Dry Hopping - To Bag or Not to Bag

Dry hopping is all about adding aroma to your beer.  The hops are usually added towards the end of the fermentation and remain in the beer for 3 to 5 days.  Some brewers add the hop pellets in loose while others put them in a hop bag to contain the leaf and reduce the chances of blockages or leaf going into your bottles at the bottling stage.  So, what is better?

Firstly, they both work.  But like most things there are pros and cons with each. 

Personally, I like to add my hops loose, unbagged.  For me, I find that I get the best outcome for the amount added.  But there are many other home brewers who prefer bagging their dry hops.  So for your brewing, consider the following:

BAGGING THE HOPS

Pros

• Hops are contained which prevents hop leaf blocking syphons, keg poppets and hops going into your bottles.
• Less mess because all the hops are contained within the bag.

Cons

• Hops in a bag do not have as much flavour and aroma extracted because the beer doesn’t get exposed to the full amount of hop leaf when the pellets swell up inside the hop bag.
• Due to the lower extraction with this method, it may cost a little more to obtain the same level of hoppiness in the beer.
• Adding a bag to the fermenter can be another item that can introduce infections into your beer.  Making sure your hop bag is well sterilised is essential.

ADDING THE HOPS IN LOOSE IN THE FERMENTER

Pros

• Maximum flavour and aroma extraction as the hop leaf is fully exposed to the beer
• Maximum extraction for spend.

Cons

• More hop leaf floating in your beer making is a little more challenging to clear the beer
• Finings are normally needed to drop out the hop leaf at the end of the fermentation to encourage all the leaf to drop with the yeast sediment.
• Loose hop leaf can block the poppets in the keg post if kegging, or it can transfer into your bottles if bottling

Like many things in brewing, there are many ways to achieve a similar result.  Carefully considering your options will allow you to adopt a process that works best for you.