safe to dry hop?

[Manngold]

Hi all. I am very new to this. This is my second kit brew (milestone shine on) that I was planning to dry hop with citra. However on day 9 it looks like this.

Is it ok to dry hop like this?

Thanks

[killer]

What's your gravity ? That looks like it's still fermenting. Or perhaps it's just a yeast strain that takes time to drop ?

Most people tend to dry hop when fermentation has finished or when they are within a few points of their FG. If that's the case then you could stir your hops in with a sterilised spoon. if the gravity is still relatively high then it may be better to let it ferment out a bit more.

[snakepie@hotmail.com]

Wait for the fermentation to finish as adding in hops when it is still fermetning wil mean that all those lovely aromas you want will just be driven off by the rising CO2.

Hope this helps.

Gareth

[raiderman]

Have you checked the gravity? I sometimes find that I still have a pancake of yeast which makes it look like its still fermenting but theres really very little activity going on and the brews almost fermented out. You may find you can skim the yeast off and dry hop whilst it finishes off

[Manngold]

Hi guys thanks for the help. I am away until tomorrow evening so can't check. If it hasn't gone by Friday I will take a gravity reading and see what it is like. If it is down then I may scoop off the top and just add the hops as per a suggestion.

Thanks for all the advice.

John

[raiderman]

If you skim - and I'd probably do that anyway, you'll stop the yeast falling back in and avoid the possibility of off flavours

[NobbyIPA]

to dry hop successfully this is what i do

to get excellent results from dry hopping [you can if you wish to use a hop sack]
1st let your brew in primary to complete fermentation

when you have a hydrometer 2 readings the same over 2 days is suffice

tip if you have a camera take a shot you then can magnify the image to get a good reading

if you do not have a tap , open your fermenter carefully not to disturb the co2 layer too much and drop spin the hydrometer in your brew what i did prior to getting a refractometer

star san your lid area open up slightly pop in your sanitised hydrometer
you do not really want to be hovering over a open fermenter dropping crud dirt of your jumper hair etc getting into your fermenter

if you do have a tap take a sample and fill your trial jar






when you have that same reading

re rack to your secondary onto your intended dry hop variety

hops in beer syphoned onto it


remember to keep as covered as possible lid ajar whilst syphoning



Now when you have your secondary fermenter full of beer dry hops
lid it up put in your blow off tube bubbler or whatever you use leave the lid a jar what ever is you method


cool your fermentation fridge dry hop at 15C for 5 to 9 days


step over now bottling day
using leaf hops is fine
now using pellet hops can be a problem getting the beer out
so i have wrapped stainless steel mesh round my hop trap this way i can dry hop with massive amounts of hops
this is boiled and sanitised every use

i wait until at least 70 80% of the dry hops have fallen through the beer dropped



you do not need to syphon and really should not by mouth if you have a large enough syringe my one is 100ml ample big enough to get the syphon going
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXqlWSYyJJA


then once your bottling bucket is full bottle away



or if your pressure barrelling kegging do that

an important point is if you syphon from the bucket not the fermenting buckets tap
[never used the taps on my fermenters to transfer think that all them plastic taps on fermenters are not really designed to flow freely without sucking in air through the tap handles]

with a syringe and purge if any air that is present then transferring to secondary or your [ bottling bucket which i leave for a further day prior bottling]
for further clearing

when i do it i have within the day a nice co2 layer on top as my blow off will be showing signs of a bubble or 2 now and then or if i depress the lid it will bubble


If your fermenting with an open fermenter no lid i cannot comment on that
a good co2 layer for me in a sealed fermenter with a blow off tube works well

[Manngold]

Wow. Thanks for that very detailed reply. In the end I moved the layer on the top and put in my hop bag. Should I completely remove that layer though?

Also, how long do I need to leave the hops in? I put them yesterday, and for the past two days the reading has been 1.012.

Thanks.

[NobbyIPA]

i advise you to put a lid on your fermenter and a blow off tube if you can
i am ultra careful to keep co2 in my fermenter to keep nastys out it only takes an odd dog hair or 2 or bit off muck off your jumper to infect your brew
from there with your dry hops in with your brew
reduce the temperature a bit to about 15c
this temperature i have found to be the key to get most of the hop aroma flavour for 4 to 9 days then re rack to your bottling bucket or keg
after a while 3 days or so you will see the hop matter sinking
when most has sunk this is when i re-rack to the bottling bucket