Dry Hopping an Already Kegged Beer?

A couple months ago I brewed a Maibock and mashed it at too high a temp -- too many unfermentable sugars left it at 1.20 (or so) after weeks of fermentation.

The taste is OK but is too sweet for me. I think if I added more hops to the keg that I might end up with a product that is more palatable.

Any thoughts on whether this is terribly ill advised? I know that exposing my beer to oxygen ain't gonna help but if I just open, toss in my hops in bags, and then repressurize I think the damage can only be so bad.

Also, any thoughts on hops? I am thinking of doing something that is toward an IPA hopping so Centenniel, etc.

I may be completely wrong, but I don't think that dry hopping is going to do much for balancing out the sweetness of your beer. You should get some aroma from it, but I don't know that you'll get much else.

Is it at 1.20 or 1.020?

I wouldn't be to concerned about adding O2, depressurize your keg lift lid and gently drop in the hops repressurize with CO2.

But as Homebrewdad sad probably won't do much for the sweetness, the bittering comes from the boil.

Maybe you could brew a dry beer and blend with this?

You could make a hopped tea, boil hops in a couple cups of water for 60 minutes. This will give you the bitterness you are looking for to balance the sweetness. Cool down and add to the keg. Additional dryhopping would then be optional but encouraged!

How do you like sour beers? A Brett culture should bring it down some more points. Bacteria is another option.

kpr121 said:

You could make a hopped tea, boil hops in a couple cups of water for 60 minutes. This will give you the bitterness you are looking for to balance the sweetness. Cool down and add to the keg. Additional dryhopping would then be optional but encouraged!

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Just did this last week. Kegged up a pale ale, and the regulator failed and carbed the beer to 130psi +. Kinda scary because the co2 tank was pretty new, and the corny keg never failed...not sure how high the psi actually was inside, but corny kegs are supposed to fail safe at 130psi.

Anyway, after two weeks of slowly bleeding of the pressure, along with all the hops flavor/bitterness, we were left with no detectable hops in the beer. So, I went to the freezer found a bunch of hops and boiled them in a few cups of water for 15 minutes, popped the keg open and dumped the cooled/strained hop tea into the keg. Filled with co2, and purged it good....little swirling of the keg and a few hours on the gas...she was quite drinkable again.

I dry hop in the keg frequently. Just add the hops to a bag. Add a couple of sanitized weights and toss them in. When I'm ready to remove them I just fish them out with a sanitized long handled spoon.

There will be no damage to your beer if you dryhop in keg. In fact that is the only way I dry hop, right in keg with great results. But you should think twice before dry hopping Maibock. Last summer I dryhopped my 8.5% Maibock with 0.25 oz of each Simcoe, Amarillo and Centennial and its basically ruined the beer. My friends like it, but I totally didn't. It was rasiny, piney and grassy. Very weird combination, particulary for maibock

These are all great responses. Yes, it is at 1.020 - 1.2 would be ridonkulous!

Looks like going sour (an idea I like and had not considered) and brewing a hop tea are my main options (as well as the third option of "do nothing".)

With regard to the brett, I have never used it before. I am assuming it is Wyeast 5112 (Brettanomyces bruxellensis.) Once that hits my keg won't it contaminate it permanently? I have heard others talk about Brett as if it can contaminate everything but glass.

jeepinjeepin said:

How do you like sour beers? A Brett culture should bring it down some more points. Bacteria is another option.

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Brett doesn't produce appreciable sourness, bacteria do.

maltoftheearth said:

I have heard others talk about Brett as if it can contaminate everything but glass.

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Brett is just another type of yeast. If you want to play it safe, have a separate set of soft plastics (tubing, o-rings, etc.) for it, but a normal cleaning/sanitizing procedure should get rid of it.

ArcaneXor said:

Brett doesn't produce appreciable sourness, bacteria do.

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Recommendations?

maltoftheearth said:

Recommendations?

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If you want it sour, I'd try a Roeselare-type blend. If you just want it dry with some funk, any of the Bretts will do. Clausenii is more fruity, lambicus has smoky to cherry-like notes, and bruxellensis is the traditional barnyard funk strain.

A couple additional questions on the addition of souring yeasts:

(a) If the original problem was non fermentable sugars then how will adding more yeast help make this beer even more dry?

(b) Now that I think about it, if the addition of yeast DID cause additional fermentation then I would have a problem with CO2 buildup in my keg - no?

(c) Some of these yeast strains look like they need months before an appreciable result is achieved. Anything faster? I only have 2 kegs and I don't want to assign this keg for months to an experiment that may not produce great results.

Thanks again to everyone who is helping educate me on these approaches. It is such a big relief to have folks who can help you when your beer go sideways

maltoftheearth said:

(a) If the original problem was non fermentable sugars then how will adding more yeast help make this beer even more dry?

(b) Now that I think about it, if the addition of yeast DID cause additional fermentation then I would have a problem with CO2 buildup in my keg - no?

(c) Some of these yeast strains look like they need months before an appreciable result is achieved. Anything faster? I only have 2 kegs and I don't want to assign this keg for months to an experiment that may not produce great results.

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a) Brett, and especially bacteria, can ferment some types of sugars that regular ale yeast can't.

b) Yes, it's best to vent it periodically. Yeast don't like high pressure.

c) Brett can work reasonably quickly, but it will continue to develop for a long time. Keeping it warm will speed the process up.

All good questions.

Brett can break down some of the long chain sugars that saccharomyces strains cannot.

The stainless keg is as easy to clean as a glass carboy but the orings will likely need to be replaced.