Big problem with dry hopping

This is really starting to irritate:

I've been trying the big SS tea balls (holding 1 ounce of pellets) to dry hop the keg.

First pint is awesome, the next 39 are bland - zero aroma.

Now the latest: on my last kegging, it seems the tea ball has opened up at the bottom of the keg and now the output tube and valve keeps getting clogged with hops.

So - I have 5 gal of beer that I can't drink. Ha!

Not quite sure how to go about this - obviously I can't push the beer out with CO2 through a "house filter" (which I do have available) because the output tube would just get clogged.

This must have happened to a bunch of folks here so I await the wisdom.

Cheers! (when I can get a pint)

I had a similar problem with a DIPA I kegged a few weeks ago. In trying to minimize loss of beer to the humongous trub and hop layer at the bottom during transfer I got way more dry hop matter than I wanted into the keg which ultimately caused clogging issues. In my case, I removed the dip tube and cleaned it out every time. Not ideal for obvious sanitation reasons but there's really no choice (at least not once that I could come up with). So far, it still tastes fine. Best advice if you go that route is to just drink it relatively fast in case you do introduce an infection. I also cut about 1/2 inch off the dip tube which seemed to minimize the bits of hops that made their way into the glass. Now I think it has all settled enough that it's pretty much hop particle free.

Good luck!

you could try to remove the pickup tube from the keg and cut 1/2" off the bottom at a angle so it has a sharp point. Then clean and sanitize the tea ball amd make sure it wont open and use your sanitized hand to position it so you can pierce into it as you feed the tube back in the keg push to the bottom and now you have a "in keg filter"

Why not just transfer it to another keg and leave the trub behind?

Also you should be dry-hopping for about a week and then removing the hops. It should not stay in longer. I use 1-2oz of leaf hops (amarillo when I can get it) and put it in a muslin bag and into the keg it goes. It comes out less than a week later and every glass is perfect with great aroma. I just let is float and don't monkey with the marbles or any other method to get it to sink.

What I would do is rack it to another keg, and leave all that trub behind. Most racking canes have some sort of device on the tip which helps to leave stuff behind. It's not ideal to have to expose it to air, but how else are you going to get it out of the keg and drink it?

Getting the beer out now? I got nuthin.

next keg dry hop? get a hop sack - a small nylon bag - that way you can dry hop with 2 ounces if you want to....






see the extra "humps" on the bail support?
I cut those off with a dremel, then jb welded it to the underside, to give me a "hook"\

Hop sack, with a bit of wire tied to that hook, and a large stainless steel bolt from Lowes in the hop sack to sink it -

voila - dry hopping in keg made easy.

Thanks for all the replies.
I think I'll leave the keg a while in the hope the hops pellets will settle somewhat.
One thing for sure, them SS balls are going in the trash.
Moving on to HangGlider's suggestion of a nylon sack.
Cheers!

Slipgate said:

Why not just transfer it to another keg and leave the trub behind?

Also you should be dry-hopping for about a week and then removing the hops. It should not stay in longer. I use 1-2oz of leaf hops (amarillo when I can get it) and put it in a muslin bag and into the keg it goes. It comes out less than a week later and every glass is perfect with great aroma. I just let is float and don't monkey with the marbles or any other method to get it to sink.

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There are a lot of people who dry hop in the keg for the entire time the beer is in there including myself. I use a tea ball and very carefully put it into the bottom of the keg before I fill. Mine has a lock on it that would be pretty tough to get knocked open.

Wingfan,
Yeah, mine have a clasp type deal but obviously I should not have relied on it. Should have locked it closed with some copper wire or something.
I was also disappointed with the aroma - so I'm going to go with the muslin or nylon sack in future. That will also allow me to use leaf hops.
Cheers!

I hate the tea balls, the hops expand so much that it broke the latch off mine. I use a 1 gallon paint strainer bag now and throw it in until the keg is gone. I know I get more hop flavor and aroma now that I got rid of the stupid ball.

i normally just take a muslin bag, put any stainless steel fitting or nut that i may have laying around in it for weight, add hops, tie it off and toss it in. even pellet hops really dont migrate thru the bag, and you just throw it out when your done (but keep the ss fitting, obviously). that way it sits right next to the dip tube and you suck some hop oils up with every beer.

Also you should be dry-hopping for about a week and then removing the hops

Click to expand...

says you. theres no requirement for doing this, just personal taste. i normally dont fish the hop bag out until the keg is empty.

I'm with audger on this but doesn't Sweetwater dry hop again after a week?