Here you will learn how to dry hop homebrew beer. If you’ve never done this before it sounds daunting but may be one of the simplest tasks when preparing your very own sudsy concoction!
There are two basic ways dry hopping can be accomplished. Either adding hops during primary fermentation or racking the beer to a secondary fermenter with hops inside.
When dry hopping you can use fresh whole cone hops or pellets. It really depends on your preference and what you have available. I personally have no preference.
The final consideration is whether you add the hops with or without a bag. I typically do not use a bag but have seen brewers use a bag and in some cases add marbles or some type of weight to help the hop bag sink to the bottom of the wort.
The main reason I dry hop is to add aroma. For this reason I do not find it necessary to try and sink the hops in a bag. This also adds extra potential to add bacteria or other flavors if the hop bag is not completely sanitary.
I will say the nice thing about a bag would be when it comes time to bottle. The loose hops in the fermenter will clog your syphon so you will need to adjust for that.
So to summarize again how easy it is to dry hop your homebrew beer. First pick the hops you want to add and pour them in or add them to a hop bag and add them. You can do this in the primary or secondary fermenter.
Please watch the video below to see how I dry hopped a batch of homebrew.
If you want to know more about homebrewing beer please check out some of the other posts on this site. Like this one about How to Reuse a Mini Keg for Homebrew