Spider. The quality of their products looks really good.[/quote]
You looking for something for your kettle? I’ve found a product that I think is better than the hop baskets at stainless brewing if that’s what you’re after.

6

[quote=“kcbeersnob”][quote=“Helvetica”]
Thanks for the link- that’s exactly what I was looking for. I’m not a fan of the nylon mesh in the Hop Spider. The quality of their products looks really good.[/quote]
You looking for something for your kettle? I’ve found a product that I think is better than the hop baskets at stainless brewing if that’s what you’re after.[/quote]

you didnt post the link

7

I like the Hop Spiders from Stainless Brewing. I also like their hop baskets for kegs, which I can use in a carboy secondary until I start kegging; might have to get the smaller one to accommodate a 5 gal. carboy- haven’t measured it yet.

8

[quote=“Helvetica”]
I like the Hop Spiders from Stainless Brewing. I also like their hop baskets for kegs, which I can use in a carboy secondary until I start kegging; might have to get the smaller one to accommodate a 5 gal. carboy- haven’t measured it yet.[/quote]
I’ve got a kettle basket and a stainless spider/basket from stainless brewing. I liked them at first, but I have grown to dislike their performance. Mainly because the bottom and sides of the basket blocks too easily with solids. The inside of the basket simply does not boil. I find that I get the worst performance when the grain bill has a high percentage of wheat/rye. I love the simplicity of just removing the basket out to remove hops after the boil, but it’s not worth the poor performance.

For my most recent IPA I simply used a kettle screen and got improved hop utilization. I did not press my luck with a high protein grain bill. After the boil, the flow rate was adversely affected by break material, but it worked OK. I would use it again, but only with an all barley wort. I would only use this with a pump.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/mash ... creen.html

This is what I’ve used for my last few batches and has become my new default: http://www.ihomebrewsolutions.com/shop/ … struction/. Flow rate has been acceptable in all cases. The one with 25% wheat was compromised slightly, but was still acceptable. I would hesitate to use this without a pump with an all barley grain bill. I would only use this with a pump if my grain bill was high protein.

YMMV.

My set-up:
10 gal Blichmann kettle
Blichmann floor burner
March 809 pump
DudaDiesel plate chiller
Almost exclusively use whole hops

9

[quote=“kcbeersnob”][quote=“Helvetica”]
I like the Hop Spiders from Stainless Brewing. I also like their hop baskets for kegs, which I can use in a carboy secondary until I start kegging; might have to get the smaller one to accommodate a 5 gal. carboy- haven’t measured it yet.[/quote]
I’ve got a kettle basket and a stainless spider/basket from stainless brewing. I liked them at first, but I have grown to dislike their performance. Mainly because the bottom and sides of the basket blocks too easily with solids. The inside of the basket simply does not boil. I find that I get the worst performance when the grain bill has a high percentage of wheat/rye. I love the simplicity of just removing the basket out to remove hops after the boil, but it’s not worth the poor performance.

For my most recent IPA I simply used a kettle screen and got improved hop utilization. I did not press my luck with a high protein grain bill. After the boil, the flow rate was adversely affected by break material, but it worked OK. I would use it again, but only with an all barley wort. I would only use this with a pump.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/mash ... creen.html

This is what I’ve used for my last few batches and has become my new default: http://www.ihomebrewsolutions.com/shop/ … struction/. Flow rate has been acceptable in all cases. The one with 25% wheat was compromised slightly, but was still acceptable. I would hesitate to use this without a pump with an all barley grain bill. I would only use this with a pump if my grain bill was high protein.

YMMV.

My set-up:
10 gal Blichmann kettle
Blichmann floor burner
March 809 pump
DudaDiesel plate chiller
Almost exclusively use whole hops[/quote]

neither of those work well with pellet hops, just so the OP knows