Hop Aroma Gone...Can I Add Hops to Carbed and Kegged Beer?

[ircbrewing]

Hey all -

I made an IPA about a month ago and I went to take pint last night and my beautiful hop aroma is gone. I am left with what was a great IPA to a not so great beer. I still have between a 1/3 and 1/2 keg left so I want to recover it. Ive had a pound of centennial hops in the freezer for about 6-7 months so im guessing they are losing their strength.

Can I sanitize a hop bag, put about a 1/2 oz of centennial hops in it, tie it off, purge keg, drop hop bag in quickly, then recarb to serving pressure?

I worry about foam due to neucleation sites on the pellets and or hop bag but there should be plenty of room in a half keg of space.

Help me restore the power of hops to me beer!!

 

[jschein]

you can do it, or make a hop randall

 

[portguy]

What about making a hop tea?

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTTU4oNvhZI[/ame]

 

[Qhrumphf]

If you want to hop directly in the keg, I would use a second keg, sanitize, add your hop bag, purge it, and then jump from your current keg to the new one. Out the liquid post of one and back into the liquid post of the other. Use the PRV on the lid to bleed it only as needed to keep flow, will minimize the foaming.

 

[ircbrewing]

Thanks for the responses!

Since there isnt a great deal of beer left im looking to keep it simple. I think im going to gently lower a sanitized hop bag in to minimize agitation and oxygen infusion. Im going to do this in about 10 minutes. Will report back!

 

[ircbrewing]

Well that was easy. I carefully lowered the bag in and had little to no foam. I waited about 30 seconds to ensure but didnt want to let anymore oxygen in. Ill report back on flavor tonight.

 

[Qhrumphf]

I would have closed it up immediately personally. But I'm sure you're fine.

What I do with cornies and fermenters, any time they're open, is have positive CO2 flow. Attach a gas line and run maybe 10-15 PSI in so it keeps CO2 flowing in to keep oxygen, dust, anything else out. Less you have to purge later.

 

[ircbrewing]

I would have closed it up immediately personally. But I'm sure you're fine.

What I do with cornies and fermenters, any time they're open, is have positive CO2 flow. Attach a gas line and run maybe 10-15 PSI in so it keeps CO2 flowing in to keep oxygen, dust, anything else out. Less you have to purge later.

Trust me I wanted to close it but my curiosity in the nucleantion sites and their effect on the carbination was too much to overcome! At least I know now!

 

[Transamguy77]

I just did the same thing for the same reason last week, half a keg or so you’ll be fine but a full keg it will foam all over! Weather it hops or blueberries, the garage floor in my last house was stained purple from adding blueberries to a fully carbed keg.

 

[ircbrewing]

Just an update this worked just fine. Beer has been saved! Tastes really fresh now! Love it!

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Ive had a pound of centennial hops in the freezer for about 6-7 months so im guessing they are losing their strength.

It's the combination of oxygen and room temperatures that really kill hops, the half life of alpha acids can be less than six months for some varieties in those conditions. If they've been in vacuum-packed or controlled-atmosphere packs in the freezer then they shouldn't have degraded by much, and even open in the freezer or sealed at room temperature you might be looking at 20% degradation in six months.

 

[GPP33]

I dry hopped a Saison that had been chilled and carbed because I forgot to do it initially. Dropd the bag of hops in when it was cool, let it come to room temp for a few days, chilled it and then removed them. Worked perfect. As long as the beer is cold it shouldn't foam. Do it warm and it'll be like mixing viniger and baking soda.