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When dry hopping, should you try to submerge the hops after you add them to the secondary?

Half the hops in my last IPA weren't wet after a week, so I'm thinking they couldn't contribute much flavor.

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I read this as "should I have drunk my dry hops?" I wouldn't recommend that at all. – sgwill Nov 9 '10 at 18:16

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I generally add the dry hops to the secondary vessel before I siphon the beer in, to try to get around this issue.

I think you do want them wet, so they are really in the beer, and can leech the flavors into the liquid.

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That makes sense. I'm not sure why I always siphon then add the hops. – Scott P Nov 9 '10 at 19:49
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Boil or sanitize a few marbles and toss them in a hop bag with the hops. Tie off and let it sink to the bottom of your secondary vessel. The marbles will keep the hops submerged.

Once you've siphoned out the beer and it's time to remove the hops, the marbles will also make it easier to get the hops out, especially when using glass carboys.

To make things even easier (both for dry-hopping and cleanup), use multiple bags and fewer hops in each, rather than placing all of your hops in one bag.

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In my experience marbles aren't heavy enough to submerge a hop bag. Even small stainless weights aren't enough if you have a lot of hops. I know off some homebrewers who use sterilised smooth stones, as they're the only thing heavy enough for the job. – fatboab Apr 8 '11 at 8:52
As long as the total weight of the object used to submerge the hop bags is greater than that of the bag + hops, and assuming no trapped air, then it's pretty straightforward to figure out how much weight is needed to prevent buoyancy. – Bill Craun Oct 28 '11 at 4:11
It's not the weight of the hops and hop bags, but the weight of the water displaced by them that matters. Still, given enough marbles or other weights, you would most certainly be able to keep a hop bag submerged. – Dustin Rasener Oct 30 '11 at 3:28

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