Problems w carbonation when dryhopping in the keg.....

[Panderson1]

This has been an ongoing issue for 6+ months. Maybe someone can give input.

Whenever i dry hop in the keg (usually 4 oz in a mesh tube) it takes forever to carb up. I'm talking 25+ psi for a week and still flat or barley carbed (gone as high as 40 psi). I have 4 different regulators and have switch all kinds of lines. I have 4 co2 tanks. There's no leaks. Ive gone through about 15 different batches. Head space is fine. When it's at 30 psi, releasing the pressure valve on the lid, you can tell its actually 30 psi (by the sound it makes). Used multiple regulators including a brand new one last month.

One time went 20 days under pressure and still completely flat.

I'm thinking it's something with the hop oils or something?

Multiple recipes. Usually pretty hoppy hazy recipes or IPA.

Last week i kegged a Munich Helles and it was carbed like normal after a week.

Drives me crazy.

Oddly when a friend would drive a keg to his house 30 mins away, the keg will carb up. So i started giving the kegs a few big shakes at day 7 and that serms to "wake them up". But i would think i shouldn't need to do that.

Does anyone else have this issue dryhopping inside the keg?


Edit:
So day 7 on a new IPA.

Day 1 and 2 - 30psi
Day 3, 4 and 5 - 15 psi
Check carbonation on day 6 - flat.
Day 7 and 8 - 35 psi
Just checked pressure and it's maybe 30% carbed to normal IPA standardish.

I am going crazy.

 

[Panderson1]

Surprised no responses. Lol just adds more to my curse.

 

[wsmith1625]

Hopefully others will chime in, but are you sure the beers is not going flat when serving? Sounds odd that your friends are not having the same problem with your kegs. It's it foaming when you pour?

 

[wsmith1625]

Also, how are you dry hopping in the keg? Whole leaf or pellets? Maybe the hops are taking up the headspace. You could do a 4 gallon batch and see what happens.

 

[Pianoman]

Watching...Doing my 1st attempt ever at keg dry hopping. Or I'll report back.

 

[JoeSpartaNJ]

Something is off.

Seems like a dumb question, but do you have both the CO2 turned on at the tank and at the regulator?

It there an issue with the poppets on your keg or the gas ball lock?

I dry hop in the keg all the time with no issue. The only time I have had issues carbing is if the the keg is too full.

The mesh tube, is it free floating or tied to the lid somehow? Could the tube be blocking the Gas In dip tube?

I have had issues with dry hopping in a paint strainer bag and the bag getting sucked into the OUT dip tube. (But that is a different issue.)

 

[Panderson1]

It is flat when i pour. It has a tiny amount of carbonation.

It is strange. Almost like there's a threshold and once it hits a certain point, it will carb up pretty fast (2 days). Idk this is my weird observation over the past 20 brews.

Only the dry hopped kegs.

I fill a mesh tube with 4oz (fills around 30% of tube) and add it prior to filling the keg. I have poured 2 pints out (to test) at times. Usually can tell how much headspace by the sound purging makes an can see it filling up by condensation on the outside of the keg. Maybe i need to leave way more space.

Thanks for asking.

 

[Panderson1]

Something is off.

Seems like a dumb question, but do you have both the CO2 turned on at the tank and at the regulator?

It there an issue with the poppets on your keg or the gas ball lock?

I dry hop in the keg all the time with no issue. The only time I have had issues carbing is if the the keg is too full.

The mesh tube, is it free floating or tied to the lid somehow? Could the tube be blocking the Gas In dip tube?

I have had issues with dry hopping in a paint strainer bag and the bag getting sucked into the OUT dip tube. (But that is a different issue.)

I have used multiple kegs at the same time. Recently hooked up a whole new system with a 6way manifold. Currently 3 kegs carbing are IPA with carb issues. 2 others Helles with no issue.

I have used different regulators and kegs.

I can also hear the difference in purging between 12ps vs 30 psi.

I know this seems crazy. I actually made a thread about it like 6 month ago. Never figured it out. Other than eventually it will carb up. I ended up overcarbing once. Sucks.

If i set and forget i feel like it would take a month. Idk never waited that long.

 

[JoeSpartaNJ]

4 ounces is a lot for a keg hop (my opinion as the hops will swell in the tube), but that would not affect the carbonation.

Have you tried keg hopping with a different method? Maybe the tube is the problem? Or the manifold?


These days I only truly keg hop if timing is an issue, otherwise I don't see a real benefit to it.

What line length are you running?

 

[wsmith1625]

Have you tried keg hopping with a different method? Maybe the tube is the problem? Or the manifold?

You could also try carbonating with a different method. Try carbonating from the liquid post. I did this with success until I finally hooked up a co2 line with low pressure and had it fill the gas line with beer. That's the risk of carbing off the liquid post, but it may help to figure this out.

Always make sure the pressure in the gas line is equal or higher that the keg or else you run the risk of beer in the co2 lines. A ball lock quick disconnect fitted with a check valve could help prevent this too.

 

[Panderson1]

4 ounces is a lot for a keg hop (my opinion as the hops will swell in the tube), but that would not affect the carbonation.

Have you tried keg hopping with a different method? Maybe the tube is the problem? Or the manifold?


These days I only truly keg hop if timing is an issue, otherwise I don't see a real benefit to it.

What line length are you running?

I'm running different lengths for co2. Between 3' and 5'. Beer lines are all 5' feet.

Haven't tried a different keg hop method. I like the tube idea but maybe should try something different.

 

[Panderson1]

You could also try carbonating with a different method. Try carbonating from the liquid post. I did this with success until I finally hooked up a co2 line with low pressure and had it fill the gas line with beer. That's the risk of carbing off the liquid post, but it may help to figure this out.

Always make sure the pressure in the gas line is equal or higher that the keg or else you run the risk of beer in the co2 lines. A ball lock quick disconnect fitted with a check valve could help prevent this too.

Interesting. I always wondered why not do that instead of shaking a damn keg around. Is it basically the same idea for fast carbing? Ill have to look into that. Thanks

 

[wsmith1625]

Is it basically the same idea for fast carbing?

Yes, but I did it by accident when I started force carbing my kegs. It worked great so I used it a few times until the gas line incident occurred. Since then I managed to force carb off the gas post with good success.

 

[Panderson1]

How long do you let the gas flow for? Say 10psi running down the beer line/tube? Do you pull the relief valve while running gas?

 

[wsmith1625]

I set the co2 to 25 lbs. and shake the keg until I don't hear any more gas entering it. Then I leave it sit for 24 hours. The next day I turn off the gas, purge the keg, and set to serving pressure.

This doesn't always offer perfect carbonation on day 1, but it will continue to carb as it sits on tap. I haven't had any issues with over carbing which is good.

 

[MugsWorth]

Maybe try dry hopping in a separate keg, then rack beer under pressure to a serving keg.
Seems like too many hops clogging and creating a carb issues.
Guten Lucken

 

[Panderson1]

Maybe try dry hopping in a separate keg, then rack beer under pressure to a serving keg.
Seems like too many hops clogging and creating a carb issues.
Guten Lucken

I'm just going to start dryhopping traditional in the fermenter.

I am now on 2 more kegs since this post. Both with 3oz each in the mesh containers. Both 5 days 30+ psi and flat. Seriously wtf.

Ive been brewing 10 gallon a week. Have 5 other guys involved.

I can't see how anything is "clogged". Maybe if this was a 1 time thing... talking like 20 different kegs/batches now.

 

[sibelman]

My super slow carb events have all been with hefty imperial stouts. Dry hops in kegs (mesh tube, cloth sack, commando) have never coincided with slow carb'ing for me. I wonder wtf is going on. If the keg is super full and the head space is small enough to reduce the surface area of the gas/liquid zone, it could slow the movement of CO2 into the beer.

Cheers.

 

[bracconiere]

Surprised no responses. Lol just adds more to my curse.

well, my 2 cents... could the mesh bag be pluging up the gas dip tube? maybe it lets enough gas in to plug it up, so it hisses when vented...but when the pressure goes back in it gets shoved up against again?

maybe try carbing with the bev out post? just serving with the gas hooked up?

 

[JoeSpartaNJ]

Just curious, did you figure the carbing issue?

 

[Panderson1]

Just curious, did you figure the carbing issue?

Nope. Lol

 

[JoeSpartaNJ]

Nope. Lol

So strange.

 

[Panderson1]

So strange.

It is. And i can't understand the mesh tube pluging up the gas dip tube inside the keg. We're talking 30lbs of pressure pushing on a floating object. No way it could plug imo... I've got 4 kegs going now with hops inside. Finally carbed up after 3 weeks on high pressure. The constant worry that i might overcarb and havingto checkthe carbonation. This alsoforcesme to drink beer on days i shouldn't .... and my none hop kegs carb up fast in less than a week. anyways. I'm over it. I'm just going to dryhop in the fermzillas from now on.

Sorry. I'm all over the place