Dry hop: Secondary or keg?

Hi,
What do you think, should I dry hop my double IPA in the secondary or in the keg? The keg would be easier than stuffing 2 oz of leaf hops into a glass carboy, but will there be a flavor difference?

I don't think I'd try 2 oz of leaf hops in a carboy (forget stuffing them in; getting them out will be a bigger PITA). The effect shouldn't be any different in the keg, as long as you're talking about doing it for the same amount of time.

Thanks, that's kinda what I was thinking. Into the keg they go, in a tightly tied bag.

One consideration is if you don't drink it fast, you may get unwanted grassy tones by leaving hops on the beer for that long.

Double edged sword: Double IPA should age 6+ months, so you will be dry hopping for a LONG time.

I don't dry hop for more than 7 days. (just me).

After fermentation is complete, I dry hop in the fermenter. I can get a maximum of 9 days before my "2 weeks max in the fermenter" rule, then I rack to a brite tank, drop temp, and clarify before kegging.

I assumed the OP would pull the hops out of the keg after a week or two, not leave them in for the duration (though people on this board will do that, too).

Unless you've actually left hops in a keg for "too long", where are you getting your info from? I've hopped the keg for 2 months and the flavor never really changed. I suppose you'd have to repeat it a few times to know for sure though.

If you have enough spare kegs, you can do your secondary in the keg with a dry hop and then do a pressure transfer to the final keg 2-3 weeks later.

I've actually left the hops in the keg and gotten the grassy flavor. Since then I've limited it to 14 days. Another batch with fresh hops (right off the vine) it got grassy after just 14 days.

I'm not motivated to risk damaging a batch for experimental purposes.

OP - I always dry hop in the keg. Gives you great control. If you don't have the flavor/aroma you want after 14 days, replace the hops with a second batch.

Thanks guys, I think I'll pull em after 2 weeks.

Do you recommend squeezing the hop bag when you are removing it after the 2 week mark? Assuming I have clean hands, don't spalsh alot, and don't over do the squeezing (i just want the majority of my beer back from the hops) would this be ok?

What if you got a good sized SS tea ball that would hold a lot of leaf hops and strung it up to the lid of the keg so that it was rest in the liquid as a full keg but after you drank about a gallon it would not be in the beer anymore and would drip dry and not give that grassy flavor from too long of exposure.

Just thinking.... I have never tried this.

I am thinking of using some flavorless floss or thin fishing like to catch in the seal of the keg lid with the other end connected to the bag of hops. Then I can pull it out after a week or two.

I am going to squeez the hop bag to get my beer back unless someone tells me not to!

i am going to be dry hopping in about a week and i think i'm going to have to do it in the carboy as i dont have a keg. Any other suggestions would be great but i think this is my only option to put the leaves in a nylon bang and let it do it's thing. I know it will be a problem getting them back out but i'm not sure what else i can do.

MgMt_Home_Brew said:

I am thinking of using some flavorless floss or thin fishing like to catch in the seal of the keg lid with the other end connected to the bag of hops. Then I can pull it out after a week or two.

I am going to squeez the hop bag to get my beer back unless someone tells me not to!

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I've dry hopped both ways and have been happy with both. In the keg I just wedge the hop bag between the outlet tube and the keg wall. When dry hopping in secondary I fill to the neck of the carboy so the bags are forced to remain below the surface of the beer, no need to sink the bag with marbles or weights. This works well when my primary batch size is 5.5 gallons or greater, if it is 5 gallons or less I dry hop in the keg (I typically use a 6.5 gallon primary and brew 5.5 gallon batches).