I don’t usually squeeze my dry hop bag but was wondering if it would pull out some extra goodness and get me some beer back. Any experience?
Every time, I’ll be damned if I’m gonna throw away the better part of a quart of beer. The stuff I squeeze out definitely is more pungent or concentrated than the rest of the beer in the FV.
I agree. You’re just recovering what you would have lost by bagging them in the first place. I also leave my bags with kettle additions in the kettle as I chill and transfer. Always want that last drop of hoppy goodness.
I did that once and the resulting beer was very grassy for about three weeks. Not to mention, however you are doing that, you are likely exposing your finished beer to oxygen. If you have a way to allow it to drip dry without opening the fermentor, that would be your best bet.
I don’t squeeze my hop bags. I use a large BIAB for my pellets and suspend it at the very top of the wort level when I begin chilling. By the time the wort level gets to the bottom of the bag, almost all of the it has drained out and there are just a few drips falling into the kettle.
I too would be concerned about extracting grassiness by squeezing the hop bag.
Update: 6 ounces of hops in a 5 gallon batch.
I pulled the lid off my brew bucket, lifted out my muslin bags with sanitized gloves on and squeezed. I figured ooen fermentation doesn’t oxidize so as long as I am gentle, it should be good. That was super hoppy greatness that came out and stank up the whole garage. Beer was delicious but hazy. I don’t like haze but … cold crashing may help. Thanks for the input.