mgillard1976
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- Dec 5, 2018
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So I brewed an IPA and it's in the keg and carbonated but I feel like it tastes a little plain. I was going to toss in a bag of hops to try and boost the flavour a bit and was wondering if any of you had experience doing this.
Will I get much flavor from hops in a cold beer? Will the beer foam out of the keg when I toss it in? Could I steep the hops first to maximize the flavour extraction?
Just looking for a little guidance.
Update for future readers:
I decided to add the hops (1 oz centenial, 1 oz cascade) using a sterilized muslin bag. I was going to suspend the bag mid keg using dental floss but the two threads of floss prevented me from getting a seal in the lid. Maybe the ring needs to be replaced or maybe some keg lube would have helped but I had to abandon it. I ended up just tossing it in. There was minimal foaming when I dropped it in.
3 hours later the beer had gone from crystal clear to completely hazy and the taste had completely changed, for the better in my opinion. I debated pulling it out since I liked where it was but left it in over night. A sample this morning was pushing the limits of what I wanted so I decided to pull it out. After sanitizing everything and opening the lid the bag was nowhere to be seen however after about 3 seconds, thanks to the released pressure and tons of nucleation sites in the bag, it floated to the top and I was able to easily pluck it out. I suspect now that some of the strong hop flavour was due to the fact that the bag was at the bottom and very close to the dip tube.
I'm really surprised at how fast the flavour of the beer changed and I wonder if the CO2 saturation helped with oil extraction. Anyway, hope this helps someone else looking to do the same thing.
Will I get much flavor from hops in a cold beer? Will the beer foam out of the keg when I toss it in? Could I steep the hops first to maximize the flavour extraction?
Just looking for a little guidance.
Update for future readers:
I decided to add the hops (1 oz centenial, 1 oz cascade) using a sterilized muslin bag. I was going to suspend the bag mid keg using dental floss but the two threads of floss prevented me from getting a seal in the lid. Maybe the ring needs to be replaced or maybe some keg lube would have helped but I had to abandon it. I ended up just tossing it in. There was minimal foaming when I dropped it in.
3 hours later the beer had gone from crystal clear to completely hazy and the taste had completely changed, for the better in my opinion. I debated pulling it out since I liked where it was but left it in over night. A sample this morning was pushing the limits of what I wanted so I decided to pull it out. After sanitizing everything and opening the lid the bag was nowhere to be seen however after about 3 seconds, thanks to the released pressure and tons of nucleation sites in the bag, it floated to the top and I was able to easily pluck it out. I suspect now that some of the strong hop flavour was due to the fact that the bag was at the bottom and very close to the dip tube.
I'm really surprised at how fast the flavour of the beer changed and I wonder if the CO2 saturation helped with oil extraction. Anyway, hope this helps someone else looking to do the same thing.
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