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Question on keg hopping

Northern Brewer General
#1

My latest heady clone came out great. Really juicy, like the real beer, but the aroma was lacking a bit. I added 1.5oz of columbus and 1oz of amarillo to the keg Saturday night (after having a couple…in a muslin bag w/ sanitized shot glass for weight), and by last night, it was spot. the 4#@!. on. Amazing pine/tropical ester/pink grapefruit aroma in your face, then the same awesome flavor.

I read in a thesis that I posted somewhere on here that the aroma from dry hopping is actually done in ONE DAY! This certainly seems to be the case here, but I was wondering if there may be any benefit to leaving it longer…

Just wondering on opinions as to whether I should leave the bag in or use a sanitized mash paddle to grab it and try to keep it as is since the flavor and aroma are right where I want them. I feel like if i pull the bag, it might fade quickly.

#2

I always leave the hops in the keg until the beer is gone.

#3

I usually leave them in for the duration of the keg as well (3-8 weeks) but sometimes I hang the bag by a piece of dentil floss and tie it to the keg lid, letting it hang in the vertical center of the keg. No big difference as the keg is very well dry hopped by the time the keg is below the hop bag. Therefore, I say leave it for the duration. PS: I have had a few kegs where the muslin bag clogged the opening to the dip tube so be aware of that if your flow slows to a trickle.

#4

Leave it, it won’t hurt anything unless it clogs the pickup tube like MullerBrau is warning about. I’ll suspend my muslin bag with enough Teflon tape to let it hang halfway in the keg, no problems at all.

#5

do you guys secure the other end of the floss to something inside the keg? I tried using floss one time, but tried to just run it through the lid, and couldn’t get a good seal with the dental floss coming through the lid/o-ring.

#6

I use monofilament fishing line and tie it to the diptube.

#7

That’s why I use Teflon tape. Just lay one end flat past the lid o-ring, and it won’t cause a leak.

#8

I loop it around the pressure relief valve but the dip tube is a great idea too.

#9

Man I wish there was some way I could post a pint of this beer on here to share. So flipping good (and we didn’t mess with our water. Not even gypsum (per another thread on this beer)).

#10

That was the one with really low sulfate level? Like 4ppm? Maybe another homebrew myth bites the dust. My most recent IPA was 150ish as opposed to the 300 in the other profile I was using. I like the lower sulfate one better. Not sure I can get it down much more without using more acid to lower pH.

#11

[quote=“Pietro”]Man I wish there was some way I could post a pint of this beer on here to share. So flipping good (and we didn’t mess with our water. Not even gypsum (per another thread on this beer)).[/quote]Isn’t there an app for that?

#12

[quote=“dannyboy58”]
That was the one with really low sulfate level? Like 4ppm? Maybe another homebrew myth bites the dust. My most recent IPA was 150ish as opposed to the 300 in the other profile I was using. I like the lower sulfate one better. Not sure I can get it down much more without using more acid to lower pH.[/quote]

Sorry, to be clear, I did add gypsum post fermentation, dissolved, to the keg, so that likely bumped the sulfates in the finished beer (by Bru’n water, it should be around 150ppm). Our water didn’t have a particularly high pH or alkalinity IIRC, so in all likelihood, our mash pH was where it should be (granted, by dumb luck).

I don’t think its a myth at all. To Mr. Brungard’s points, sulfates add a dry/crispness that can enhance the perception of hop compounds. I really see what he means tasting this finished beer with and without the gypsum addition. It went from a rounded, softer flavor to a more structured, aggressive overall flavor profile. Both were good, but I prefer w/ the gypsum addition, I guess its just what you are going for. Same would go for something like a pils. A Bo pils can be somewhat gentler/more rounded than say a German pils, which will be very aggressive and blocky.

Shaun Hill talks vaguely about one of the ratios (maybe CaCl:CaSO4?) being more key than actual levels of either. More mindf$%ks from our friends in Vermont :mrgreen:

#13

That was the one with really low sulfate level? Like 4ppm? Maybe another homebrew myth bites the dust. My most recent IPA was 150ish as opposed to the 300 in the other profile I was using. I like the lower sulfate one better. Not sure I can get it down much more without using more acid to lower pH.[/quote]

Nah, it’s not a myth, just a question of personal taste. Personally I prefer the results with a 250-300 ppm sulfate level.

#14

Sorry to jump in .I put just a little weight to keep the bag just under the surface. Do you think there is any benefit to weighting it more? I was worried about pulling the beer through the bag on the bottom.

#15

I’ve tried it with and without weights and it made no difference. I stopped using them years ago. It seems that most people who use them have never tried not using them!

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