Hi all,
I brewed a recipe I found on Brewer’s friend website. There is a lot of hops in this one and I have typically used a bag for hop additions. This batch I did not.
I’m second guessing now because I strained out all of that stuff when I transfered to the fermenter. I am wondering if I should have left all that hops in too.
Just now had another thought that maybe I could use a hop bag, pull it during chilling, then add back to the fermenter. BTW…it really smells awesome bubbling away in the basement.
What do you do? Dump it all in the fermenter or leave as much trub as possible out of primary?
You can do either but I think most brewers try and keep the hop sludge out as much as possible, but I wouldn’t stress over it. My preference is to keep as much out of the primary fermenter as possible. Unless you’re actually filtering the cooled down wort, you will always get some hop material in the fermenter if using pellet hops.
But your question was to adding hops to the primary and my opinionated answer is “no”.
can you post the recipe? i usually strain my hops, i stopped using hop bags in my boil. feel like i get more hop utilization from them being thrown right in and then strained prior to primary. On a hoppy IPA though, i would consider straining before transferring to secondary also.
If you over pack your hop bag it will negatively affect hop utilization. I wouldn’t go more than an once per bag and try to limit it to 3/4 oz. I use a stainless hop filter now.
wouldn’t this introduce huge potential for oxidation?
To the OP, I’m not sure if you did side-by-side batches, one with hop matter left out prior to pitching yeast, one with the hop matter in for the ferment, if you would notice considerable difference in flavor/clarity/etc., but I have not done the experiment. Also for the record, I tend to leave hop sludge behind either in the kettle or sometimes I use an intermediate vessel for chilling to pitch temp.
Did you use pellet or leaf?
What you may consider doing is cold crashing after you reach your terminal gravity, then racking to a new vessel for dry hopping (I suppose you could even clarify at this step with gelatin or isinglass). This way you can leave a lot of the sludge behind and minimize the beer’s exposure to it. Make sure you dry hop in the 60-70 degree range though.
BTW…did not do any side by side compare. This is my first attempt at this recipe and using this much hops in a brew and first wort hopping for that matter.
On a side note, it has really slowed down bubbling. I have never used s-04 before and it was dry yeast too. Is this yeast usually this fast? Only in primary since Sunday.
Right, I know you didn’t do it this time. I was just making the point that if ONE WERE to do side-by-side batches, one with a bunch of hop matter, and one without, I am truly not sure if one could tell the difference in the end products.
On the bubbling, do you monitor fermentation temperature (not ambient temperature)? Bubbles (or absence thereof) are not a good indicator of whether fermentation is taking place. Gravity measures are the only way to know. That being said, if it is on the warm side, the ACTIVE phase of fermentation very well could be winding down at this point.
As far as S-04, I used it in two American IPAs, and at the time, I was really into super-dry hop bombs, so it wasn’t exactly my bag, as it left a little tanginess and a bit more residual sweetness. They were both good beers, and did reasonably well in a local comp (IIRC low/mid 30’s). However, beers like Heady Topper have shown me the light that IPAs can have awesome flavors, balanced sweetness, and body, all derived from the yeast. Temperature is key though.
Finally, I have added dry hops directly to the primary fermenter at the tail end of fermentation with great results. As far as your beer, I would follow the recipe this time and diagnose/modify if you don’t like the results. Post back here with tasting notes and we can try to help you out. It looks like a good recipe and sounds like you have a good ferment going.
I have no real control yet on fermentation temp. I made a box in my basement with a lightbulb in attempt at stabilizing temp inside. Works OK in the winter. Keeps temp low/mid 60s.
This one is fermenting 62-ish according to fermometer on bucket. I have not taken a gravity read yet. Might just to see what it is, normally I wait at least two weeks before taking one.
at the very least, put the fermenter in a bigger vessel with 4-5 inches of water in it. it will make it harder for the fermentation activity to raise the temperature. Then after day 3, move it to a warmer area of the house to ensure fermentation finishes up.
Whew…was all set to rack from the fermenter to a few bottles for saving and into the keg with the rest.
First thing that really caught me was the huge pile of hop debris on the surface of the beer. I used a spoont to sweep and enter point for my autosiphon, then began to fill bottles. I got one bottle filled, then noticed flow had all but stopped!
I was thinking DAMN, there is so much hops in there, I’ll never get beer out!
Well, I stopped right there…left the house to do some errands. When I got home, decided I would start by skimming the hops off the top and see what happens. I skimmed, covered. Skimmed again, covered. did that 2 more times and found the beer looked just like most other batches at that point so I tried to rack it again. This time straight to the keg with everything.
I thought for sure I’d end up with either chunky beer or kill me now, dumping it out! After it was in the keg, I tried a tip that I think MuellerBrau wrote on a post awhile ago. Stuff the bottle filling wand right in a picnic tap, set psi to about 2 and fill some bottles. Worked like a charm.
Next attempt, if this turns out good, I will either use whole hops or some sort of bag for the dry hopping with that much hops.
