Hi everyone,
I have a batch of 3-Heart… uh, Dead Ringer that will be racked to a carboy tonight or tomorrow. It just occurred to me that if I dry hop it a 5-7 days before kegging might cause some problems with clogging the lines or outflow valve. I had thought about putting the hop pellets in a mesh tea ball and letting it float in the keg (the tea-ball I have is too big to get into a carboy). Any advice before I royally screw something up here?
Thanks!
What I have started doing for dry hopping recently is to rack to a keg and then drop dry hops in a loosely tied muslin bag into the keg for the duration of the dry hop. Then I push it with CO2 to a fresh keg. it has worked out really nicely the past three batches I have tried it on.
:cheers:
Rad
My last couple IPAs were dry hopped in the keg. I let them ferment out 2-3 weeks or stable SG, then rack to the keg with hops in a 1 gallon paint strainer bag. Put on the gas and begin drinking when carbonated. Within two weeks or so they’re usually pretty clear with most hop sediment having settled to the bottom of the keg.
Lazy man’s DH. :cheers:
[quote=“dannyboy58”]My last couple IPAs were dry hopped in the keg. I let them ferment out 2-3 weeks or stable SG, then rack to the keg with hops in a 1 gallon paint strainer bag. Put on the gas and begin drinking when carbonated. Within two weeks or so they’re usually pretty clear with most hop sediment having settled to the bottom of the keg.
Lazy man’s DH. :cheers: [/quote]
I might do what Radagast does since I have 2 kegs, but I have to ask - aren’t you pulling up sediment into the dip tube and into the valve? I’m just thinking that the end of the dip tube is at the lowest point in the keg, and that’s were all the gunk will settle. (and I would love to not have to transfer beer around if I can get away with it, being lazy as well)
Thanks to both of you for your advice!
[quote=“estimac”][quote=“dannyboy58”]My last couple IPAs were dry hopped in the keg. I let them ferment out 2-3 weeks or stable SG, then rack to the keg with hops in a 1 gallon paint strainer bag. Put on the gas and begin drinking when carbonated. Within two weeks or so they’re usually pretty clear with most hop sediment having settled to the bottom of the keg.
Lazy man’s DH. :cheers: [/quote]
I might do what Radagast does since I have 2 kegs, but I have to ask - aren’t you pulling up sediment into the dip tube and into the valve? I’m just thinking that the end of the dip tube is at the lowest point in the keg, and that’s were all the gunk will settle. (and I would love to not have to transfer beer around if I can get away with it, being lazy as well)
Thanks to both of you for your advice![/quote]
First pint or so out of a keg pulls out some sediment regardless of whether it’s DHed or not. After that no. I have six kegs, four for serving and 2 for lagering/conditioning/staging but they tend to all be full at any given time.
I get why Rad likes the transfer, and it works for him. I just don’t feel it’s necessary for me. I also don’t tend to hop anything above 60-70 IBU. I brew an all centennial IPA like Bell’s 2 hearted ~65IBU pretty often and processed as I described above.
Try both methods and decide for yourself what works for you.
The first time I closed transferred was for my second attempt at Plinian Legacy to see if it made a difference on aroma through not allowing the beer to be exposed to oxygen at all after the dry hopping. I really liked the way that one turned out. Typically depending on the beer and the number of friends that come over, kegs last between 1-2 months. I am sure that I could leave the dry hops in that long but I’m a bit hesitant to try it. When I dry hopped in a carboy, the hop bag always floated at the top. The last batch I dry hopped (Lakefront Bridge Burner Clone) in the keg, I took the lid off to grab the bag after 10 days of dry hopping but it had sunk to the bottom of the keg. So I sealed it back up and closed transfered it to another staged clean keg. Then of course I went away for weekend after bottling off a few beers for some buds and came back to an empty CO2 bottle. :lol:
:cheers:
Rad
I leave the hops bag in for the duration. I do weight it with some small sanitized object like a line barb or something. I also tie it so that it’s suspended about halfway down the keg just so it won’t get around the bottom of the liquid dip tube and possible shut off the flow.
I use this for dry hopping in the keg and really like it. http://www.stainlessbrewing.com/Dry-Hop … p_155.html I am sure a bag would work as well but the stainless is super easy to clean and sinks on its own.
I’ve used the canisters flip has for a while, but I’ve not been completely happy with them at higher hop loads. less than 2.5 oz or so and they work fine, but above that not so much. just don’t feel there is enough exposure to the hops - they get pretty compacted inside the column.
recently I switched to using a SureScreen, dumping the pellets in the keg (yes pellets, despite the warnings), 7 days - agitating the keg every other day to resuspend the hops, then crash for 48 hours while hooked up to CO2 to minimize oxygen drawn in, then closed transfer to a fresh keg for serving.
[quote=“blatz”]I’ve used the canisters flip has for a while, but I’ve not been completely happy with them at higher hop loads. less than 2.5 oz or so and they work fine, but above that not so much. just don’t feel there is enough exposure to the hops - they get pretty compacted inside the column.
recently I switched to using a SureScreen, dumping the pellets in the keg (yes pellets, despite the warnings), 7 days - agitating the keg every other day to resuspend the hops, then crash for 48 hours while hooked up to CO2 to minimize oxygen drawn in, then closed transfer to a fresh keg for serving.[/quote]
In my experience, both of these are great methods for dry hopping in a keg. I prefer the stainless canister mainly for the convenience: Remove, dump and rinse vs. sanitize second keg, jump, clean first keg. I use whole hops pretty much exclusively. I have two of the canisters. The older one (no longer available) holds 4 oz easily. The newer one (available now) holds 3 oz.
I’ve recently acquired some 3 gal kegs and have decided to use them for making hoppy beers, since I have rarely been able to empty 5 gal of APA/IPA before they start to lose their mojo. Since the canisters won’t fit into the small kegs, looks like I’m back to jumping.
[quote=“blatz”]I’ve used the canisters flip has for a while, but I’ve not been completely happy with them at higher hop loads. less than 2.5 oz or so and they work fine, but above that not so much. just don’t feel there is enough exposure to the hops - they get pretty compacted inside the column.
recently I switched to using a SureScreen, dumping the pellets in the keg (yes pellets, despite the warnings), 7 days - agitating the keg every other day to resuspend the hops, then crash for 48 hours while hooked up to CO2 to minimize oxygen drawn in, then closed transfer to a fresh keg for serving.[/quote]
Sorry to dig up this old thread but I haven’t been able to find an answer elsewhere: I’m going to start dry hopping in kegs and am interested in this technique. I picked up a SureScreen, but I’m wondering if I should also shorten the dip tube (and if so, by how much). Blatz, I think you like pretty heavy dry hop amounts, and I’m concerned that a full-length dip tube might get clogged even with the screen…
[quote=“cowger”][quote=“blatz”]I’ve used the canisters flip has for a while, but I’ve not been completely happy with them at higher hop loads. less than 2.5 oz or so and they work fine, but above that not so much. just don’t feel there is enough exposure to the hops - they get pretty compacted inside the column.
recently I switched to using a SureScreen, dumping the pellets in the keg (yes pellets, despite the warnings), 7 days - agitating the keg every other day to resuspend the hops, then crash for 48 hours while hooked up to CO2 to minimize oxygen drawn in, then closed transfer to a fresh keg for serving.[/quote]
Sorry to dig up this old thread but I haven’t been able to find an answer elsewhere: I’m going to start dry hopping in kegs and am interested in this technique. I picked up a SureScreen, but I’m wondering if I should also shorten the dip tube (and if so, by how much). Blatz, I think you like pretty heavy dry hop amounts, and I’m concerned that a full-length dip tube might get clogged even with the screen…[/quote]
I’ve done this about a dozen times at least now - never had a clog and have never had more than a pint of liquid left amongst the pellets (which is about normal for a keg anyway) it’s the best method I think
Excellent, thank you! I’m reading from this that you keep your dip tubes full length.
Looking forward to trying this in about 10 days. 
[quote=“cowger”]
Excellent, thank you! I’m reading from this that you keep your dip tubes full length.
Looking forward to trying this in about 10 days. [/quote]
Yup no cut on the dip tube. I do bend the sure screen a bit into an L so about 1" is flat against the bottom of the keg
I did this forced transfer last night and thought I’d share a couple thoughts for anyone reading this thread in the future.
First, I did end up needing to cut about 3/16" off the end of my diptube. With the SureScreen on the bottom of the diptube, it prevented the diptube from inserting all the way, meaning that the o-ring couldn’t make a seal at the top of the keg. Not a biggie to fix.
Second, I thought about trying to bend the screen a bit as blatz suggested, but this seemed downright impossible to me. Maybe he’s a lot stronger than me, or maybe the product has changed a bit over the years, but the one I purchased is pretty heavy gauge stainless, and if I did manage to bend it, it seemed like it would just buckle. Again, no biggie.
In any case, the transfer went great – nice, clean beer flowed through the tube and all the gunk / spent yeast / spent hops stayed in the first keg. I’m sold on this technique and will be dry hopping in kegs from now on. I like that it frees up my fermenter sooner and that I could even try two different dry hopping batches after brewing a larger (8-10 gallon) batch. :cheers:
Nice!! I am glad it worked out for you.
Your screen looks a bit more rigid than mine so I’d say it looks like the product has changed.
[quote=“blatz”]Nice!! I am glad it worked out for you.
Your screen looks a bit more rigid than mine so I’d say it looks like the product has changed.[/quote]
Cool, thanks for confirming that and for the help and suggestions!
I’m actually going in the other direction on dry hopping. I just brewed 10 gals of IPA and am fermenting in buckest specifically so I can dry hop in there after fermentation is finished and prior to racking into kegs. I feel like I got better aroma dry hopping at room temperature so i’m just going to do it in the buckets.
Does this mean you don’t leave in for the duration of the keg anymore? (sorry, still not completely sure on the quoting previous posts thing, but 11 posts up you say you leave it in for duration so I wanted to double check 
) I’ve definitely noticed better aroma dry hopping at room temperature but I’ve had better luck maintaining the aroma longer if I leave the final dry hop bagged in the keg for the duration after the period of room temp dry hopping. I’d be interested to hear your results.
Rad
Last IPA I did as stated above. DH’d in the keg and left hops for duration. I just didn’t feel like it had the aroma I’ve had with earlier IPAs before I started DHing in the keg.
My MO was to keg, dry hop in a bag and immediately put on co2 at lagering temps. I think the gas is beneficial to DHing but the cold temps seem to inhibit the kind of aroma I want from the DH.
So for this batch I thought I’d DH in the primary bucket after fermentation for 5 days like I used to do. Then keg. You have me second guessing myself about maybe adding more hops to the keg but I could do that at any time if I want.
