Questions about dry hopping in the keg

[TAK]

I'm thinking about dry hopping in the keg in about a week, which I've never done before, and I have a couple of questions:

I would like to add the hops after I cold crash, but I'll start force carbing during the cold crash. If I add the hops into a carbed beer, will it foam like crazy because of nucleation sites?

I don't want to keep the hops in there forever, I know some debate this, personally, I will pull them at 2-3 weeks. So, I plan on putting them into a bag, I'll be using whole hops. At room temp, my whole hop dry hops always float. Does anyone know if whole hops in a bag will drop to the bottom of the keg at cold temps?

If they do drop, can I run a fishing line or something like that from the bag out the lid, under the O-ring? Will that cause a gas leak in the lid?

 

[jbaysurfer]

It will foam, but if you do it quickly, close the keg and co2 flush it, it won't cause you a problem. The preferred way for myself to do this is to put the dryhops in a clean empty keg, flush with C02, then jump the beer from the original keg into the dryhop keg. This also leaves the yeast cake behind as an added benefit, making the new keg very tranportable. You'll have hop haze of course...but if you don't want that, you probably don't want to dry hop anyway ;-)

 

[HOPtuary]

Ive heard of people using SS nuts or spoons, sanitized of course, and putting those in the bag to weigh it down and place it about half way down the keg. Also to make for easier retrieval of the hop bag, use American made fishing line or unwaxed, unflavored dental floss and tie it to the handle.

If i were going to dry hop in the keg id do 3-5 days at room temp then put it into the kegerator.

 

[jbaysurfer]

BTW, yes, they can drop once they're saturated. I use unwaxed, unflavored dental floss and plenty of keg lube...and run the floss out the lid opening, then replace the lid. If you use fishing line, use the lightest test you can find. I haven't actually done that, so I dont' know if it works as well as floss or not.

 

[jbaysurfer]

Ive heard of people using SS nuts or spoons, sanitized of course, and putting those in the bag to weigh it down and place it about half way down the keg. Also to make for easier retrieval of the hop bag, use American made fishing line or unwaxed, unflavored dental floss and tie it to the handle.

If i were going to dry hop in the keg id do 3-5 days at room temp then put it into the kegerator.

I have done this as well, but to be honest, It's not neccesary. If your dryhops are floating in a closed keg, the hop aromas will be driven into the beer along with the C02 that is being driven into the beer. Contantly flushing the headspace via the co2 release will cost you some of your hop aroma though, so be warned.

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

BTW, yes, they can drop once they're saturated. I use unwaxed, unflavored dental floss and plenty of keg lube...and run the floss out the lid opening, then replace the lid. If you use fishing line, use the lightest test you can find. I haven't actually done that, so I dont' know if it works as well as floss or not.

This is what I do. And I make sure to have the hop sock set at a particular height. Then once I've drank a gal or so of the beer, the hops are no longer on it, which keeps me from having to remove the hops. Why open a good keg of beer when you can just drink it off of the hops? It's also nice to see how the flavor and aroma of the beer changes during the week or two that you are drinking it.

A word of warning, if for some reason you need to purge the keg while hops are dangling from dental floss, The release of pressure WILL suck the dental floss up into the release valve! The one time it happened, it didn't seem to hurt anything, but it was kind of a ***** getting it pulled back out once I kicked the keg. So purge slowly.

 

[TAK]

Thanks for the quick responses. Floss is a great idea; I'll do that.

Great point about the aroma loss to purging the headspace. The only reason I could see doing this would be to remove the hop bag after 2-3 weeks. I would like to get the beer off the hops after a while to avoid pulling grassy flavors. But, I'd also see the benefit of avoiding opening the keg at all, trying to keep the aromas in.

I wonder how well it would work to only give the bag enough floss length to fall about 1/3 the way from the top. That way as the volume in the keg drops, the hops will eventually hag above the beer, thus being about the same as having been removed, but without opening the keg. Anyone ever try this or have any insight? Is there any potential drawback to the hops drying out while they hang? I'd hate for them to rot or something like that since they'd no longer be submerged but would be in a moist atmosphere.

 

[TAK]

This is what I do. And I make sure to have the hop sock set at a particular height. Then once I've drank a gal or so of the beer, the hops are no longer on it, which keeps me from having to remove the hops. Why open a good keg of beer when you can just drink it off of the hops? It's also nice to see how the flavor and aroma of the beer changes during the week or two that you are drinking it.

A word of warning, if for some reason you need to purge the keg while hops are dangling from dental floss, The release of pressure WILL suck the dental floss up into the release valve! The one time it happened, it didn't seem to hurt anything, but it was kind of a ***** getting it pulled back out once I kicked the keg. So purge slowly.

I didn't see this post before my last. This is exactly what I was thinking. Glad to hear it works.

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

Thanks for the quick responses. Floss is a great idea; I'll do that.

Great point about the aroma loss to purging the headspace. The only reason I could see doing this would be to remove the hop bag after 2-3 weeks. I would like to get the beer off the hops after a while to avoid pulling grassy flavors. But, I'd also see the benefit of avoiding opening the keg at all, trying to keep the aromas in.

I wonder how well it would work to only give the bag enough floss length to fall about 1/3 the way from the top. That way as the volume in the keg drops, the hops will eventually hag above the beer, thus being about the same as having been removed, but without opening the keg. Anyone ever try this or have any insight? Is there any potential drawback to the hops drying out while they hang? I'd hate for them to rot or something like that since they'd no longer be submerged but would be in a moist atmosphere.

Go back and re-read my post. That's exactly what I do. Drink the beer off of the hops. I would think that since there is no air being introduced into the keg, the hops aren't drying out. At least that's my explanation as to why mine never have. Just hang the bag 6"-8" below the lid and carb it! Fresh hopped beer (for awhile at least)!

Edit: Just saw your LAST post! hahahaha

 

[mtnagel]

I've never kegged before so I'm trying to figure out the logistics of this with 2 dry hop portions and doing the slow carb method for carbing the beer.

I just brewed a black IPA last night. I would usually dry hop each for ~5 days with removing the first portion before putting in the second and then bottling. If I did the first dry hop in primary and then removed the hops and transferred over to the keg where I suspended the hop bag near the top as mentioned above. Then I started gas and put it in the fridge all at the same time. Then I would start drinking it after a week or so and after 2-3 weeks the hops would be out of the beer and just dangling.

Is this how I would do it?

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

I've never kegged before so I'm trying to figure out the logistics of this with 2 dry hop portions and doing the slow carb method for carbing the beer.

I just brewed a black IPA last night. I would usually dry hop each for ~5 days with removing the first portion before putting in the second and then bottling. If I did the first dry hop in primary and then removed the hops and transferred over to the keg where I suspended the hop bag near the top as mentioned above. Then I started gas and put it in the fridge all at the same time. Then I would start drinking it after a week or so and after 2-3 weeks the hops would be out of the beer and just dangling.

Is this how I would do it?

That's how I would see it. But why are you doing two separate dry hop additions?

 

[mtnagel]

Recipe calls for it. It's the Wookey Jack clone on here. I've seen a bunch of recipes call for two - Heady clone, Enjoy by clone.

 

[TAK]

That's how I would see it. But why are you doing two separate dry hop additions?

There are benefits to two dry hop editions, especially if your dry hopping in large amounts. Say you're dry hopping with 4oz. You'll probably get more intense and more complex dry hop character if you do 2oz and then another 2oz, rather than 4oz all at the same time.

This is a good listen: http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/982

 

[JuanMoore]

FWIW teflon pipe thread tape works well to hang the bag as well.

 

[TAK]

Tefflon tape is a good idea too. Whether you're using floss, fishing line, or teff tape, what's the best way to sanitize?

For the bag, I like to boil. There's so many nooks and crannies, I don't trust StarSan alone. Are any of the lines above not suitable for boiling?

 

[mtnagel]

Unflavored dental floss is pretty inert. I dip mine in starsan solution and don't give it another thought.

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

I just spray everything with Star san and am done with it. The way I see it, the beer is fermented and the alcohol should kill anything that might be on my hop sock or dental floss!