[RJC]

I am going to dry hop a pale ale I brewed this weekend and I would like to ask "what is better putting the pellet hops in a hop bag or just putting them in the fermenter  without a bag" I haven't tried to dry hop using a bag, so if anyone has I would love to know how it turned out.
Thank's in advance for any input.

[tschmidlin]

What kind of fermenter?  I use loose pellets in a carboy, I wouldn't want to try stuffing a bag of hops in there and then get it back out again.  It can probably be done with a bag if you want to though.

In a bucket it would be a lot easier, lots of people do it.  And a commercial brewery near here dry hops every keg with a little bag of hops.

[bluesman]

Either way is fine but if you drop them in loose just be careful during racking as not to clog your siphon with hops during the transfer. Been ther ...done that...got the T-shirt. 

[beer_crafter]

If you are using pellet hops, I like a nylon bag.  A muslin bag isn't particularly useful for pellet hops.  You can put them in loose and then use a nylon bag over your siphon to prevent getting any hops into your keg/bottle, but I have not had luck doing this, I couldn't really keep the siphon going.

[homebrewgamecock]

I always like to use a bag when dry hopping.  I dry hop in my kegs.  I use both pellet and leaf hops depending on what I have.  I put the hops in one bag and use the decorative glass beads / marbles in another bag to weigh it down.  I use 2 bags so it's easier to clean the beads.  I sanitize the glass beads before using them.

[scooter2374]

What kind of fermenter?  I use loose pellets in a carboy, I wouldn't want to try stuffing a bag of hops in there and then get it back out again.  It can probably be done with a bag if you want to though.

I just this past weekend got to experience the "try to pull the full hop bag back out of the carboy" trick. It didn't go well. Some yelling and a few pokes with a sharp object or two later and I prevailed. 

[gmwren]

I just this past weekend got to experience the "try to pull the full hop bag back out of the carboy" trick. It didn't go well. Some yelling and a few pokes with a sharp object or two later and I prevailed. 

That's a good reason to secondary in a keg. Plus you can put a "Metric Butt-load" of hops in your hop bag through the big hole on top.

[rbclay]

I used pellets to dry hop for the first time just this past week. I bottled last night. I have dry hopped many times with whole hops in a carboy. Yes, it is tedious to stuff 'em in there and getting them out with a little airlock brush, but I really like the results. To me, I wouldn't want to stuff whole hops in a bag and then put them in a bucket or carboy for dry hopping. Seems to me that would reduce the surface area of contact between the hops and beer.

Siphoning has never been a problem- until last night with the pellets. PITA. And I use one of those small mesh screens on my racking cane. Again, never an issue with whole hops, but I only managed to get about 4G into my bottling bucket yesterday. Had to stop 3 times to clear the mesh screen. I used an ounce of pellets along with an ounce of whole. Next time I want to use pellets to dry hop I will definitely use one of my hops bags with some marbles.

[cfleisher]

I tend to go with loose, and then when I'm transferring the beer to the bottling bucket, I'll put a nylon bag over the end of the siphon tubing to catch any hop debris. I don't think you'd lose that much flavor by dry hopping with the bag, but keep in mind that it's one more thing to introduce creepy crawlies, and could be a pain to get out of the carboy if you're using a lot of hops.