Dry hop in serving keg, pellet hops in teabags?

[moviebrain]

I planned to dry hop a brew but bought pellet hops instead of whole leaf without thinking it through.

I bought a steel tea ball but it lets too much hop powder through for my taste. I'm planning to use empty jumbo teabags but have concerns about sanitization.

What about soaking a few in water and microwaving it to sanitize, or perhaps spraying a few with no-rinse sanitizer. Anyone tried this, or have alternate suggestions?

 

[hopsalot]

I have used hop sacks, never teabags. I don’t see why it won’t work. I would boil them add the hops, tie off and throw them in the keg. I have also dry hopped with no "protection", and after the first few pints, i could not tell a difference between a beer with a hopsack. I think the teabags are a good idea though

 

[frydogbrews]

i have a nylon bag i bought from midwest:
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/nylon-boiling-bag-8-x-9-in.html
it works great and to sanitize it i just dip it in boiling water for a bit. it's nice because its big enough to put all my hops in as well as something heavy to weight the hops down since you don't get good results if the dry hops are just floating stationary in there.

 

[aquahijo]

Keg hop with pellets here. I double bag mine in boiled nylon stockings. No little green floaties either.

 

[makomachine]

I'm still working on the perfect dry hop method. Floaties are a pain and I hate oxidized beer.

 

[shafferpilot]

Keg hop with pellets here. I double bag mine in boiled nylon stockings. No little green floaties either.

My trick as well. nylons are quite cheap and work well, be they do tend to "hug" the hops a bit, compacting them to some extent.

 

[slogger]

Keg hop with pellets here. I double bag mine in boiled nylon stockings. No little green floaties either.

Sounds like a good approach. Do you weight the bag down with anything?

 

[dgez]

I dry hopped a keg once and I think it ended up hurting the beer.

I didnt want to dry hop for the entire life of the batch, so I put an ounce of pellet hops in a muslin bag with some marbles and tied a string around it so it was hanging halfway down the keg...I figured once the keg was half empty the hops would end contact with the beer...ingenious I thought. Well the hop aroma was low/moderate, the beer was cloudier than a hefe, and after about 3 weeks the beer became bland and was ever so slightly astringent.

so -1 for dry hopping a keg for me
+1 for dry hopping the heck out of the 2ndary

 

[dannypo]

I use 1 gallon paint strainer bags tied closed and hung with flavorless dental floss. The floss is thin enough to not mess up the seal.

 

[frydogbrews]

yeah, i use the nylon bag tied with 4 pound monofilament fishing line to the top of the keg. also plenty small to not hurt the keg seal. i never leave them in their for more than 2 weeks though.

i stopped dry hopping the scondary at all because it is such a pain in the but to get the hops out of the glass carboy.

 

[dgez]

i stopped dry hopping the scondary at all because it is such a pain in the but to get the hops out of the glass carboy.

dont use a bag then, just throw them in, dont be skerd. it will form an inch thick layer of hop goodness on the top, then rack from underneath

 

[frydogbrews]

yo yo, i ain't skeered!
i do hate wasting good beer, and by dry hopping in the keg, i don't waste beer and i get the most out of my hops by keeping them submerged rather than floating on the top

 

[moviebrain]

I just thought I'd update with the large teabags I found. As you can see they're fairly huge. I got the box of them on Amazon.com for about $7 for 100 bags. The only downside is that instead of recommending homebrew supplies it now shows me mainly tea stuff haha!

 

[aquahijo]

Sounds like a good approach. Do you weight the bag down with anything?

Nope, they'll eventually sink on their own. I found that after 6-8 weeks or so it will start to get 'grassy'. If it start to get to that point just transfer to another keg.

I do this for quick beers I know won't be around very long.

 

[moviebrain]

I started thinking about this, and honestly believe I was going a little overboard. It's not like I'm sanitizing my hops (though they do have a bit of preservative in them already). I also refuse to believe that a thin paper bag will house anything that the leeched hop oils or the alcohol in my beer can't take care of or slow down. The only thing I did was spray down my hop ball (which i'm using to weigh down the hop teabag) and a spritz of starsan solution over the staple I used to seal the bag and another few spritzes onto the seams of the bag itself.

I'll let you all know how it turns out in a few days.

 

[frydogbrews]

Nope, they'll eventually sink on their own. I found that after 6-8 weeks or so it will start to get 'grassy'.

i would never dry hop for that long, but maybe i am using different hop varieties and amounts than you. i had 3 ounces of cascade in a batch for 3 weeks one time and noticed quickly that they were in there too long.

 

[shafferpilot]

i would never dry hop for that long, but maybe i am using different hop varieties and amounts than you. i had 3 ounces of cascade in a batch for 3 weeks one time and noticed quickly that they were in there too long.

Meaning it tasted like ___________?

 

[aquahijo]

i would never dry hop for that long, but maybe i am using different hop varieties and amounts than you. i had 3 ounces of cascade in a batch for 3 weeks one time and noticed quickly that they were in there too long.

Probably not the best idea but i'm lazy and don't like to follow rules :rockin:

 

[moviebrain]

Just to let you all know the teabags worked out great with zero hop material in the pour!

 

[makomachine]

Just to let you all know the teabags worked out great with zero hop material in the pour!

Do they seal ok? Thinking of trying this method on my next dry hop in keg with a transfer after a week.

 

[moviebrain]

They don't seal on their own but there is a very large flap. I put an oz of hops in each bag and folded it several times and stapled it closed, then spritzer some no-rinse sanitized onto it. I don't expect to leave the bag in long enough for it to rust, and if it does (or if it can) it is such a small amount of metal I don't believe it will impact flavor more than any other possible contaminate I have as a home brewer.

 

[makomachine]

Thanks - picked up the extra large bags and will let you know how they work out!

 

[frydogbrews]

Meaning it tasted like ___________?

a beer judge i am not.
best as i can say, it didn't taste right. it didn't taste like delicious hoppy dancing party in my mouth. it didn't taste like any of the other beers i had dry hopped. it tasted off and not in a good way.