Possible Hop back, Hop Rocket uses

Wondering about whirlpooling with an immersion chiller through the hop rocket?

Bottom of keggle --> pump --> hop rocket --> whirlpool inlet.

Cuirous how this would work. Should clear up wort pretty well too right?

Another possibility...
I really dont like dry hopping (the process not the flavor)and want to get away from it. Could I use this for transfers from primary to secondary and then again from secondary to keg? Not sure if it would totally replace dry hopping or not... Ive always got an american pale ale and a Big IPA on tap. The last IPA had a huge load of dry hops and when cleaning and trying to get the beer clear I swore I would look for an alternative. (Glass carboys as fermenters BTW)

Just some ideas been tossing around. thanks.

your first plan would definitely work, and probably add amazing flavor and aroma. It's basically a hop back system.

I've never heard of anybody doing your second plan. Might be unprecedentedly delicious.

I'm sure you already know this, but you can easily dry hop by putting the hops inside a grain bag. If you are using whole cone hops, you'd have to put a weight in the bag, but no big deal. I get minimal residual hops in the beer with the grain bag technique. Just make sure to boil and/or sanitize the grain bag before adding it to beer, the one infection I've had came from learning this the hard way.

I would think the primary to secondary poses an oxidation risk to the beer.

I guess you could "prime" the hoprocket and lines with boiled water first to minimize the potential oxidation.

disclaimer: I'm thinking out loud and do not employ a hopback or a randall in my process. meaning: I could be full of crap

I also use a hop bag... problem was last time it was so swollen i couldnt get it out of the carboy. Had to cut it up and it was just a mess.

And as far as oxidation I would just use it in line while gravity siphoning like i already do with a piece of hose that is full of air... Shouldnt be a problem. Plus I will blow the thing out with c02 to make you happy

And as far as my second plan goes... Isnt that basically what Sierra Nevada does with their torpedo?

Being a closed vessle, you could also continually recirculate beer through the rocket in a dry hop scenario. A DIY'ers SN torpedo.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Being a closed vessle, you could also continually recirculate beer through the rocket in a dry hop scenario. A DIY'ers SN torpedo.

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I really like the idea of coming up with a way to use it like a SN torpedo.... How would the entire system be closed? Or would it really need to be?

How long does SN pump their beer through their torpedo anyways? Any one know?

I guess a small self priming pump could pull the beer out of the carboy and push it through the hop rocket and back into the carboy below the surface of the beer so as to not cause any splashing or oxidation?

stadtbrau said:

I also use a hop bag... problem was last time it was so swollen i couldnt get it out of the carboy. Had to cut it up and it was just a mess.

And as far as oxidation I would just use it in line while gravity siphoning like i already do with a piece of hose that is full of air... Shouldnt be a problem. Plus I will blow the thing out with c02 to make you happy

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Don't use a bag with the dry hops. Leave them free floating. After 5-7 days they will sink to the bottom. Then carefully siphon the clear beer off without sucking up the hops.

I also feel that using the hop back during a transfer will lead to oxidation. There is a lot more air trapped in the hops and canister then in a piece of tubing. Also starting the siphon would be much harder. You'd have to fill the hop rocket with beer before any would transfer. Also, you'd loose some volume in the hop rocket every time you transfer. Lastly, I doubt the contact time with the hops during the transfer would be sufficient to disolve the hop oils in the beer. Dry hopping ususaly takes several days the transfer would only last for a few minutes.

stadtbrau said:

I really like the idea of coming up with a way to use it like a SN torpedo.... How would the entire system be closed? Or would it really need to be?

How long does SN pump their beer through their torpedo anyways? Any one know?

I guess a small self priming pump could pull the beer out of the carboy and push it through the hop rocket and back into the carboy below the surface of the beer so as to not cause any splashing or oxidation?

Click to expand...

Ideally, the system would need to be a closed loop and would be purged of O2 by use of nitrogen or CO2.

IIRC, this is the SN process as well and they run the batch through for a day or two.

stadtbrau said:

And as far as my second plan goes... Isnt that basically what Sierra Nevada does with their torpedo?

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YES. I knew it was familiar from somewhere. CO2 doesn't seem too difficult to pull off for cheap insurance against o2. you wouldn't even need to disconnect an existing line, just run some co2 into an empty keg and run a QD through the liquid post through a "t" that would connect with your beer transfer line!

I totally forgot about using a spare Corny keg... you would just need to add a lenghth of tubing to the gas post (return post) so it was returned below the beer surface.

Did anyone try this for dry hopping? Very interested in doing this - as people have said, like SN's Torpedo.

Once purged with CO2, trapped air would be no different if you were to submerge the hops in a bag.

What's the capacity for the Hop Rocket? Would it enough to properly dry hop 20 gallons? If run for a day or two, I can imagine utilisation would be pretty good.

Thanks,

J

stadtbrau said:

I totally forgot about using a spare Corny keg... you would just need to add a lenghth of tubing to the gas post (return post) so it was returned below the beer surface.

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Or jumper from liquid post to liquid post.