What makes dry hops float on the surface,
And why do they sink if you get the beer cold?
If whole hops sink cold, will they surface if the beer warms back up?
Couldn’t find the answers from searching,
So if anybodys bored and wants to take a crack at it, I’d appreciate it.
Usually the temperature affects how the yeast produce and replicate. When the beer is cold, the yeast will go to sleep into a dormant stage.
Wide temperature swings are not good for yeast, so it isn’t recommended to have a temp range of more than 5 degrees.
People sometimes do a Diactecyl rest by bringing the beer up to room temperature to cause the yeast to clean up any off-flavors from fermentation.
Then,people common “cold crash” their beer when the fermentation is done to cause the yeast to drop to the bottom. Usually bringing the temp of the beer to 40 degrees (unsure how low people go) for a day or two will cause the yeast to go dormant.
Don’t want to get too crazy here but hops float because they either have gas trapped in them or gas bubbles are attached to them. I dry hop all of my beers during a 50F conditioning period…and they float…for a while…or for the duration…it just depends on how much gas gets attached/stays within them. I really don’t believe temperature plays a role at all…please correct me if I’m wrong because I’d love to have my hop sock sink more often.
Yeah I’m just curious, know the how part, but not the why.
Loose pellets always sank for me given enough time regardless of temperature.
This is the first time I’ve dryhopped with cones, and they floated which is consistent with what everyone says about cone hopping. Just rack from under the “raft”.
Some say you can crash it and get them to the bottom, some say you can’t.
After a week at 60* with the raft, I stuck it on the cold porch and probably have half the cones on the bottom already. I think they’ll all be on the bottom by Sunday.
Limited scientifical smarts tells me that colder = denser and like you say, gas or oxygen is holding them afloat.
Some claim that cones will raft forever regardless of temperature.
Seems like cold dense beer would actually help the raft float.
So what changes in the beer or the hops when you cold crash?
Is cold beer able to absorb the oxygen out of the cones that warm beer is unable to?
Cold-crashing definitely drops the hops, probably from a combination of the denser beer and the CO2 going into solution so the bubbles that are bouying the hops disappear. I’d guess that anyone saying that cold-crashing doesn’t work is simply not getting their beer into the <35F range.
Thanks guys. :cheers:
Where’s Denny when we are looking for Supreme Clarification on the issue…
[quote=“learningmore”]Usually the temperature affects how the yeast produce and replicate. When the beer is cold, the yeast will go to sleep into a dormant stage.
Wide temperature swings are not good for yeast, so it isn’t recommended to have a temp range of more than 5 degrees.
People sometimes do a Diactecyl rest by bringing the beer up to room temperature to cause the yeast to clean up any off-flavors from fermentation.
Then,people common “cold crash” their beer when the fermentation is done to cause the yeast to drop to the bottom. Usually bringing the temp of the beer to 40 degrees (unsure how low people go) for a day or two will cause the yeast to go dormant.[/quote]This is true but the OP was asking about hops, not yeast.
[quote=“Scott Miller”]What makes dry hops float on the surface,
And why do they sink if you get the beer cold?[/quote]
Have you ever dry hopped and kept the beer the same temp for a while? I think you’ll find that the hops sink over time, no matter what the temp is. When I chill my wort, it’s pretty hot when starting out and all the hops are on the bottom of the kettle, not on top. When boiling, all gases are released from the cones and that’s why they sink. And they are also saturated with beer.
When you initially dry hop, there is still plenty of gas trapped in the cones and give it time, they’ll sink even if the beer is warm.
Yep, hops sink with time no matter the temperature.
