dry hopping in keg vs secondary

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tre9er

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Forgive me if this has been beaten to death but I'm at my 6yr old's swim lessons on my mobile and search isn't giving me anything specifically on topic.

I have a IIPA in secondary right now. I like my IPA's young, ferm temps were well-controlled, and it tastes great at this stage.

I've been wondering about the differences in dry hopping in a cold keg or secondary versus at room temp in secondary.

Appreciate all feedback.
 
You know, I do both often. One of the things I've noticed is that dryhopping in secondary means the hops fade fairly quickly, especially if you have some pressure problems and vent the keg a lot (maybe blowing off hops aroma along with excess co2?). But one issue with just dryhopping in the keg is that it takes longer at cold temperatures to really "get" the dryhops to come forward.

So, I suggest doing both. The original dryhops will begin to fade just as the keg hops come on strong. At least that's what's been working for me.

I keep the keg hops in the keg the whole time, at 40 degrees. The keg only lasts two, maybe three, weeks so I've never had any long term beer to try after hopping in the keg. But it's been good to the last drop so far!
 
if you decide to dry hop in the keg, I would recommend you use a hop sack the hops can sometimes clog the dip tube. Don't ask me how I know this.:(
 
sonex said:
if you decide to dry hop in the keg, I would recommend you use a hop sack the hops can sometimes clog the dip tube. Don't ask me how I know this.:(

Last time I did this it was to try and help a beer that seemed to be lacking something. I tossed a piece of voile, filled with hops, tied off with a zip tie (all sanitized) into keg. Served completely just fine.
 
So I think I will do both. Any suggestions on amounts? I just dry hopped 5g in secondary with 1oz nugget. How much in keg? Same?
 
for a double IPA I'd go 4 oz in secondary and then another 2 or 3 in the keg. but that's just me. i love me some dry hopping
 
bwomp313 said:
for a double IPA I'd go 4 oz in secondary and then another 2 or 3 in the keg. but that's just me. i love me some dry hopping

I used one once last time just in. secondary. This time I will do another ounce in keg. Damn, I need to order another few pounds of nugget.
 
I have tried both, and as stated above I would do both. I use a couple of those stainless steel tea ball things packed with pellets, and it works great in the keg. Easy enough to clean and sanitize, reuseable and no worries about it getting stuck in the dip tube.
 
I put hops in a muslin bag, tie a knot, and suspend in keg with cotton butchers string for a week. Take the bag out, carbonate, and serve. Works well for me.
 
I have a piece of voile cloth zip-tied closed with 1oz. of Nugget hops in my keg right now. It's an IIPA, so I wanted as much fresh aroma as possible. Occasionally I see a spec of hop debris in my glass but I've never worried too much about that. The aroma is great though.
 
I dry hop in keg exclusively now. The key is to drop your hops in keg (bagged and tied of course) and leave the keg at room temperature for 5 days then move keg to dispensing temperature on co2. 7-10 days later its good to go. I just finished keg of Zombie Dust clone with 2.5 oz of citra keg-dry hop and it had great intense aroma 3-4 weeks later
 
I dry hopped in the keg recently at 40 degrees and notices grassy / vegetal flavors during the first few days, that then gave way to incredible aroma / flavor after a week or so.

Has anyone else experienced this?
 
I also like to dry hop in the keg with 1.5 ounces of Amarillo in my 1.054-ish Pale Ale or 2-3 ounces of Centennial in my IPA. I don't do secondaries, just rack from primary to corney and dry hop in there for 5 days or so. I boil a hop sock for 10 minutes then add hops either pellet or whole then suspend in the keg with a glass shot glass (also boiled with hop socks) to weight it down. I tie off the hop sock then suspend off the bottom using dental floss. I first was boiling the dental floss then gave up on that because it got tangled and decided to call it a sterile product right off the roll. Same theory for aluminum foil and plastic wrap for other brewery uses. Zero contamination issues with cheap store brand dental floss (unwaxed). It also allows me to seal the keg and pressurize to begin force carbonation without any leaks, the dental floss seems to allow the corney lid to seal without leaking. 30 psi for 48 hours then bleed off pressure and lower to dispensing pressure. Remove hops after 5 days works for me, I had a batch get a grassy flavor with Amarillo leaf after a week so I settled on 5 days. YMMV.

I hope this is helpful!

Cheers,
Nimbus
 
I dry hopped in secondary and then also in Keg, 1oz. of Nugget each time. My hop sack is free in the keg, but I shook the keg to burst carb, so it got some "action", haha. Aromas are great, just like last time I brewed this version and hopefully they last straight through. Been 5 days of drinking it now.
 
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