UKC

I've just started home brew beer (having made shed loads of wine). Got 40 pints of Muntons American stye IPA on the go - started Friday. It comes with a packet of hops pellets to add at a later stage. BUT: I've lost my instructions and cant find any on their website. Anyone got any ideas of when to add?

In reply to mick taylor:

Add them after the worst of the frothing is done and there's some alcohol in it, about 2 days in in summer, a bit longer maybe now if your house is cool. The pellets break up into irritating sludge so put them in a (scalded to sterilise) cloth bag if they're loose.

I add aroma hops when I transfer the wort from the fermentation bucket to the carboy to remove the settled yeast.
jk

In reply to jkarran:

Cheers. Still a lot of frothing going on, but I've been switching a brewers belt on at night coz of the cold temps.

Out of interest, how long do you leave in a carboy? I was considering transferring straight to either keg or bottles, but have read leaving in a secondary fermentor (and maybe adding finings at this pint?).

In reply to mick taylor:


Until it's fully fermented if I can be bothered checking plus however long it takes me to get round to bottling it, usually a week to 10days but that's in a cold-ish house, unheated and more than most folk recommend. I've got some cider in there at the moment that I moved house with 2 years ago!

I only ever bottle my beer. If I add finings it's usually a day or two before I bottle it and I syphon all the beer into a bucket before bottling from that to avoid getting a few yeasty bottles and so it's well mixed, all the bottles ate the same.
jk

In reply to mick taylor:

I always siphon straight into pressure barrels (occasionally adding a little extra sugar at this stage for a secondary fermentation,but not always). The trick thereafter, I find, is to leave for at least a month if not 8 weeks or more- it really does get better with age.

In reply to Siward:

I was given a king keg top tap (which was reason I started making beer). Do you need to put much CO2 in? I have another 40 pints IPA in this barrel, blasted a couple CO2 cartridges, but pressure not too great (did come out though, and I can imaging it being quite good in a few weeks or more)

In reply to mick taylor:

I tend to add dry hops when I move the beer to the secondary fermenting vessel. The steps I follow are:

1. Initially ferment in a standard brewing bucket with a close fitting lid. This is the frothing stage when you get a thick mat of yeast. When this dies down a bit - 3 to 5 days depending on beer strength and temperature then..
2. syphon into secondary fermenter which has an airlock. I use a 5 gallon plastic wine type container. I put the dry hops in at this stage. I leave this for 7 days then..
3 syphon into your beer keg or bottles leaving the dry hops and as much yeast and flocculated protein behind as possible. Add some sugar to carbonate the beer or use a CO2 injector

Paul

In reply to mick taylor:

I find that if you put a small amount of sugar in the barrel and keep it warm for a few days before putting it somewhere cooler the secondary fermentation will provide enough pressure to empty about half the barrel before you need to add extra co2. The top tap kegs probably need a bit more pressure than the bottom tap kegs I use.

Either way, invest in a larger co2 cylinder which is cheaper in the long run:
https://www.brewbitz.com/co2-gas/284-hambleton-bard-s30-co2-gas-cylinder-ne...

(Try ebay for a better price- about £5 for a refill)

In reply to mick taylor:

My first few attempts at home brew many ( 35) years ago involved 'Geordie' home brew kits that came with dried hops - in leaf form - not pellets, and even malted barley -- no concentrated malet extract in those days. If I remember correctly the hops were added towards the end of the heating process - much to the disgust of Lady S - as she complained that the kitchen stunk like a brewery for a week afterwards!

Fortunately for all concerned, I then discovered 'Boots Best Bitter' kits which used liquid concentrates and even liquid brewers yeast in suspension. whic produced much more reliable and less odourous results ( at least unit I'd drunk the stuff).

Not done any home brewing for many a year ( since I worked in Saudi Arabia in the 80's and 90's) - and when I can get the likes of Hobgoblin or Old Empire from Aldi for £1.25 a bottle, (I'm just slightly miffed that they've stopped stocking Jennings Bitter) I just can't be arsed brewing my own these days!

In reply to mick taylor:

What Paul said. Yeast strips out some of the more aromatic flavours of dry hops so let most of it settle before adding. I would also taste on a daily basis. 3-7 days is enough and any longer can lend a green (leafy) flavour that isn't too nice and as Paul said you can then rack to bottle/cask.

As a rough rule cask condition for 1 week per degree Plato (0.010 SG points so 4 weeks for and original gravity of 1.040). However dry hopping shortens the life of the beer as they are not sterile so you should be drinking the cask in 2 months in winter or one in summer.

In reply to Toccata:

Thanks everyone - good tips.

In reply to Toccata:

My understanding is that the risk of infection from dry-hopping is negligible - after all, the original reason we put hops in beer is that they're antibacterial! I thought that the reason to drink dry-hopped beer quickly was that the aroma compounds that you add by dry-hopping are relatively unstable and short lived, so if you're going to keep a beer sitting around for a couple of months then you might as well save your money because you won't get much of the dry-hopped aroma anyway.

The basic point stands, though - if you're dry hopping something for aroma then you don't want to leave it sitting around for too long.

In reply to Ramblin dave:

I'm not convinced hops are very effective at being antibacterial at the concentrations (of alpha acids) in beer. My experience is that dry hopped beers 'turn' much more quickly. I have tried steaming them (spoils the flavour and doesn't work), irradiating (somewhat frowned upon at work but effective) and dry heat (also spoils flavour) so now go for a hop tea: add cooled boiled water at 80C then leave to sit for 5 days in light-proof sterile container. Add to taste.

NB my favourite dry hops are Challenger (marmalade), Galaxy (grapefruit) and Centennial (Cascade on steroids).

In reply to Toccata:

The isomerised alpha acids from hops are effective against Gram positive bacteria, but you get these from hops added to the boil, not dry hops.

Fortunately beer also has a low pH, low nutrient level, and high ABV and CO2 content which inhibits the growth of a lot of microorganisms.

In reply to jkarran:

>the carboy

Is that another name for a demijohn or something else?

In reply to aln:


Basically a 20L demijohn, it's probably got other names and there's no guarantee I spelled it correctly
jk

In reply to jkarran:

That's a lot of booze!

In reply to Toccata:

I've never had any problem with 'dry' hopped beer spoiling in the bottle but I do sometimes scold the hops briefly in a mug of boiled water before tipping them in, doesn't seem to spoil the aroma but then nor does it seem necessary. Maybe I've just been lucky.
jk

In reply to jkarran:

I can keep keg beer for up to 2 years without spoiling even if dry hopped. It is storing in cask (I CO2-displace dispense via hand pull) that seems to be shortened by dry hopping. I think bottled/ keg beers (cf cask beers) are more acidic from dissolved CO2 which provides some protection, pH probably being the most antibacterial component of beer (as Nastyned said). FWIW I also find the same with oak aged beer too but at least I have discovered autoclaving these does not seem to affect the flavour they impart but extends the life of the beer.

Humulones in hops are antibacterial too, not just the alpha/beta acid. But at such low concentrations, the effect is minimal. Acetobacter are gram negative (I think).