OK, so I took a batch of my house APA, racked it to a secondary (needed the yeast cake lol) and dumped an ounce of whole Cascade right before I put the stopper on. Not trying to break the hop barrier, just seeing if I can add a little aroma to an otherwise pretty darn good beer, if I may say so myself.
Well, here’s what’s got me scratching my head… It’s floating, most of it dry. Not soaking in the beer…
Comments?
Did you not spray them with hydrator solution? Sounds like you missed a crucial step in the process.
Time heals all wounds. Just wait, they’ll slowly dissolve. Or you can give the carboy a good swirling and that usually gets them to break up.
In the future, you can do like I do. Dump the hops into the empty carboy and then rack on top of them. Mixes things up great.
I’m afraid they’ll never dissolve. Get hydrated and sink to the bottom, yes. With apologies for my anal chemistry terminology thendency.
Oscar, you do know my “hydrator solution” was the brewing equivalent to a snipe hunt right?
I do now… ;D
They are finally starting to soak. I know they will never dissolve, nor do I want them to. Just the essential oils please.
Now, next question. How long before the dry hop (whole buds) has done it’s job?
We used to tell the greenies at Scout camp to go down to the trading post and get some rehydrated water.
Heck, ours still do. Send the newbs down for a “left handed smoke shifter” or a “bacon stretcher”.
I’ve read that two to three weeks is a good amount. A lot of folks also put the hop sock in their serving keg and leave it there for the duration.
Man, I can’t wait to ask the kids to get the bacon stretcher out of the utensil drawer in the morning!
How long to leave beer on dry hops is debatable to say the least. I used to do 10-14 days, but I think the beers would end up with a vegetal character after awhile in the bottle. I do 7 days now. Some insist on less than that.
No go to the dry store room and find the ice mix…
I meant now go to the dry store room and find the ice mix. That was our treatment for the new guy in the kitchen.
You can swirl a bit to wet things down. Or next time rack on top of them.
Or, you can brew 5.5 gallons and fit it into a 5 gallon secondary…right to the top, which drowns the raft entirely.
Its purty. 
Is purty…They getting wet now. Patience, I need patience…NOW!
Comments? Next time use pellets. 
I bought a dozen 100% cotton bouquet garni bags. They measure 3" by 4" is that too small?
How much are you using? It will probably be fine if you don’t cram it too full.
Maybe 0.25 oz pellet per bag. I’d like to use whole hops though.
Tubercle prefers to dry hop in a bag in the keg while the carbonation process is going on.
Has anybody got a source for lukewarm water? The grocery store has distilled and spring water by the gallon but my bread recipe calls for lukewarm.
Should be next to the clarified butter.
No worries Oscar…they’ll become saturated and the hop goodness will start to dissolve into the beer in due time. I would give them a couple of weeks and then keg or bottle. I like to use muslin bags for my dry hopping as it’s less of a mess and easier to work with.
Thumbs down to whole hop dry hopping in a muslin bag in a carboy. Anyone who has done this knows what I’m talking about. Throw 'em in loose, RDWHAHB.