Can I use a hop back for dry hopping my IIPA

[Boar Beer]

Here is the problem. We are making a 30 gallon IIPA in a Blichmann conical. We much prefer to use hole leaf hops and that generates the problem of getting the hops to sink.

If we put them in a bag they just float so we added some heavy weights to sink the bag. but even after a week or more some of the hops are still dry.

Could I make a hop back device to take 1 lb of dry hops and pump the beer through the dry hops to get a better usage from my hops. It seems like I have seen something like this on this site before but i just cant locate it.

 

[humann_brewing]

seems like you would introduce more oxygen that you want at the dry hops stage with that method.

what about a false bottom or something similar to keep free floating hops below the top?

 

[user 40839]

Sounds an awful lot like a Randall?

 

[stack]

I believe that this is what Sierra Nevada does with their Torpedo. The beer 'Torpedo' is actually named after their hopback like device because of its long cylindrical shape.

You would want to have a way to purge the air from your hopback.

From SN website:
http://www.sierranevada.com/about/news.html#torpedo

 

[Boar Beer]

Thanks Stack for the link.
Welcome to the site.

 

[drez77]

I was going to also post about SN and their torpedo. I think if you purge with c02 you will be good. I know SN pumps for several days to get the most extraction. It would be a trial and error project to determine the right amount.

Intresting project.

 

[lamarguy]

I just throw whole leaf dry hops in a keg, let sit 7 - 10 days at ~68F, crash cool for 24 hours, gently lay the keg on it's side, and transfer out the "gas in" port to another keg.

No bags or weights. Works like a charm every time...

 

[user 40839]

Completely missed the torpedo. Wow, from doing a bit of research, I wonder why anyone hasn't thought of it sooner, although replicating it on a homebrew scale would be difficult to say the least. From what I've read, it basically acts in the same way as an espresso machine, where the beer is recirculated from the tanks, and through the torpedo at about 50psi.

 

[stack]

Completely missed the torpedo. Wow, from doing a bit of research, I wonder why anyone hasn't thought of it sooner, although replicating it on a homebrew scale would be difficult to say the least. From what I've read, it basically acts in the same way as an espresso machine, where the beer is recirculated from the tanks, and through the torpedo at about 50psi.

Why not just use a water filter, much like the homebrew scale version of a Randall? I would imagine that you would need to turn the pressure down a bit, but it should still work.

 

[lamarguy]

Completely missed the torpedo. Wow, from doing a bit of research, I wonder why anyone hasn't thought of it sooner, although replicating it on a homebrew scale would be difficult to say the least.

Because it's a solution without a problem at the homebrew level.

The torpedo maximizes drop hop contact with the beer. For a 160 BBL batch that has a much larger volume of beer relative to the hop contact area, it makes sense.

However, a torpedo would add virtually nothing to a 5 or 10 gallon batch considering the available contact area is already very high. It certainly would add a "cool" factor, though, which may be worth it for some folks.

 

[user 40839]

It certainly would add a "cool" factor, though, which may be worth it for some folks.

Some folks being 99.9% of the people on these boards, methinks. (Willing to bet yuri's in his basement TIG welding one out of stainless, along with engineering a custom pump, as we type)

 

[NiteOwlBrewing]

I believe OP was talking about a 30g batch as well. With that and higher scales it might make sense from an extraction standpoint. Seems similar to a hopback purged with CO2 for the fermenter.

 

[Boar Beer]

We have a very nice peristaltic pump which could easy recalculate the beer for 5-6 days.
Basically build a 1 or 2 gallon Randal then pump the beer in the bottom and wait for the beer to come out the return hose. Then send it back into the fermentor and let it run for X days. Maybe give the Randal a shot of CO2 to push some of the air out.