Dry Hopping in a Keg using pellets

I've Dry Hopped in the secondary with great results. Perfectly clear bear after racking it off. I just tried Dry Hopping in the Keg with pellets and the beer is cloudy with hop debris. Clearly this is not the way to for me as I'll continue with Dry Hopping in the secondary from here on out.
How fix this mistake? Should I attempt to clarify with gelatin?

I don't know if the gelatin would help but it would not hurt to try. What type of bag did you use when you added the hops to the keg?

I'm guessing no bag? Maybe cold crash really cold and then drop in some gelatin to form a nice layer on top of the hops debris.

Otherwise, you're gonna be drinking hop chunks.

Even if you use a bag the first couple of pours have sediment. Once all the little pieces that go through the bag pour out you will have clear beer again.

It was a 5 gallon paint strainer. I've pulled off a half gallon so far and it's still cloudy. I'll try the gelatin and hope that at least partially helps.

Rookie mistake, and ya hate to see it happen.

Dry hop with pellets in the fermenter, dry hop with bagged whole leaf in the keg...

Cheers!

I sometimes dry hop in keg, with pellets using a stainless steel herb ball. Leave the keg alone for a day after you add the hops, first two or three pints are a little cloudy then it should be clear again.

Whalewang said:

It was a 5 gallon paint strainer. I've pulled off a half gallon so far and it's still cloudy. I'll try the gelatin and hope that at least partially helps.

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I think the problem is that it pulls from the bottom of the keg. Adding gelatin will just add more stuff to the bottom where you are drawing beer from.

How long did you let it settle before drawing beers off? Might want to let it settle out, draw a couple off to take care of all the settled material.

bluemoose said:

I think the problem is that it pulls from the bottom of the keg. Adding gelatin will just add more stuff to the bottom where you are drawing beer from.

How long did you let it settle before drawing beers off? Might want to let it settle out, draw a couple off to take care of all the settled material.

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It had only been a half week before I started pulling. I'll give it a week and see how it is before doing anything with it?
Btw, it's drinkable as is so not all is lost.

Mac & Jack's brewery here at Redmond uses hop pellets packed inside a VERY FINE mesh bag in a keg.

goldy81 said:

Mac & Jack's brewery here at Redmond uses hop pellets packed inside a VERY FINE mesh bag in a keg.

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where can i get this type of bag?

I don't know.. I wish I had asked... but it did look a lot like a tea straining bag.

How would a cotton (t-shirt or bed sheet) material work? That should be reusable.

I'm thinking what works best for me is dry-hopping in the secondary but I still want to experiment with dry-hopping using pellets in the keg.

Whalewang said:

How would a cotton (t-shirt or bed sheet) material work? That should be reusable.

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Horribly. Cotton breeds bacteria, this why no one uses it for biab

...but starsan kills almost everything and Iodophor kills all bacteria so that is not an issue if you sanitize the cloth before it goes into the beer.

Whalewang said:

...but starsan kills almost everything and Iodophor kills all bacteria so that is not an issue if you sanitize the cloth before it goes into the beer.

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Well, I'd use a bag that is tightly woven mesh but you can use something else if you'd like. I use this weave: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/nylon-hop-bag-8-x-9-1-4.html It contains the debris, but allows the dryhopping to permeate the keg. It has a drawstring, too, so I just sanitize, fill (not too full) and tie.

I always use a tea ball (or two or more) for leaf hops and a tightly woven mesh bag for pellets in the keg. You definitely want to bag hops, even pellet hops, in the keg. Your diptube is likely to clog if you don't!

I'm surprised that it pours at all. I made that mistake(once) I tossed my pellet hops in the keg figuring that the first few pours would be cloudy and then I would be OK. The hops plugged up my posts so bad that I had to soak them and loosen the hops with a pick to get the poppets out to clean them.

I racked the beer to another keg and left the hops in the bottom of the the keg.

It was a giant pain in the ass, but the beer turned out great...

Yooper said:

Well, I'd use a bag that is tightly woven mesh but you can use something else if you'd like. I use this weave: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/nylon-hop-bag-8-x-9-1-4.html It contains the debris, but allows the dryhopping to permeate the keg. It has a drawstring, too, so I just sanitize, fill (not too full) and tie.

I always use a tea ball (or two or more) for leaf hops and a tightly woven mesh bag for pellets in the keg. You definitely want to bag hops, even pellet hops, in the keg. Your diptube is likely to clog if you don't!

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how tight is the weave on the link you provided (I assume it's tighter than a paint strainer)? What's the material made from?

i just learned this yesterday. sanitize a spoon, a hops bag of some kind, and a zip tie. before placing the beer in the in the keg, place hops in the bag with spoon and then zip tie it to the dip tube. now, as long as you keep it in your keg fridge, the hops and dry hop flavor should last for up to 3 months! a friend of mine brought some beer by that he has done this to, it was amazing! i am sure leaf hops would be better.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...stirring-straining/stainless-hop-steeper.html

This is what I use for dry hopping. Works well - just fill with hops and drop in the keg.

Whalewang said:

how tight is the weave on the link you provided (I assume it's tighter than a paint strainer)? What's the material made from?

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I have no idea. Maybe nylon? It's about the same weave as the paint strainers, but much more sturdy. Those paint strainers are flimsy and tear easy. This seems "thicker" but not thicker due to the material. (That makes no sense, I guess, but not "thick" like tighter weave, "thicker" like "sturdier"). I drink, you know.

Darwin18 said:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...stirring-straining/stainless-hop-steeper.html

This is what I use for dry hopping. Works well - just fill with hops and drop in the keg.

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I've used that with pellet hops, and it didn't really contain them. It works great for leaf hops, though. When I used that for pellet hops, enough escaped to clog my diptube/poppit (see post above!) and I never tried again.

Have you used that for pellet hops?

I dry hop in my serving keg with pellet hops often. My solution works well and is fairly cheap.

-Get a pair of new women's pantyhose from the dollar store. Take one out and rince it REALLY good under the facet. I get the beige ones as I fear bleach in the white and dye in the black.

-Get clear glass marbles. I stick them in a cup with water and run them in the microwave for 5 minutes. I use about 8-10.

-Next dunk the panyhose in your starsan bucket and hold them open while CAREFULLY pouring the marbles into the pantyhose. and submerge the whole thing.

-Open keg and suspend the pantyhose and hold the top open. I normally bunch/roll the pantyhose up so there is not a lot of wet material for the hop dust to stick to. Add in your hops, wood chips or what have you and then tie the pantyhose shut with a simple knot that will allow a small amount of room to expand vertically. Cut the pantyhose just above the knot. lay keg on side and drop the sack into it, insert spear/seal the keg, then stand it up slowly. (this stops the marbles from slamming into the kegs bottom and if you serve from a sanke from getting pinched by the spear.) Purge keg w/ co2 and fill as normal.

I have never had ANY issues with this.

Yooper said:

I've used that with pellet hops, and it didn't really contain them. It works great for leaf hops, though. When I used that for pellet hops, enough escaped to clog my diptube/poppit (see post above!) and I never tried again.

Have you used that for pellet hops?

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Hey Yooper, yes I've used this several times with pellet hops without any issues. However, the clasp on this doesn't seem to be great - I usually have to fiddle with it to get it close securely. Other than that though, I haven't had any problem with it. I'll have to try it with whole leaf hops some time to see how it performs.

I use pellets exclusively when dry hopping.

I dry hop in the fermenter, cold crash for a couple days and then pour off the first pint or two.

Then I rack on top of gelatin into a serving keg.

I keep the keg at about 35 F for 2 days and then move it to the kegerator.

After a couple days I pour off the first pint or two.

Very minimal hop particles for the first few pints and then none for the remainder of the keg.


Cheers!

I use the same Northern Brewer bag Yooper recommended. It contains 99% of the pellet hop debris just fine. Add 3-4 santized marbles and it will fall to the bottom of the keg. I either dry hop at room temp for 10 days if the beer gets secondaried or dry hop in the keg for the duration. Because the keg is chilled you don't get to the vegatative grassy taste, at least not in the 3-6 weeks it takes to kick the keg.

That said, I still prefer leaf hops for dry hopping. Sometimes my supplier is out though, so pellets it is.

Do you have any probems with the bag clogging the end of the tube if you weigh it down? Do you do the zip tie trick to secure it to the tube?

I've dry hopped in keg 4 or 5 times with the bag. I just throw it in with the marbles. No clogs yet (fingers crossed). Speaking of which I'd like to get my bag back, so maybe its time to kick the keg of pale ale.