Beer Forum

I transferred to secondary three days ago for dry hopping and all the pellets are floating on top.

First of all, should I care that they are floating and not mixed up in the beer? Assuming it is preferable that the hops mix with the beer, is it ok to shake up the carboy? Is there a preferred method for aggravating?

In general, is it ok to shake the contents of the carboy after pitching the yeast. My first beer turned out sour due to oxidation and I wanted to make sure I didn't repeat my mistakes, although the oxidation in that case came from transferring too many times to different vessels in an attempt to reduce the amount of sediment.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Adam

I've only dry hopped once but my opinion would be, don't shake it

I would disturb the beer as little as possible after fermentation has started

Sourness would be a sign of infection, not oxidation. The more you transfer, the more you increase your chance of that happening. Given the info you provided, that seems the most likely case.

Oxidation will be a more cardboardy, musty type character. It's quite different than the sour infection it sounds like you had.

As for shaking, never do it once your fermentation has started. Be it when you dry hop, or otherwise. If you have just pitched your yeast, I don't see any reason you can't shake it up. Many brewers add oxygen periodically until their fermentation takes off. After that point, your beer should never come into contact with anything but CO2

Riiight, I had infection not oxidation. Thanks for clarifying.

So is it cool that the hops are floating on top of the beer? Is that adequate for dry hopping? If not, what should I do?

fgcguitar wrote:Riiight, I had infection not oxidation. Thanks for clarifying.

So is it cool that the hops are floating on top of the beer? Is that adequate for dry hopping? If not, what should I do?

How long have they been in there? If you just put them in there, they should soak up and break apart. My guess is you'll be fine if you just wait a few days.

fgcguitar wrote:Riiight, I had infection not oxidation. Thanks for clarifying.

So is it cool that the hops are floating on top of the beer? Is that adequate for dry hopping? If not, what should I do?

The on time that I did dry hop, they floated on the top just like you describe and it turned out excellent

I wouldn't worry about it - Just make sure you don't leave it too long and get a grassy flavor

What is it? a week?

The hops are in pellet form and have been in for less than three days. I was planning on bottling next Sunday, which would be two weeks in the fermentor and 10 days of dry hopping. It's a Bell's Two Hearted IPA clone. Is that too long on the dry hop?

If you added the dry hops at 4 days into fermentation, that's probably a bit early. Don't worry about it, though. That sounds fine for your first go at a recipe. It'll be fine. Drink, enjoy. Adjust as necessary for the second batch.