Cold crash then dry hop in keg?

I have had my Kama citra sitting in the primary now for almost 3 weeks. I wanted to leave it longer than my typical 2 weeks to see if it made a difference in taste and gravity which I will measure again later today.

If my spice ball arrives today ( thanks for that suggestion Sneezles ), I was thinking of doing my dry hopping in the keg.

Would it help at all to cold crash for a day or two before racking to the keg ? I am curious if it would help clarify a bit , but then again I am going to put 2 oz of hop pellets in for dry hopping so that will have an effect.

What would you guys do? I have an all grain Irish red waiting to be brewed so I would like to free up my primary. I guess I could put it in a secondary and dry hop in a bag for a week. I’m not in a huge hurry, but all I have left is Belgian tripel and it don’t take many of those before my evening is done…

Thanks for any advice !

Tom

I keg and dry hop for 5 days at room temperature then refrigerate and put on gas. In the past I’ve moved kegs straight to the fridge and put on gas while dry hopping. I feel like the aroma is better and lasts longer if DH’d at room temp prior to chilling.

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I’m going to try that

That sounds like a good plan, thanks. When you put it in the keg do you put enough gas in to purge out the air and seal ?

I bag the hops and drop them in then seal the keg up and bleed off a few times in hopes of getting as much O2 out as possible.

:beers:
Rad

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Got it , thanks!

My usual MO is similar to Rad’s. A few times recently I’ve racked closed through a liquid QD to a purged keg. I’ve also used the stainless dry hopper a few times recently. I feel like the beers clear quicker with paint strainer bags and I’m not convinced that I get any advantage to the dry hopper other than I can drop it in and not worry about it stopping up the dip tube. Unless you want to count the “juicy” appearance of hop material in the glass…

Mr. T, you could cold crash… rack… then let it come back to room temp for the tea ball should you desire… The cold crash helps to settle out more of the yeast and other stuff that clouds your brew… I’ve done warm dry hop and cold, and couldn’t tell a difference … Maybe my palate isn’t working as well as others? Sneezles61

Well I did an abbreviated version. Cold crashed half a day, spice ball arrived …and I was way off as it’s much too big. Put my hops in the muslin bag and tried to push the air out with my sanitized spoon , pushed it down a few times and left it in there. Purged out the air with gas for a while, cycling every couple of minutes.
I was looking around for some safe and sanitary weights to add to the bag but didn’t see anything and read other people’s horror stories about choosing the wrong materials so… I decided to do the " not the best " solution and let it sit.
So I will let it sit at basement temp for 5 days ( 66 deg or so) and then pop it in the freezer…". Or as I think about it my infamous kegerator should be here in a few days so I can put it in that.

Going to brew my Irish red tomorrow I think as it is supposed to get only to 71 here and mostly cloudy. Good brewing conditions for me. And I will search again for the perfect spice ball. I blew that size estimate.

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Just seems to me like cold crashing a beer prior to going to the keg is duplicating effort. It’s going to settle when you get it in the fridge so why not have it on gas and maybe even start drinking it while it’s clearing? Having said that if you have the space to cold condition it and you’re not in a hurry to serve it…why not. With my setup it’s easier to condition in a keg than in a fermenter.

Ya I was thinking it would help me not suck up so much stuff if I cold crashed, but this batch I started with a slightly larger boil and I did not make the mistake of trying to squeeze every last bit out of the primary. I got a full 5 gal ( left some space for the hop bag and a good head of gas). So I think this batch may be a bit cleaner than my first.
I will now figure out my dry hop in the keg process for next time. I guess I may not get optimal results letting the bag just sit on top.

I always cold crash before I keg to leave the stuff behind. Then the keg just sits until I have room in one of my cold chambers then I open it toss in the the hops put it the chamber after its cold turn on the gas. But after what you said about the warm hops maybe toss it in after I rack then another dose when I chill.

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When I use bags I put something like a small stainless fitting in the bag to weigh it down. I used to use plain thin dental floss to tie the bag and keep it from sinking to the bottom but I kept getting gas leaks so I stopped that practice.

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I bought some thick SS washers to weigh the bag. I tried a couple of times to use fishing line or flosshrough the lid and too got leaks, even after using lube.

I now use a couple of dry hop filters as I find they don’t interfere with the liquid out as much (clog).

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Maybe I will stop at Home depot tommorow AM and see what I can find. Is it ok for me to take the bag out at this point and put my sinkers in? (assuming I sanitize everything of course).
Also, do you guys just let the bag sit on the bottom? I did not see anything where I could tie it off and hold it mid way… but then I would need to keep checking it as the beer is consumed which does not sound like a good idea.
I am using hop pellets if that makes any difference.

Thanks

Tom

Well being in Boston… Isn’t there a tea store? Somewhere? I’m sure it didn’t all end up in the drink, did it? Or, have I hit a very tender spot? :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: Tea ball about the size of a tennis ball… Buy a few extra… so simple… Sneezles61

Do they sink on their own being stainless steel, or do they still need a little help from a washer? Do you take the chain off? Have you tried using them during the boil? I was wondering if you could fill them with hops and hang them off the edge of the BK with that chain and hook?

My spice ball will sink by itself when using pellet hops. For weight in a bag go to the dollar store and buy a bag of marbles. Now days I would trust glass over the Chinese stainless from the hardware store since I have seen it rust.

Although I also just put the keg in my kegorator and let it clear cold crashing works better if you chill close to freezing. Then at serving temp you won’t get chill haze.

I ditched the chain… I’ve never tried it in the brew kettle. I do use a basket from my first BIAB setup for the hops in the BK… Its so simple to use a tea ball… Even our host should have them… Sneezles61

+1 to that sentiment. The only batch I ever dumped down the drain was because I used “Stainless Steel” nuts as weights. In the week of dry-hopping they turned completely black, and made the beer taste like metal. I wouldn’t trust anything is stainless steel unless it was actually made to be used for food prep. (like a tea ball)