Hop tea into carbed keg?

[Ike]

SO: due to a hiccup in the brew pipeline (I'm so very punny), I'm going to be kegging TWO beers tomorrow. My plan is to use a hop tea on both, but my intent is ALSO to drink one keg down until it kicks, then start on the second one, rather than drinking both at the same time. Both are similar beers: ales, hoppy but not bitter.

I go through about a keg a month around here, so it'll be about a month or a bit longer before I'm tapping the second keg. I'm worried that if I add the hop tea at kegging, I'll lose a lot of aroma/flavor over the month or six weeks it's aging/ waiting its turn.

What's better: age under carbonation, wait a month, add the tea, and be ready for the subsequent geyser? OR, pressurize the keg enough that I know oxygen is kept out (like 1-2 psi), wait until a week or so before it's needed, THEN add the tea and carbonate fully afterword?

Thanks!

 

[jwalk4]

I don't think you'll lose hop flavor/aroma if you add the hop tea at keg time.

If you seal up the keg properly, where are the hops able to go?

But to answer your question, I'd go with option #2. After all, if you have a geyser, then you really will be losing your hops - all over the floor.

 

[hottpeper13]

I have a similar situation where I made a DIPA with maple sap(need to use it ASAP) for the NHC. So I decided to put it in secondary until June 1st,dry hop it 5 days crash and fine 2 days and keg. If this works, it will forever change my dry hop timing.

 

[Ike]

If you seal up the keg properly, where are the hops able to go?

Not to be contrary, because I really want to agree with you, but I've just noticed that in both bottled and kegged batches... over the month or so I'm consuming that batch, I lose a lot of the hop kick. Your point about the keg being sealed is valid, and even moreso for a bottle. That said, I've even seen posts from IPA-mongers here who say the only way to really keep the hop aroma/flavor kick at full tilt through the whole keg is dry hopping in the keg.

Barring any further opinions, though, I think I'll proceed as we agree. It'll basically be a secondary in the keg, with enough CO2 to keep her O2 free. I'll try to remember to post here about the results!

Ike

 

[jwalk4]

Not to be contrary, because I really want to agree with you, but I've just noticed that in both bottled and kegged batches... over the month or so I'm consuming that batch, I lose a lot of the hop kick. Your point about the keg being sealed is valid, and even moreso for a bottle. That said, I've even seen posts from IPA-mongers here who say the only way to really keep the hop aroma/flavor kick at full tilt through the whole keg is dry hopping in the keg.

Barring any further opinions, though, I think I'll proceed as we agree. It'll basically be a secondary in the keg, with enough CO2 to keep her O2 free. I'll try to remember to post here about the results!

Ike

Haha, that was the most cordial disagreement I've read on this forum!

But yeah, I know where you're coming from regarding the hop flavor and aging, but I think a lot of the hop disipation has to do with the introduction of oxygen during the dry hop process. Oxygenation, as you may know, will speed up the maturation/staling process of the beer whether it is sealed or not.

I know Brulosophy isn't the be-all and end-all when it comes to brewing knowledge, but he came across a similar issue when examining leaf vs. pellet dry hops. -> http://brulosophy.com/2015/02/23/whole-leaf-vs-pellet-hops-part-1-dry-hop-exbeeriment-results/

I think that a tea, if you boil the water prior to hopping, whill mitigate some of the staling process. But that's just a guess.