Hop particles in my beer?

[fatherdan]

Im still in the learning phase of well everything....all my beers have turned out great so far.(I think so anyways lol)

My latest brew ready for consumption is a session IPA. I dryhopped it in the keg with a stainless steel mesh cylinder meant for dryhopping. I pulled the cylinder out 2 nights ago and had a pint yesterday. It was all I had hoped for.

I did clear the lines and emptied about 6oz or so first.

When I went for another pint couldn't help but notice and taste the presence of hop particles??? Will this clear up? Or do I need to do something different?

It was dryhopped with 4oz of pellets.

Thanks

 

[ss4ivan]

It should clear up eventually.

 

[BigTerp]

It should clear out with further cold conditioning. Since I went from bottling to kegging, I've noticed I have to be much more careful when racking from fermenter to keg to keep hop particles out of the keg. That, in addition to using whirfloc in the boil, gets me crystal clear beer. Also any movement of the keg will stir up the sediment at the bottom and will take a few days to clear back out. So be careful once you have a keg hooked up to not move it if possible.

 

[fatherdan]

Thanks for the responses. Of course I wanted to serve it last night but I am very particular and I could taste the green taste of the hops still.....I have 10 gallons of this goodness and am really hoping it clears.

Do any of you use the stainless cylinders?

 

[Yesfan]

...........Do any of you use the stainless cylinders?

I have the stainless tea balls, but I haven't used mine yet as I haven't brewed anything that had any dry hops.


One thing you can do to reduce the particles is to dry hop in the primary vs the keg. That's what I do.

 

[Elkobrewer]

Another thing is to use whole hops in ss cylinder they don't break down like the pellets.

 

[fatherdan]

Another thing is to use whole hops in ss cylinder they don't break down like the pellets.

can you do pellets during brewing and whole for dry hop?

 

[fatherdan]

what are some good ipa recipes that don't need dryhopping?

 

[TX_Brewing]

can you do pellets during brewing and whole for dry hop?

Yes, some people I know prefer while hope for dry hopping.

 

[Yesfan]

what are some good ipa recipes that don't need dryhopping?

It's just my opinion, but the whole idea behind IPAs is hops so I would think you'd want to dry hop for that very reason. Do you have to dry hop? No.


Everyone is different, but for the more hop forward beers I use a hop spider during the boil, then dry hop in the primary fermenter (I don't do secondaries). Then after all the trub has settled, I rack with the siphon just above the trub layer to reduce the chance of siphoning any trub into my kegs. Cold crashing will help pack the trub tighter and get you a cleaner beer too, even though I don't do that (I'm lazy).


If you're still determined to not dry hop to avoid any pellet matter going into the keg, then I think any IPA will still turn out good. Maybe an experiment to try is to split a 5 gallon batch, one dry-hopped the other not, and see if the difference you taste is worth dryhopping or not. There's also the option of a "hopstand" which I think is just chucking your dryhops at flame out and let them steep in the wort for 15-20 minutes, before transferring to your carboy.

 

[BigTerp]

One thing you can do to reduce the particles is to dry hop in the primary vs the keg. That's what I do.

This is what I do. 7-10+ days for fermentation to complete and then dryhop right in the primary for 5-7 days. I time the dryhopping for when I have the time to transfer to kegs so I don't dry hop longer than 7 days.

 

[fatherdan]

This is what I do. 7-10+ days for fermentation to complete and then dryhop right in the primary for 5-7 days. I time the dryhopping for when I have the time to transfer to kegs so I don't dry hop longer than 7 days.

Are you broadcasting them in or using some kind of device so you can retrieve them before transferring?

Thanks

 

[BigTerp]

Are you broadcasting them in or using some kind of device so you can retrieve them before transferring?

Thanks

I just throw them right into the fermenter. Pellets typically settle to the bottom after a few days. Whole leaf tend to float at the top. Just rack above the trub as normal and/or below the whole leaf floating at the top.