I don’t weight my bags at all. I just toss em in and push em under a bit before sealing the keg. I’ve never had any issues.
Rad
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Ya, I will just leave mine as is in the keg. I purged out all the air and put a little gas pressure in. It is dry hopping for a few days at room temp, and every once in a while I give it a rock back and forth to make sure the hop pellets are releasing all they have. Weds I will toss it into the freezer and cold crash fora couple of days and carbonate. Hoping my kegerator arrives this week as I am not traveling for work and would be good timing to get it all set up and ready to pour…
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I have a couple kegs working that needed a boost. I bleed the gas soak a 1 gallon strainer bag in st
No issues with the bag clogging your liquid dip tube?
This has been my concern and one of the main reasons I went to the stainless dry hopper so I could stop tying off the bags.
Not had a clogged tube in the three years I’ve been kegging, I’ll take a bit of luck if that’s what it takes, but it’s worked no problems for me.
Rad
That’s good to know. I actually like the paint strainer bags better than the stainless dry hopper. The dry hopper allows more hop particulates into the beer making it a bit cloudy. I know that’s the current rage but I prefer my beers clear. I haven’t noticed any difference in hop presence between to two either.
I got a muslin bag sucked up once but not the 1 gallon paint strainer bags. 1 ounce per bag keeps them tight but not compact. To much loose fabric with the muslin bags
I have been dry hopping my Kama Citra in the keg since Friday at room temp (well 66 deg basement temp). Since then I have been reading various posts about using gelatin and I expect to get some tomorrow along with some or my next batch ingredients.
If I add the gelatin should I wait a while before cold crashing and applying gas or is it ok to add it and then toss the keg into the keezer ? I am just curious what affect it will have. Should I pull the muslin bag out if its still sitting on top…? I am assuming if the bag continually drops particles then the gelatin prob will not be so effective. I am going to pick up some marbles the next time I am in a store that has them. or something similar.
Thanks
Tom
I wouldn’t use gelatin in an IPA but if you do I would dry hop afterwards. I would prefer to let the hop partials settle on there own exactly why I don’t use weight
Thanks Brew Cat, I guess IPA’s and all the dry hops sort of go against using a clarifier. I never thought about that. I had ordered it mainly to use on my Irish Red Ale that is in the primary now. So maybe I will just stick with that. Makes things a bit simpler, just drop the keg in the freezer tomorrow and crank up the gas a bit to start the carbonation process.
Maybe I should wait and carb after I cold crash… I am wondering if I start carbing at 32 or 33 deg and then bring the temp up to serving temp (maybe 40) could I be setting myself up for over carbing? I am not in a huge rush I can certainly wait a few more day to start the carbing pressure.
Sounds like you are talking about lagering which I do for lagers mostly. I don’t lager IPA beer just cold crash prior to kegging then set it and forget it. It will clear on its own. If you put it a 32 you have to use less pressure so if you calculate it for 32 you won’t over carb but you will have to raise the psi when you raise the temperature
well I didn’t mean to imply I was lagering… 
. I just thought I would try to get clean beer pouring from the keg. Maybe I should just set the freezer temp at serving temp and put the gas on to the carb level I want until carbed, then drop the pressure for serving. I am guessing many of the ideas for clarifying may not really apply to IPA’s and maybe better performed on my upcoming irish red ale. some people seem to cold crash everything, but maybe just the primary before racking to a secondary or dry hopping.
I had such a sh$t show with my first keg (dead ringer) all because I had a bad regulator… pressure way higher than gauge indicated… I was shooting foam no matter what I did, probably also way over carbed the beer as well. This one should go much smoother I think.
Don’t put that nasty stuff in your beer.
Ya I don’t know, some people rave about it.
Maybe they haven’t seen where cows put their feet? haha Besides being kinda gross I just don’t see the need for it. I can sort of see bottlers using it for an advantage but I don’t think you need it if you keg.
I use irish moss or whirlfloc in the boil to help drop proteins when I chill the wort and rely on process and cold conditioning to produce clear beers. Anything you keg is getting cold conditioned unless you consume it in a week. So yea, you’re essentially lagering your ales. I drink “lagers” as early as two weeks and they’re pretty darn good. Sometimes I “cold condition” my IPAs for 6 weeks and dry hop them a second time in the keg before drinking, and they’re awesome, crystal clear and have great aroma and bitterness. It’s all about using the process to get your desired result. I think the idea of drinking IPAs “young” is blown out of proportion. Just time your dry hop to your consumption, do multiple dry hops…whatever produces the beer you like. Age improves beer, including IPAs, right @the_professor?
Most definitely. Age actually improves most beers.
I hardly consume any homebrews that haven’t goy at least 2 months age on them (and considerably longer for strong beers).
But it’s just personal choice and I’m in no hurry to push them out ,as most pro brewers are these days.
Thanks, I always see at the bottom of brew smith brewing steps " age for 30 days". Under what conditions should a beer be aged ? Assuming it’s in a keg, just sit at room temp , in the freezer with gas?
When I age my bigger beers (last year did Wootstout in March and Northy 12 in June) I kegged them, pressurized them, then they sat in my 65 degree basement for multiple months until I carbed and bottled them in early December. Then I drank/shared half of each and left a full case of each in a sealed up old case in the corner of my basement. I am looking forward to sampling them here late November early December to see how they’ve aged.
For what it’s worth, I’ve never used gelatin or cold crashed before dry hopping. I use 1/2 tablet whirfloc 5 mins before the end of the boil. Depending on how the current supply in the kegerator is, I transfer from primary to keg, then let it sit in the basement. Typical dry hop schedule is roughly a week so when I know a keg is getting low, I toss the dry hops in the new beer and let them continue to sit at room temp. If I get to the end of the dry hop schedule and the kegs aren’t kicked, I either pour a few too many beers that night or bottle the rest off and toss in fridge. Once both kegs in my kegerator are kicked, I put in the two fresh kegs and start carbing. My kegerator is set right around 38. I get crystal clear beer (aside from Off the Topper which is supposed to be hazy). I do dump the first pour from a new keg because that gets most of the settled sludge out.
Rad
Sounds like a good plan thanks! I do use Irish moss in the last 15 min of the boil but that is about it.
I have not yet ventured in to bottling from the keg, what do you use ? I have a batch of chinook in the primary that I planned to bottle to give half away.
