Dry hopping in keg (How long will it keep)

I just transfered a Pale Ale to secondary and decided to dry hop in the keg later. Had about 10 days in primary and will have another 7-10 in secondary. Then I will keg and dry hop it, put about 12PSI on and leave it for another week.

Is there any adverse effect over time with leaving the hops in the keg? If I left it for 6 month cold would it be ok? If I put Co2 on it and left it for a few months at room temp would it be ok? Never dry hopped before and just curious if that changes the rules at all.

I've noticed some grassy flavors after 4-5 months. I don't dry hop a keg until just before putting it online and most of the time, only 1-3 weeks.

I've dry hopped a number of kegs for extended periods wit no ill-effects.

Of course, mine are chilled so I don't know if that makes a difference. I've heard/read about possible grassy flavors coming off the hops if left too long, but I've never had it personally confirmed by anyone.

Just a question...why not go ahead and dry hop in the secondary for 2 weeks? That should lock in the hop aroma you're looking for.

To be honest, I don't wanna have to try and get the bag out of the secondary carboy. They are plug hops and it seems like getting that out would be tough. Maybe not. I guess I could just open up the keg and fish them out with a sanitized hand after a few weeks. If I don't weight it down they should be floating from what I have heard. Seems to me once they are saturated floating or not they should do the job.

In that case, here's a method that will make removing them easier:
One small zip tie.
One 1-gallon paint strainer.
Some marbles or other item to weigh the bag down.
Hops of your choice.

BierMuncher said:

In that case, here's a method that will make removing them easier:

Click to expand...

ooooooooo, I likey!

That looks like a great method, Muncher. Easily removable, but the hops stay close to the dip tube. I will have to do this in the future.