New England IPA "Northeast" style IPA

[R.A.I.D]

"Dry hop cold and short."

My process is right now: Crash out yeast with a cold crash at 28F (-2C) for 3 days. Get beer to 61F (16C). Transfer to dry hop keg. Wait 12 hours. Shake for 10 min. Cool to 28F (-2C) and wait 4 days. Transfer to serving keg.

I feel like the long cold crash in the end helps to reduce hop burn. But it also extends the contact time for the dry hop to a total of 4,5 days.

Are you concerned about reducing the cold crash time to limit the contact time for the dry hop?
What are your process regarding timing during dry hopping and the following cold crash?

 

[AugustWest]

I am looking for some feedback on the base recipe from those that have more reps in on this style than me. I also could use your thoughts on hop ratios given what I have on hand which is 2 oz. each of YVH regular and Lupomax mosaic, citra and azacca.

Batch Size: 2.5 G in the fermenter
OG: 1.069
FG: 1.016
Target ABV: 6.9%
IBU's: Brewer's Friend is calculating 64, 30 is from the 60 min. addition.

36% 2 Row
36% Golden Promise
10% White Wheat
10% Oat Malt
10% Flaked Oats
3% Carafoam

.25 oz. Warrior (16% AA) @ 60 min.

1oz. Citra (13.2% AA) WP @170 (30 min)
1 oz. Mosaic (11.2% AA) WP @170 (30 min)
1 oz. Azacca (12% AA)WP @170 (30 min)

Dry Hop - 3 days at tail end of fermentation
1oz. Citra Lupomax ((18% AA)
1 oz. Mosaic Lupomax (18% AA)
1 oz. Azacca Lupomax (16.5% AA)

Yeast A24 Dry Hop

Given that I have Lupomax on hand and this is a small batch, I am wondering if I can/should use all Lupomax and save the regular pellets for another time. Or move distribution around?

As much as I love drinking NEIPA's, I am finding that brewing them is a challenge for me. I am brewing this Friday but I have analysis paralysis. My last batch was a total bomb and not in a positive way and I followed the OP's original recipe (but scaled for 2.5 gallons). After looking at the recipe I posted (above) I am technically using even more hops with the Lupomax thrown into the mix so I think backing off is necessary. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Dgallo]

Have a bit of a dilemma with the beer I'm brewing at the moment. It's a Citra and Nelson DIPA. I'm purposely going low on the hops rates as an experiment as per my previous posts a while back I said about my rates being around 16oz/5g batch and beers were a harsh, grassy mess. So planning this beer I set out to use 9oz for the batch, splitting the dry hop in two going 1/3 in fermenter and 2/3 in dry hop keg. So added the first hops yesterday morning, 35g/1.23oz Nelson and 45g/1.59oz T90 Citra and just sampled there, it's about 36 hours after adding the hops and the flavor is bursting with juicy hops and the aroma is pretty strong too. I'd happily drink this as is even though in theory it's seriously under hopped. Side by side with my last beer which was 18oz/5g and this wins hands down already and it's not carbed or conditioned

I had planned for the next charge in the keg to add 70g/2.47oz of Nelson and 110g/3.88oz of Citra Lupomax, not sure now what to do. Really don't want to ruin this by going over board with the hops but also don't want it falling short and having to mess around with adding to the serving keg. Decisions, decisions.

I say stick with your plan. The LUPOMAX reduce the polyphenol and plant matter already in your Citra. By following through with it you’ll be able to definitively say what the impact was of reducing your dryhop for 16oz to 9 oz.

The reason I feel many have really high deyhop loads is because they up their dryhop amount earlier in their brewing in attemp to get more flavor, before they knew about the best o2 and minimal yeast dryhoping processes. Then after learning new techniques they never tried reducing their dryhop load.

 

[BoilerInSoCal]

Hi All,
I'm finding that my local HB shops are becoming very hit or miss on the hops (and amounts) they have in stock. I'm not sure if this is just a general supply issue or if the rise in popularity of brewing throughout the past year is constantly wiping them out. As much as I like to support local shops, I think it is time to start buying in bulk and putting my vacuum sealer to work. Any rec's for online suppliers (particularly ones that have the newer hops for this style)?

 

[HopsAreGood]

Hi All,
I'm finding that my local HB shops are becoming very hit or miss on the hops (and amounts) they have in stock. I'm not sure if this is just a general supply issue or if the rise in popularity of brewing throughout the past year is constantly wiping them out. As much as I like to support local shops, I think it is time to start buying in bulk and putting my vacuum sealer to work. Any rec's for online suppliers (particularly ones that have the newer hops for this style)?

There are other options but this is my favorite, and many other people’s as well:

https://yakimavalleyhops.com/
Farmhouse is also good:

https://www.farmhousebrewingsupply.com/

 

[BoilerInSoCal]

There are other options but this is my favorite, and many other people’s as well:

https://yakimavalleyhops.com/
Farmhouse is also good:

https://www.farmhousebrewingsupply.com/

Awesome, thanks!

 

[aaronm13]

I say stick with your plan. The LUPOMAX reduce the polyphenol and plant matter already in your Citra. By following through with it you’ll be able to definitively say what the impact was of reducing your dryhop for 16oz to 9 oz.

The reason I feel many have really high deyhop loads is because they up their dryhop amount earlier in their brewing in attemp to get more flavor, before they knew about the best o2 and minimal yeast dryhoping processes. Then after learning new techniques they never tried reducing their dryhop load.

Thanks man. Went with the original hopping schedule, no point changing now and as you say I will see exactly the effects of dry hopping with around half the rate. Going cold with temps too, holding it at 50F and will start crashing tomorrow night. Have high hops for this one. The Yakima 2020 Nelson smells amazing, no diesel just fruit.

 

[jturman35]

Its been a few months but I forgot how much a PITA this style is to brew. If it wasn’t my favorite style I’d throw in the towel. I have a Spike CF5 conical with a/c glycol chiller and always catch hell trying to get all the hops and trub to drop while cold crashing. On this batch I’m really trying to focus on minimizing sediment in the keg. Rant over!

 

[drewmuni8]

Awesome, thanks!

Judging by your user are you from Southern California? For hops I use YVH, but for everything else I can't recommend Windsor HBS enough. They have pretty much everything you're looking for with a fantastic and resourceful staff.

 

[BoilerInSoCal]

Judging by your user are you from Southern California? For hops I use YVH, but for everything else I can't recommend Windsor HBS enough. They have pretty much everything you're looking for with a fantastic and resourceful staff.

Thanks @drewmuni8
Totally agree on Windsor; that is where I normally go. I actually just grabbed a sack of Golden Promise from them yesterday, but the hop inventory is what led to my post. So, I'm going to try out YVH. Thanks!

 

[AZBeer]

Just kicked my first keg of my first hazy. Going to brew second this weekend.

I would like to do a closed transfer. Have an anvil fermentor and all the pieces/ parts to hook up the outlet of the fermentor to the beer out post and run the gas out to the fermentor. Plan is to fill and purge, then for the transfer release the pressure in the keg (is this step needed?) opening the valve so co2 goes to fermentor, beer goes to keg. First attempt failed spectacularly. I vastly under estimated the amount material in the fermentor and totally clogged things up.
Looking to reduce things making it into the keg. Any suggestions?

I plan to increase my volume so that I can leave a little more behind. Also going to use a BIAB bag for my whirlpool hops. Also have a nylon bag to use as filter on the end of the hose I use to transfer from my kettle. Anything else?

 

[Noob_Brewer]

First attempt failed spectacularly. I vastly under estimated the amount material in the fermentor and totally clogged things up.
Looking to reduce things making it into the keg. Any suggestions

did you cold crash your beer prior to kegging? If you have the capability to drop the temps in your fermenter without it sucking in oxygen, cold crashing to about 38 or lower is a great way to drop the hop material out to the bottom. I have a floating dip tube so it draws from near the top of the liquid which works great after cold crashing. But, I don't have the anvil fermenter though and I imagine its dip tube is right at or just above the trub. Can you rotate it upward or sideways? Just a couple of thoughts anyways.

 

[AZBeer]

I did cold crash. I have some solid bungs that I use, not perfect by any stretch, I know. The Anvil fermenter can't be pressurized, so no the best solution, but it seemed to do okay TBH as far as oxygenation goes.
The pickup tube for the fermenter is a 90-degree tube, but I can rotate it. I planned on rotating it so it is sticking out to 3 o'clock. Which should keep it above all the material. Might up turn it slightly to be safe.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

You could try the bouncer filter on your transfer line. I started doing this with the heavy dry hop it really helped.

 

[aaronm13]

Kegged my Citra/Nelson yesterday and it's so good already. Just want to say thanks to everyone for the tips and advice over the last few weeks trying to troubleshoot my process. This has just over 9oz of hops and seems the perfect amount. Strong hop flavor and aroma already. Flavors are clean and can pick out the individual hops compared to my previous 16-18oz dry hops. I'm definitely my harshest critic but can't find much wrong. It's slightly on the sweet side as London Ale III didn't play ball. Got it down to 1.020 so will mash it slightly lower the next time. Will be a second generation of it too so should perform better. Can't wait to see how it conditions over the next couple of weeks.

 

[eugles]

sounds awesome. Recipe if u don’t mind?

View attachment 722860Kegged my Citra/Nelson yesterday and it's so good already. Just want to say thanks to everyone for the tips and advice over the last few weeks trying to troubleshoot my process. This has just over 9oz of hops and seems the perfect amount. Strong hop flavor and aroma already. Flavors are clean and can pick out the individual hops compared to my previous 16-18oz dry hops. I'm definitely my harshest critic but can't find much wrong. It's slightly on the sweet side as London Ale III didn't play ball. Got it down to 1.020 so will mash it slightly lower the next time. Will be a second generation of it too so should perform better. Can't wait to see how it conditions over the next couple of weeks.

 

[Dgallo]

View attachment 722860Kegged my Citra/Nelson yesterday and it's so good already. Just want to say thanks to everyone for the tips and advice over the last few weeks trying to troubleshoot my process. This has just over 9oz of hops and seems the perfect amount. Strong hop flavor and aroma already. Flavors are clean and can pick out the individual hops compared to my previous 16-18oz dry hops. I'm definitely my harshest critic but can't find much wrong. It's slightly on the sweet side as London Ale III didn't play ball. Got it down to 1.020 so will mash it slightly lower the next time. Will be a second generation of it too so should perform better. Can't wait to see how it conditions over the next couple of weeks.

Glad you found a process that produced what you were aiming for!

 

[aaronm13]

sounds awesome. Recipe if u don’t mind?

Sure, no problem

OG 1.080 FG 1.020

Crisp Pale Malt - 62.3%
Wheat Malt - 16.1%
Chit Malt - 7.9%
Oat Malt - 7.2%
Dextrose - 4%
Honey Malt 2.5%

Citra 15g/.53oz @10 mins
Nelson 15g/.53oz @10 mins

Whirlpool @ 167F for 30 minutes
Citra - 70g/2.47oz
Nelson - 70g/2.47oz

Dry hop
Nelson 105g/3.7oz
Citra Lupomax 110g/3.38oz
Citra T90 50g/1.78oz

Double dry hopped
London Ale III yeast.

 

[aaronm13]

Glad you found a process that produced what you were aiming for!

Yes, very happy so far. As you said Citra and Nelson go so well together. This is a 60/40 Citra/ Nelson split, would maybe go 50/50 next time as the nelson is there but not stand outish. Have a feeling it will develop more over the weeks though. Would 50/50 be too much Nelson?

 

[Dgallo]

Yes, very happy so far. As you said Citra and Nelson go so well together. This is a 60/40 Citra/ Nelson split, would maybe go 50/50 next time as the nelson is there but not stand outish. Have a feeling it will develop more over the weeks though. Would 50/50 be too much Nelson?

Depends on the quality you have. The nelson I have right now is ridiculously potent. I went 1.25 to 2 ratio with it to Galaxy and it kicked galaxy’s ass. With you using LUPOMAX Citra, it still should hold up in the ratios as it’s about 1.8times the amount of lupulin concentration as T90 citra. If you really just want Nelson to shine in it and Citra to be supportive, flip your current ratio and go Nelson forward. Honestly there is no “wrong” ratio, just some you’ll enjoy more than others

 

[TBryerton]

Depends on the quality you have. The nelson I have right now is ridiculously potent. I went 1.25 to 2 ratio with it to Galaxy and it kicked galaxy’s ass. With you using LUPOMAX Citra, it still should hold up in the ratios as it’s about 1.8times the amount of lupulin concentration as T90 citra. If you really just want Nelson to shine in it and Citra to be supportive, flip your current ratio and go Nelson forward. Honestly there is no “wrong” ratio, just some you’ll enjoy more than others

Agree. I’ve done 20% Nelson and it completely dominated the Citra. It was the most dominant hop flavor I’ve ever gotten.

Where’s everyone getting their chit malt from? It seems a little more difficult to get.

 

[Dgallo]

Agree. I’ve done 20% Nelson and it completely dominated the Citra. It was the most dominant hop flavor I’ve ever gotten.

Where’s everyone getting their chit malt from? It seems a little more difficult to get.

The only place I’ve found to have it in stock is Great Fermentation. I’m still on the fence about it, I’m having a hard time finding if it made any difference than my usual mix of malted oats and wheat

https://shop.greatfermentations.com/product/best-malz-chit-malt/specialty-grains

 

[HopsAreGood]

New beer....50/50 split of Citra Lupomax and Galaxy. I only dry hopped this one for 24 hours and it is super soft with zero astringency/hop burn/bite. The aroma isn’t incredibly strong but I think it may intensify with some time in the keg. It’s only spent one day in the dry hop keg and one day carbing in the serving keg.

68% 2-row
13% flaked oats
13% white wheat
3% carafoam
3% c-10

.5 oz galaxy/.5 oz Citra lm at 10
.5 oz galaxy/.5 oz Citra lm at 5
1 oz galaxy/1 oz Citra lm at FO
6 oz galaxy/6 oz Citra lm DH

I’ll say the Galaxy is nice and I’m definitely not getting any of the harsh or undesirable characteristics from it that have been discussed here before.

I pitched one pack of verdant and one pack of New England and I think I’ll be doing this much more often in the future.

Day 1: 68
Day 2: 69
Day 3: 70
Day 4: 71
Day 5: 72
Day 6: 72
Day 7: 72
Day 8: remove heat
Day 9: 60
Day 10: 60
Day 11: Transfer to DH keg
Day 12: Transfer to serving keg

1.070 - 1.014

 

[aaronm13]

Depends on the quality you have. The nelson I have right now is ridiculously potent. I went 1.25 to 2 ratio with it to Galaxy and it kicked galaxy’s ass. With you using LUPOMAX Citra, it still should hold up in the ratios as it’s about 1.8times the amount of lupulin concentration as T90 citra. If you really just want Nelson to shine in it and Citra to be supportive, flip your current ratio and go Nelson forward. Honestly there is no “wrong” ratio, just some you’ll enjoy more than others

That's very true, it's all personal preference. I was worried about the Nelson totally taking over but think it's going to be good. It's easily the best combination along with Citra, Mosaic and Galaxy.

 

[hopfenstopfen]

View attachment 722863
New beer....50/50 split of Citra Lupomax and Galaxy. I only dry hopped this one for 24 hours and it is super soft with zero astringency/hop burn/bite. The aroma isn’t incredibly strong but I think it may intensify with some time in the keg. It’s only spent one day in the dry hop keg and one day carbing in the serving keg.

I’ll say the Galaxy is nice and I’m definitely not getting any of the harsh or undesirable characteristics from it that have been discussed here before.

I pitched one pack of verdant and one pack of New England and I think I’ll be doing this much more often in the future.

Day 1: 68
Day 2: 69
Day 3: 70
Day 4: 71
Day 5: 72
Day 6: 72
Day 7: 72
Day 8: remove heat
Day 9: 60
Day 10: 60
Day 11: Transfer to DH keg
Day 12: Transfer to serving keg

1.070 - 1.014

I always like your approach I assume you mean Lallemand New England, the Conan variant? Read some poor reviews on hbt when pitched alone. Have you only cop-itched so far?
Picked up a couple packs of Verdant recently & I’m anxious to try it.

 

[HopsAreGood]

I always like your approach I assume you mean Lallemand New England, the Conan variant? Read some poor reviews on hbt when pitched alone. Have you only cop-itched so far?
Picked up a couple packs of Verdant recently & I’m anxious to try it.

Yes, the Lallemand New England. I’m enjoying mixing dry yeasts lately. I used the Lallemand pitch rate calculator, fully aware that the cell count in the New England is woefully low, and determined that (according to the calculator) 1 pack of verdant is suggested to be good for 2/3 of a 5 gallon batch of 1.070 wort, and 1 pack of the New England is suggested to be good for 1/3 of a 5 gallon batch of 1.070 wort. So pitching 1 pack of each results in about 2/3 verdant and 1/3 Conan. Obviously there are many factors that come into play but I used that rough estimate and am very pleased with the results. I intend to use this exact combo for many future brews.

 

[Genuine]

Finally got around to brewing another batch - 5 gallons finished

71% Rahr 2-Row
12.9% Carapils
12.9% White Wheat Malt
3.2% Honey malt

5.3SRM

OG 1.065

Shooting for a final gravity of 1.018, ABV around 6.2%. It's currently fermenting with Imperial's A04 Barbarian and naturally purging the serving keg with CO2 produced from fermentation.

2oz Citra
2oz Mosiac
2oz Azaaca
1oz Centennial in the whirl pool, staggered from flame out and then 180F degrees for 30 min, no boil hops.

Planning on Dry hopping with Citra, Mosiac and Azaaca and possibly Idaho 7. From the reading i've been doing, it seems like azaaca isn't as pungent however I wanted to see what sort of mango character it would part.

 

[AZBeer]

NEIPA #2 is in the books. Going into a 3 gallon keg, went with a little larger batch with the plan of leaving some of the material behind

Original Gravity: 1.075
Final Gravity: 1.019
ABV (standard): 7.37%
IBU (tinseth): 25.47
SRM (morey): 6.24
Mash pH: 5.72

FERMENTABLES:
Pale 2-Row (75.7%)
White Wheat (16.2%)
Flaked Oats (5.4%)
Honey Malt (2.7%)

HOPS:
1 oz - AU Galaxy, Type: Pellet, AA: 14, Use: Whirlpool for 20 min at 160 °F, IBU: 13.98
1 oz - Mosaic, Type: Pellet, AA: 11.5, Use: Whirlpool for 20 min at 160 °F, IBU: 11.48
1 oz - AU Vic Secret, Type: Pellet, AA: 17.4, Use: Whirlpool for 20 min at 160 °F

1 oz - AU Galaxy, Type: Pellet, AA: 14, Use: Dry Hop (High Krausen) for 5 min
1 oz - Mosaic, Type: Pellet, AA: 11.5, Use: Dry Hop (High Krausen) for 5 min
1 oz - AU Vic Secret, Type: Pellet, AA: 17.4, Use: Dry Hop (High Krausen) for 5 min

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Temperature, Temp: 151 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 4.5 gal

YEAST:
Wyeast - London Ale III 1318
Starter: Yes
Attenuation (avg): 73%


TARGET WATER PROFILE:
Profile Name: Light colored and hoppy
Ca2: 100
Mg2: 12
Na: 8
Cl: 153
SO4: 81
HCO3: 0
Water Notes:
Bru'n Water pH - 5.35

Everything went well, hit all my numbers and such. Used a paint strainer bag during the whirlpool. Worked pretty well to keep some of the hop material out of the fermenter...but was a PITA to work with. May be time to look at a hop spider. None the less, I was able to remove a good amount of hop material that should help with the transfer. Plan to bag my DH, to help keep the hop material out of the keg also. Probably a lot of basic process stuff for many of you, but I'm new to kegging, and new to brewing these...so.

Overall I was stoked with how my 1st NEIPA came out, despite the troubles I had. Think this one should be even better, but ready to see how it goes.

 

[HopsAreGood]

NEIPA #2 is in the books. Going into a 3 gallon keg, went with a little larger batch with the plan of leaving some of the material behind

Original Gravity: 1.075
Final Gravity: 1.019
ABV (standard): 7.37%
IBU (tinseth): 25.47
SRM (morey): 6.24
Mash pH: 5.72

FERMENTABLES:
Pale 2-Row (75.7%)
White Wheat (16.2%)
Flaked Oats (5.4%)
Honey Malt (2.7%)

HOPS:
1 oz - AU Galaxy, Type: Pellet, AA: 14, Use: Whirlpool for 20 min at 160 °F, IBU: 13.98
1 oz - Mosaic, Type: Pellet, AA: 11.5, Use: Whirlpool for 20 min at 160 °F, IBU: 11.48
1 oz - AU Vic Secret, Type: Pellet, AA: 17.4, Use: Whirlpool for 20 min at 160 °F

1 oz - AU Galaxy, Type: Pellet, AA: 14, Use: Dry Hop (High Krausen) for 5 min
1 oz - Mosaic, Type: Pellet, AA: 11.5, Use: Dry Hop (High Krausen) for 5 min
1 oz - AU Vic Secret, Type: Pellet, AA: 17.4, Use: Dry Hop (High Krausen) for 5 min

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Temperature, Temp: 151 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 4.5 gal

YEAST:
Wyeast - London Ale III 1318
Starter: Yes
Attenuation (avg): 73%


TARGET WATER PROFILE:
Profile Name: Light colored and hoppy
Ca2: 100
Mg2: 12
Na: 8
Cl: 153
SO4: 81
HCO3: 0
Water Notes:
Bru'n Water pH - 5.35

Everything went well, hit all my numbers and such. Used a paint strainer bag during the whirlpool. Worked pretty well to keep some of the hop material out of the fermenter...but was a PITA to work with. May be time to look at a hop spider. None the less, I was able to remove a good amount of hop material that should help with the transfer. Plan to bag my DH, to help keep the hop material out of the keg also. Probably a lot of basic process stuff for many of you, but I'm new to kegging, and new to brewing these...so.

Overall I was stoked with how my 1st NEIPA came out, despite the troubles I had. Think this one should be even better, but ready to see how it goes.

Welcome to the world of chasing the dragon. Nailing the perfect NEIPA is so elusive yet so rewarding as you find different tweaks that get you closer to your ultimate goal. Enjoy the ride and please continue to share your experiences. So many of us here are in the same boat as you.

 

[aaronm13]

View attachment 722863
New beer....50/50 split of Citra Lupomax and Galaxy. I only dry hopped this one for 24 hours and it is super soft with zero astringency/hop burn/bite. The aroma isn’t incredibly strong but I think it may intensify with some time in the keg. It’s only spent one day in the dry hop keg and one day carbing in the serving keg.

68% 2-row
13% flaked oats
13% white wheat
3% carafoam
3% c-10

.5 oz galaxy/.5 oz Citra lm at 10
.5 oz galaxy/.5 oz Citra lm at 5
1 oz galaxy/1 oz Citra lm at FO
6 oz galaxy/6 oz Citra lm DH

I’ll say the Galaxy is nice and I’m definitely not getting any of the harsh or undesirable characteristics from it that have been discussed here before.

I pitched one pack of verdant and one pack of New England and I think I’ll be doing this much more often in the future.

Day 1: 68
Day 2: 69
Day 3: 70
Day 4: 71
Day 5: 72
Day 6: 72
Day 7: 72
Day 8: remove heat
Day 9: 60
Day 10: 60
Day 11: Transfer to DH keg
Day 12: Transfer to serving keg

1.070 - 1.014

Have you found any negatives from just doing a single, large dry hop? Brewed a Verdant "Putty" clone this morning and thinking ahead to the dry hop. Its a Galaxy, Mosaic and Azacca DIPA. Hands down one of the best beers I've ever had.

How's this beer developing for you? My dipa that I kegged on Friday and was so impressed with has fallen off a cliff already. Can't understand, Kinda getting a slight vegetal flavor again and the hops feel muted already. The Nelson was just about right in it over the weekend and from the sample I tried last night it was completely gone. Really hoping this is just part of the conditioning process but I don't think I've ever had a beer taste good right away to go poor after a few day and magically turn great again. Brewing is such a heartbreaker.

 

[HopsAreGood]

Have you found any negatives from just doing a single, large dry hop? Brewed a Verdant "Putty" clone this morning and thinking ahead to the dry hop. Its a Galaxy, Mosaic and Azacca DIPA. Hands down one of the best beers I've ever had.

How's this beer developing for you? My dipa that I kegged on Friday and was so impressed with has fallen off a cliff already. Can't understand, Kinda getting a slight vegetal flavor again and the hops feel muted already. The Nelson was just about right in it over the weekend and from the sample I tried last night it was completely gone. Really hoping this is just part of the conditioning process but I don't think I've ever had a beer taste good right away to go poor after a few day and magically turn great again. Brewing is such a heartbreaker.

The aroma really hasn’t increased much on this one which is slightly disappointing but it takes and drinks beautifully. I think the 24 hour dry hop prob had something to do with it so I’ll be going back to a 2 or 3 day dry hop. I’ve never noticed much of a difference from doing one large dry hop vs several smaller additions although some other people have. I’ve been kind of obsessed with limiting o2 and doing the one large dry hop in a dry hop keg works best for my set up...in my opinion. I hope your beer comes back to life, I totally understand being let down by a batch that you had high hopes for.

 

[aaronm13]

The aroma really hasn’t increased much on this one which is slightly disappointing but it takes and drinks beautifully. I think the 24 hour dry hop prob had something to do with it so I’ll be going back to a 2 or 3 day dry hop. I’ve never noticed much of a difference from doing one large dry hop vs several smaller additions although some other people have. I’ve been kind of obsessed with limiting o2 and doing the one large dry hop in a dry hop keg works best for my set up...in my opinion. I hope your beer comes back to life, I totally understand being let down by a batch that you had high hopes for.

Think I'm going to try and ring up the dry hop keg to purge from fermentation that you mentioned before just to limit opening the keg. Even with purging with pushing star san out like I do I still have to open the keg after to get the hops in. I'm sure I can wait 24 hours or so for active fermentation to kick off before I do this.

Do you use a spunding valve to keep some pressure in the keg till it builds up with fermentation? I'm thinking 5psi would be ok to seal the keg and put the hops under some co2. This will be all done outside my fermentation fridge so wont be able to run the spunding valve into a jar of star san as my brewery is in our spare room and my wife has set up her office there because of working from home. The constant bubbling would drive her mad.

I wont panic about my other beer till it hits the 2 week mark and still tastes bad. Wondering should I dial the hops back again. Did it with around 9oz

 

[HopsAreGood]

Think I'm going to try and ring up the dry hop keg to purge from fermentation that you mentioned before just to limit opening the keg. Even with purging with pushing star san out like I do I still have to open the keg after to get the hops in. I'm sure I can wait 24 hours or so for active fermentation to kick off before I do this.

Do you use a spunding valve to keep some pressure in the keg till it builds up with fermentation? I'm thinking 5psi would be ok to seal the keg and put the hops under some co2. This will be all done outside my fermentation fridge so wont be able to run the spunding valve into a jar of star san as my brewery is in our spare room and my wife has set up her office there because of working from home. The constant bubbling would drive her mad.

I wont panic about my other beer till it hits the 2 week mark and still tastes bad. Wondering should I dial the hops back again. Did it with around 9oz

 

[stickyfinger]

Nitro gas works fantastically to put head pressure onto kegs. The N2 won't dissolve, so you never have to worry about the head pressure dropping as a keg ages. I use it whenever I want to seal up a keg and let it sit if it is uncarbonated.

Think I'm going to try and ring up the dry hop keg to purge from fermentation that you mentioned before just to limit opening the keg. Even with purging with pushing star san out like I do I still have to open the keg after to get the hops in. I'm sure I can wait 24 hours or so for active fermentation to kick off before I do this.

Do you use a spunding valve to keep some pressure in the keg till it builds up with fermentation? I'm thinking 5psi would be ok to seal the keg and put the hops under some co2. This will be all done outside my fermentation fridge so wont be able to run the spunding valve into a jar of star san as my brewery is in our spare room and my wife has set up her office there because of working from home. The constant bubbling would drive her mad.

I wont panic about my other beer till it hits the 2 week mark and still tastes bad. Wondering should I dial the hops back again. Did it with around 9oz

 

[HopsAreGood]

These pictures are kind of crappy but hopefully it gives you an idea. The fermenter has a heat wrap on it underneath the towel, and the pink cooler has ice water in it that runs into a loop that goes down into the liquid. The ink bird controls the temperature like any other temp control set up wood With a thermowell that goes down into the liquid as well.

The ball lock keg post on the top of the fermenter runs the CO2 through the tube into the first keg, which is the DryHop keg. The dry hops are sitting in the bottom of that keg. The tube from the DryHop keg is running into the eventual serving keg as well. All the CO2 then comes out down into a jug of star San on the ground. The fermenter never gets opened, and then a closed transfer is done into the dry hop keg. There is a filter over the dip tube in the DryHop keg. Once the dry hopping is complete the beer is then jumped into the serving keg by the same tubing that connects them during the fermentation process.

For this current batch I actually liquid purged the serving keg first and then attached it to also receive a further flushing from the fermentations CO2. All the lines are purged before transfers. I definitely assume that the fact you are opening the keg is having a negative impact on lasting aroma.

For this batch I also added .3 grams of sodium metabisulfate and 3 grams of Ascorbic Acid into the dry hop keg to hopefully scavenge any oxygen that may have found its way in. I also added the same ratio of SMB and AA to the serving keg, prior to pushing out the 5 gallons. The hope is that the same ratio will be in the inevitable small amount of liquid at the bottom of the keg that did not get pushed out.

Any and all oxygen is absolute killer. I’m trying everything I can to eliminate it.

 

[stickyfinger]

The cooling receptacle on the inkbird has an aquarium pump plugged into it no doubt? That's a pretty cool setup if you're too cheap or don't have space for a small fridge/freezer.

 

[HopsAreGood]

The cooling receptacle on the inkbird has an aquarium pump plugged into it no doubt? That's a pretty cool setup if you're too cheap or don't have space for a small fridge/freezer.

Yup. A little aquarium pump and it works beautifully. I have a 7 cubic foot chest freezer that I use to hold full kegs and dispense from. At the moment I don’t really have room for an additional chest freezer or fridge. I used to ferment in it but it became such a pain in the butt always trying to balance fermenting in it and serving from it. I searched for a way to be able to have similar temp control but not need to use an actual chest freezer or refrigerator and stumbled upon this. It works really well, but my only complaint is that when fermentation is really raging you may have to change the ice water a bit more often. But other than that it’s great.

 

[aaronm13]

View attachment 723320View attachment 723321These pictures are kind of crappy but hopefully it gives you an idea. The fermenter has a heat wrap on it underneath the towel, and the pink cooler has ice water in it that runs into a loop that goes down into the liquid. The ink bird controls the temperature like any other temp control set up wood With a thermowell that goes down into the liquid as well.

The ball lock keg post on the top of the fermenter runs the CO2 through the tube into the first keg, which is the DryHop keg. The dry hops are sitting in the bottom of that keg. The tube from the DryHop keg is running into the eventual serving keg as well. All the CO2 then comes out down into a jug of star San on the ground. The fermenter never gets opened, and then a closed transfer is done into the dry hop keg. There is a filter over the dip tube in the DryHop keg. Once the dry hopping is complete the beer is then jumped into the serving keg by the same tubing that connects them during the fermentation process.

For this current batch I actually liquid purged the serving keg first and then attached it to also receive a further flushing from the fermentations CO2. All the lines are purged before transfers. I definitely assume that the fact you are opening the keg is having a negative impact on lasting aroma.

For this batch I also added .3 grams of sodium metabisulfate and 3 grams of Ascorbic Acid into the dry hop keg to hopefully scavenge any oxygen that may have found its way in. I also added the same ratio of SMB and AA to the serving keg, prior to pushing out the 5 gallons. The hope is that the same ratio will be in the inevitable small amount of liquid at the bottom of the keg that did not get pushed out.

Any and all oxygen is absolute killer. I’m trying everything I can to eliminate it.

Thats a nice set up and pictures definitely help. Great idea about doing the serving keg too. Would there really be enough gas produced to purge 2 kegs fully. Really want to eliminate O2 as much as possible so setting this up now. I can get 3/16 beer line out between the seal on my fridge without drilling, would this be suitable or is it too small, Does it need to me 3/8 beer line? Would like to avoid drilling the fridge but wont be the end of the world if I have to.

I must pick up some Sodium Metabisulfate and Ascorbic Acid to see if that helps too

 

[HopsAreGood]

Thats a nice set up and pictures definitely help. Great idea about doing the serving keg too. Would there really be enough gas produced to purge 2 kegs fully. Really want to eliminate O2 as much as possible so setting this up now. I can get 3/16 beer line out between the seal on my fridge without drilling, would this be suitable or is it too small, Does it need to me 3/8 beer line? Would like to avoid drilling the fridge but wont be the end of the world if I have to.

I must pick up some Sodium Metabisulfate and Ascorbic Acid to see if that helps too

You’re simply running The CO2 through two kegs instead of one, so theoretically if you believe there is enough CO2 to purge one keg you could purge a bunch of kegs. It doesn’t really make a difference. The tubing in the picture is 3/16 but I’d imagine anything similar will work the same. This is the first time I’m trying the SMB and a AA So I don’t have any actual experience with it. I’ve read some pretty positive things about it though which prompted me to give it a try.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

I do star san purges with co2, so for me to put SMB or AA in the keg I would have to open the keg after I purge which would defeat the purpose. So my question is could I add these to my fermenter either when I dry hop or cold crash to help or would that have no benefit?