Dry hopping under pressure with Fermzilla All Rounder - need advice please

[ILMSTMF]

I have the FZ AR. It's pressure-rated but I have yet to use it for high(er) pressure applications*. Fourth batch into it and this recipe calls for dry hop addition. I already have a plan for minimizing O2 exposure when I dump the loose hops in. I have come to terms with that method but now I'm trying to figure out what would be best practice to follow that.

1) Seal lid. Purge headspace a few times at X psi (what should X be?). Disconnect CO2 supply, do not attach airlock. Any pressure building up in FV will be from natural means. After dry hops have made contact for 3 days, cold crash at 5 psi.

2) Seal lid. Purge headspace a few times at X psi (what should X be?). Disconnect CO2 supply. Connect airlock. After dry hops have made contact for 3 days, disconnect airlock. Cold crash at 5 psi.

3) Seal lid. Purge headspace a few times at X psi (what should X be?). Leave CO2 supply connected. After dry hops have made contact for 3 days, cold crash at 5 psi.

Food for thought
* Pressure applications I have performed (those without airlock / exhaust) - cold crash with bottled CO2 pressure, closed transfer to keg with bottled CO2 pressure (love this).
• Goal is to not "waste" the dry hops. I mean, DUH. We all want to get the best (flavor and aroma) out of this part, right?
• I had the idea that option 1 would be the way to go. The thought being that completely closing off the exhaust would keep the hop aroma in the beer. No science behind that.
• I haven't used my spunding valve yet. In tests, it didn't seem to provide its expected / reliable function. It's a BlowTie v2. Not sure if it's worth experimenting with in a real world application.
• I have performed a "soft" cold crash to 50F under 5 psi. Warming up to 62F for the dry hop addition - 3 days. Then the "real" cold crash happens under 3-5 psi. Thanks @Noob_Brewer for the tip!

I think I'm in the right forum. Mods, please move if not. Thanks.

 

[Jim R]

Maybe I am missing something but isn't the goal of pressure fermentation to maintain a steady and constant pressure of say 12-15 psi throughout fermentation which requires the spunding valve. I recently bought an All Rounder but haven't used it for pressure fermentation yet.

On my stainless fermenter I rigged up a hop bag with a couple sanitized magnets in the bag and some complementary magnets on top of the lid. To avoid any oxygen exposure when dry hopping, I just remove the magnets on the lid which allows the hop bag filled with my dry hops to drop into the beer inside the fermenter without opening the lid. I may try a similar system with the All Rounder some day.

 

[ILMSTMF]

Maybe I am missing something but isn't the goal of pressure fermentation to maintain a steady and constant pressure of say 12-15 psi throughout fermentation which requires the spunding valve.

Perhaps?
In my case, the whole fermentation process wasn't done under pressure. I'm fine with that. At some point, I might ferment hotter and under pressure. But for this batch, I'm just concerned with what I might be able to achieve by keeping pressure in FV during the dry hop phase.
I've since put the spunding valve on it. Paranoia led me to do that. Didn't do much because there was so little pressure built up in there after a day of dry hop contact.

 

[Brewer dad]

bumping this vs starting new thread.

I have been using an all rounder and fermenting lagers under pressure for a bit now. I’d like to try dry hopping, but I’d like to try @Jim R suggestion with magnet and bag.

Would doing this under pressure bring any fermentor integrity concerns? I would generally think it should be ok, but with the addition of pressure everything changes a bit. I’m running 10 psi.

 

[mashdar]

All Rounder is fine at 10psi. I use one and naturally carb at 21~ psi regularly.

The "right" way to dry hop with the All Rounder (or other Fermzilla) is to get the triclamp lid and hop bong kit. Then you can CO2 purge the hop bong.

Whatever you do, don't spund and then drop hops in at 0psig. The beer would foam like crazy.

OP's idea of purging is not terrible if hop bong isn't an option. IMO run the CO2 with the PRV open for "a while" instead of cycling.

 

[DuncB]

I use the sous vide magnet in a bag ( or two ) method, secured with an old hard drive magnet on the outside.
I lower the hops in rather than pull magnet off, you can then submerge the hops this way and give them a good swish around.

After you're done with them you can raise the bag back out to drip.

I do this in my fermentasaurus and after spunding psi might be 25 or so.

 

[Gunshowgreg]

I use the sous vide magnet in a bag ( or two ) method, secured with an old hard drive magnet on the outside.
I lower the hops in rather than pull magnet off, you can then submerge the hops this way and give them a good swish around.

After you're done with them you can raise the bag back out to drip.

I do this in my fermentasaurus and after spunding psi might be 25 or so.

I’ve done this same technique as well when fermenting in a keg. It’s pretty cheap also. Plus with you have the all rounder you can see where the bag is when you are trying to transfer to the keg. I had issues with my floating dip tube getting in the way of the bag in my keg but other than that it worked very well. I think those hop bongs for fermzilla are pricy.

This is what i bought. Courtesy of Homebrew4life on YouTube

(8-Pack) Sous Vide Magnetical... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09133GLFX?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

BrewBag HP918B1 Nylon Straining /... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BC4TATA?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Bag is reusable and nifty.

 

[Brewer dad]

Thanks all yeah I’d love to get a hop bong, but they are really expensive for some reason. I have the bags and magnets already so diy for the win. Personally the whole opening up and purging thing just doesn’t sound appealing even with non pressurized fermentations.

Gonna give this a shot in a pils here this weekend, will be the first beer I’ve dry hopped in years.

 

[Jim R]

Thanks all yeah I’d love to get a hop bong, but they are really expensive for some reason.

I agree. The idea of putting a $150 gadget on a $75 fermenter doesn't seem quite right although the idea is good.

 

[Brewer dad]

I agree. The idea of putting a $150 gadget on a $75 fermenter doesn't seem quite right although the idea is good.

Right! I got mine for $15 so it seems even worse lol

 

[Gunshowgreg]

Thanks all yeah I’d love to get a hop bong, but they are really expensive for some reason. I have the bags and magnets already so diy for the win. Personally the whole opening up and purging thing just doesn’t sound appealing even with non pressurized fermentations.

Gonna give this a shot in a pils here this weekend, will be the first beer I’ve dry hopped in years.

How you making your pils?

 

[Brewer dad]

How you making your pils?

@Gunshowgreg nothing crazy really. Recipe is almost set but playing with hop schedule and may switch/add Hallertau for the DH. I’ve had good luck with 34/70 in these conditions on beers ranging from pils to doppelbock.

90% pils
10% light Munich
22ibu magnum 60min
9ibu Tettnang 10min
.5oz Tettnang DH 2 days during cold crash

34/70 slurry at 10psi in the mid/low 60’s

 

[fluketamer]

@Gunshowgreg nothing crazy really. Recipe is almost set but playing with hop schedule and may switch/add Hallertau for the DH. I’ve had good luck with 34/70 in these conditions on beers ranging from pils to doppelbock.

90% pils
10% light Munich
22ibu magnum 60min
9ibu Tettnang 10min
.5oz Tettnang DH 2 days during cold crash

34/70 slurry at 10psi in the mid/low 60’s

i have done the exact beer with hal mit and tetnang and it came out great .

34/70 makes great beer at 10 psi