Dryhopping in bags: Am I Oxidizing?

[blatz]

Hey all - I ferment in conicals and thus have to use bags.  Every other day I use some santized tongs to coerce the hop bags to submerge in the beer, but am I running a high risk of oxidizing? 

The reason I do it is the bags float and there are hops on the top side of the bag not getting wet if i don't flip the bag.

[mabrungard]

I also dry hop in a big nylon grain sack in my 12g Blichman conical.  I just tip the fermenter up on 2 legs and rock it a little to get the hops swished in the wort.  That obviously won't work if you are dealing with a huge fermenter.  I would not open the fermenter to prod the hop sack.

[anje]

Just brainstorming: could you weight the bag with SS nuts or marbles to sink it, but then tie a string around it and either hang it from something at the top or a float of some sort? Along the lines of using both a bobber and a sinker for fishing. At least then you could keep the hops submerged in the wort without going to the bottom of your conical.

[hoser]

Just brainstorming: could you weight the bag with SS nuts or marbles to sink it, but then tie a string around it and either hang it from something at the top or a float of some sort? Along the lines of using both a bobber and a sinker for fishing. At least then you could keep the hops submerged in the wort without going to the bottom of your conical.

This^^^

[hopfenundmalz]

I have bought a Male Flare to screw into the swivel nut on the end of my CO2 lines. I plan to pull the airlock, stick the flare end in the stopper on the conical and flush it with CO2 like I do the corny kegs.

[golddiggie]

Just throwing this out there...

Has anyone else been simply dry hopping in serving kegs? I add the nylon mesh bag of whole hops to a keg just before it goes into the fridge to chill and then carbonate (I use the slow carbonation method, two weeks at serving pressure and temperature). I was not that pleased with the results I got from dry hopping at room/cellar temperatures. IME, it faded too fast, so that by the time I got to the end of a batch (in bottles, or keg) it was very different than at the start. With dry hopping in the serving keg, at serving temperatures, I get the same results (giving it the two weeks to infuse the finished beer) from the first pour to the last. Zero off flavors produced too.

[blatz]

Yeah been dryhopping in the keg for years - great but can get grassy/vegetal.

I prefer to leave the keg at room temp for a week and then let it chill with the hops in

[denny]

Yeah been dryhopping in the keg for years - great but can get grassy/vegetal.

Either I don't get that from dry hopping in the keg, or I don't notice it, or I must like it.  At any rate, I've never found it to be a problem.

[dimik]

I notice grassyness from dry-hopping with Centennial, but otherwise it seems to be fine.
I also just throw a bag into the keg and let it stay there until the keg kicks.

[mabrungard]

I did several batches with dry hopping in the keg and didn't like the long-term effect with its grassiness.  For several years, I've been doing what Paul is doing with a modest dry hop contact time at fermentation temperature.  This is in line with Brynildson's recommendations.

[erockrph]

FWIW, if I'm using a lot of leaf hops for dry-hopping then I will "punch them down" with a sanitized spoon every couple of days to make sure they all get wet enough for my liking. I haven't noticed any oxidation in these beers. Using a bag may be a little different since air can get trapped in the bag and may bubble through the beer when you push it down. Do you have a way to flush with CO2 before you push the bags down? That may minimize your oxidation risk.

[neemox]

I dry hop in the keg with a bag, and as was previously mentioned, I use a LARGE (3"x1") Stainless machine bolt as a weight. I'm sure it would work just as well in your conicals. The first time I tried this I think I used a heavy marble pestle that happened to be in the kitchen when I needed the weight. The bolt works better.

I used to attach a piece of fishing line to the bag and run it out the top of the keg so I could pull the hops back out. I've stopped doing this as more often than not, the keg pops before I would have wanted to remove the hops.

Has anyone who dry hops in a bag noticed a difference between muslin and nylon?

[mmitchem]

I have heard that some folks dry hop while a little bit of fermentation is still going on. The thought behind it is that the active yeast will absorb the oxygen. I believe that it is primarily done with pellet hops. I tried it on my last IPA and the flavor was great. Anyone else had any experience with dry hopping with active fermentation?

[bluesman]

I use bags for my conical and the keg. I use the Vinnie C. schedule, 12-14 days at 60 degrees then remove the hops. I've gotten very good results with this method and without any grassy notes. If I could circulate the beer during the dryhop I could probably get away with less contact time with the beer.

[blatz]

i think the answer is to just get some weights.

FWIW, I do put the dryhops in when I get to about 1.014-1.018 or so, as per Matt Brynildson's advice - seems like a good idea.