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Dry hopping with no bag?

BeerSmith

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Anyone ever dry hop without a bag?

I'm out of hops bags and was wondering if anyone had a suggestion for a substitute?

Brad
 
I've never tried it, but panty hose (preferably unused) are often mentioned as a grain bag, and I've seen brewers saying that they used them with hops as well. Or, you could just throw them in loose and let them settle out, like a lot of brewers seem to do.
 
I've used cheese cloth for years...it's only .50 a square yard at any fabric store.  You just cut off a square from the end, put your hops or steeping grains in the middle (I leave the cloth folded over so it's double thick), tie the two opposite sides together in a knot, tie the last two opposite sides together in a knot, and drop it in.  Works like a champ for grains and I'd assume it'd work the same for dry hopping.
 
I have only dry hopped a few times (IPA mostly), but I just drop the pellets in as is and have not had any problems.
 
Steve,
 I'm willing to give it a try on the next batch - but does the hops eventually sink to the bottom?  I just don't want it sitting in my kegs/bottles.

Cheers!
Brad
 
I'm with ibrewalot, I use cheesecloth. But being a basic cheap scate, I tie the ends off with dental floss so I don't have to use as much cheesecloth. I then leave a long string of it out of the carboy so that it is easier to remove come cleaning time.

U.J.
 
I have dry hopped a number of times, IPA's a couple of imperial beers, mostly in the carboy and in a latest brew in the primary for a week after fermentation stopped. Each time I have used a hop bag, (small ones that only hold an oz of pellets in the carboy). I had on bag open once and 1 oz of hops floated on the top, I moved it to a tertiary and still have some floaties. Should not be a problem....  If you like hops (I do :) then go for it.

I found some cheap mesh bags smallest is 2 1/2 x4 bought 50 cost about .19 each before shipping.

;D
 
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