Kegged hopped particles, solutions?

So, I have a bangin IPA carbed up and at serving pressure. I did a lot of research and it sounded like a good idea to dry hop right in the keg with pellets. I have 2 oz pellets in a paint strainer bag in there somewhere. Originally I wanted to hang it with floss, but I kept getting a CO2 leak so I just decided to drop it in and let it do it's thing... thinking that if anything made it out of the bag, it would just settle to the bottom.

After pouring a half glass off, I thought the second would be nice and clear. Not so. There aren't any big chunks, but a fine... sort of "hop dust" that's a little gritty. Now, the hops have only been in the keg four days so I'm hoping the problem will fix itself over time, but if it doesn't I'd like some suggestions.

Fish out the hop bag and let everything settle?
Add gelatin?
Rack to a new keg?

Hoping this is a common thing, because I'm loving this brew and plan on having guests who appreciate beer next weekend.

I've never dry-hopped in keg, but if I ever were to do so, I'd probably use whole hops only. Then, I'd put them in one of those super-finely meshed hop bags to ensure nothing solid got into the beer.

With pellet hops, it seems logical that you're gonna have a lot of problems with the "powdered", compressed cones. Perhaps there's a mesh bag awesome enough to hold the powdery components in, but I don't know of one off the top of my head. Perhaps someone else can offer a solution for you.

Ya leaf hops in a bag! Your best bet is to release pressure and Siphion out of keg rinse it out and transfer back to beer will hold some carbonation and since it is cold it will carb pretty quick.

I think there are some fine filters out there you can put on your dip tube for dry hopping in a keg. My LHBS has them. Pull your dip tube out and cut like half an inch off of it so it's not drawing it up from the bottom. That'll help with sediment and pulling up the settled out hop sludge.

Bamsdealer said:

So, I have a bangin IPA carbed up and at serving pressure. I did a lot of research and it sounded like a good idea to dry hop right in the keg with pellets. [...]

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Not quite enough research. I would never recommend dry hopping in a serving keg using pellets (bagged or not), nor free-swimming leaf (seen too many tragedies). Always whole hops in a muslin bag. Weighted, not weighted, not important.

For this batch, consider crash cooling the serving keg and carefully racking off to another (sanitized, of course)...

Cheers!

I've dry hopped numerous times with a nylon bag and pellets. Some of the smaller particles of hops may make it through but as with yeast they will settle out and you'll have clear beer. Like you said, it's only been 4 days. After another week or so you'll be fine. Please don't go transfer and abuse your beer.

EllisTX said:

I've dry hopped numerous times with a nylon bag and pellets. Some of the smaller particles of hops may make it through but as with yeast they will settle out and you'll have clear beer. Like you said, it's only been 4 days. After another week or so you'll be fine. Please don't go transfer and abuse your beer.

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This has been my experience, as well. I usually dry hop with pellets in a nylon bag using dental floss in my serving keg and never have a problem. I dry hop 7-10 days, refrigerate, then tap the keg.

Give it some time and I'm sure it will be fine.

Well, I'll give it another week and see how it's coming along before I "abuse" my beer I didn't dry hop at room temp at all... put the keg in the fridge as soon as I racked, added the hop bag and set the CO2 to 12psi. This is my first time dry hopping with pellets, till now i've always used whole leaf. In the meantime, keep the suggestions coming.

Bamsdealer said:

Well, I'll give it another week and see how it's coming along before I "abuse" my beer I didn't dry hop at room temp at all... put the keg in the fridge as soon as I racked, added the hop bag and set the CO2 to 12psi. This is my first time dry hopping with pellets, till now i've always used whole leaf. In the meantime, keep the suggestions coming.

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I've done both ferm temps and kegerator temps while dry hopping in the keg. You'll still get some great aroma at colder temps, it will just take a bit longer to peak.

this happens to me all the time, whether i use leaves or pellets, and i just drink the chunks. i rather enjoy it, homebrewed keg-hopped beer has a super fresh quality i just can't get from commercial beers. eventually they'll settle down (like others said) and you'll have a clear pint, but i often miss those little green floaties that remind me i'm drinking a fresh, homebrewed ale.

Hey guys, not trying to hijack the thread, but since it's my first time to keg, what keeps yeast and trub from entering the keg's tube after the first couple of beers? Mine is on the bottom of the Corney?

Nothing keeps it from entering the tube as it draws off the bottom. Some people will cut the dip tube around 1/2" to make it not draw from the very, very bottom.

If you are getting trub in there, you should learn how to rack your beer better, possibly secondary the beer to help clear it some more, and then rack from that after a while. Cold crashing your secondary will help drop most of the stuff out. Residual yeast will still be present in the beer, so thats why some say to let it carbonate and sit, and then pour the first pint or two that will pick up most of the yeast junk on the bottom.

Past that, there isn't much more to do. If you are getting more than just a hazy beer from the first pour of the keg, then you are racking the beer and getting too much junk in there that you shouldn't.

I'm about to try my 2nd go at dry hopping in the keg itself after failing the first time. I'm thinking about a metal tea strainer ball and just leaving it in there but am worried about not being about to take it out and being stuck having to buy 5 tea balls for all my kegs. Would it be best to age in the carboy, dry hop in there after it's aged completely, then keg, force carb and drink? There must be a better way.

Reporting back. Pellets in a paint strainer bag are working beautifully. It was those first 2 pours that were the problem. The hops taste fresh, not grassy at all. I'd imagine that disturbing the keg too much would cause some more "hop dust" beer the next pour, but other than that, I see no reason why keg hopping with contained pellets is a bad idea.

It certainly makes it easier to harvest yeast without a ton of hop sludge that I'd get from dry hopping in the fermenter.