Kegging NEIPA recommendations

• If you're using compressed CO2 to carbonate, that's force carbonation. For a very hoppy beer, I set pressure to 40 psi for 1-2 days, then lower to serving pressure. Usually fully carbed in a week.
• I don't cold crash hoppy beers because the suckback can cause oxidation. I just "cold crash" in the serving keg.
• I've never keg hopped and have always felt my aroma and flavor were great. Some people actually bag the hops and add them to the serving keg. Your call, but I'd try it without first, and adjust accordingly in the future.

 

No problem, I'm only being technical, because there actually is an alternative to force carbonating kegs: natural carbonation. Same process as bottle conditioning, but in a keg at room temperature.

I should note that, obviously, the beer needs to be cold (I do 38°) for any force carbonation method. I believe the version I described is referred to as "burst carbonation". Your method is called "shake", and the slow and steady method is "set & forget." All but set & forget have the potential to overcarbonate your beer, so beware.

 

Your beer needs time to condition. People have take the whole “they need to be fresh” aspect way too far. Your beer will taste/smell better and probably last longer if you use the slow and low method. If you want it carbed a little faster drop the temp to 35 from 39. The best commercial examples of the style are 18-24 days minimum from brew day to canning. As long as you manage your O2 pickup you can have awesome punchy hoppy goodness for months in a keg.

 

Agreed. I find my hoppy beers to be best 2-6 weeks after being kegged.

I always thought a lot of commercial NEIPAs tasted a bit "green". I just tasted my latest attempt at 3 weeks old, and I don't usually tap the keg until week 4. For the first time, my homebrew tasted like a commercial NEIPA, in a bad way. I'll be giving it some more time before I really get into it.

 

I brew NE IPA's quite often... Even two or three months later (yes, they last that long!) they are as still as light in color and nearly as hoppy as when tapped with aroma/flavor. Which means I am preventing oxidation quite well, even with my "old school" buckets.

My process:

When I add my two dry hops, I purge the bucket headspace with CO2. When I do my second and final dry hopping at FG, I purge and then place positive pressure via 2-3psi (just showing on gage) through the lid of the bucket just using a 3-piece airlock and tubing from the regulator.

Then I'll cold crash down to 34F or so, keeping that CO2 pressurizing the headspace. Eliminates O2 suckback. Any excessive pressure, if any, will just escape around the bucket lid seal. Usually just enough pressure builds up to hold just fine with no leaking, so I have noticed no wasted CO2.

Once crashed, I will rack via gravity (spigot on fermenting bucket) into purged keg. Then purge a few times once filled before setting to 30psi for 24-36hrs and then switching to my final serving/carb pressure. I don't purge off the additional pressure at the end of the 24-36hrs either. Just close off the regulator, reset the pressure and open the shutoff again. I'll usually tap these at about day three or four, once kegged. But a week or so tends to be when it is fully carbed and the head and all that improves further. But perfectly fine at day 3! Flavor improves for weeks after. My current DIPA is on week 5 and better than ever.

Has been working awesome for me, at least! I do the same process for my lagers and any other beer, really. Never had any darkening or severe drop off in hop aroma/flavor.

 

I’ve done a lot of researching on this recently and this will be the method i will be trying in a few weeks

Transfer to serving keg with 5 gravity points remaining (determined by forced fermentation) and dry hop in the keg at that point. Seal serving keg lid with 5 PSI. Bring fermentation chamber up room temp and allow Co2 produced from reaching FG to scrub picked up oxygen. With a Spunding valve set to 30 PSI, naturally carbonate. When the valve stops moving fermentation is done. Put keg into fridge where PSI should roughly drops to serving pressure. Connect up co2 at serving pressure and leave for a couple of days. In practice by never opening the PRV after dry hopping all that aroma should still be in the keg with no oxygen to spoil.

Leaving plenty of headspace. I also plan to run the blow off from the fermenter to the liquid out post on my serving keg - purging the serving keg of oxygen ready for dry hopping without wasting CO2 from the tank.

 

I've always used the set it and forget it method. Set at serving psi. Generally well carbonated in 2-3 weeks. Maybe a dry hopped IPA, where you are intent on freshest flavor, is where you want to do the the quicker carb method. I recommend purging your keg well, before the shake, to reduced oxygenation.

 

Heh, that sounds familiar!

 

Is that similar to your process?
Do you notice a difference carbonating naturally after dry hopping?

The last few times I’ve tried to rush things by carbing at 30-40 PSI for 1-2 days then reducing to serving pressure I’ve felt like half my aroma is escaping out the PRV with the excess pressure

 

Its the process I have followed and preached about on my blog for the last few years!

 

Since we're being technical , the beer doesn't need to be cold to force carbonate. You can do it just as easily at room temperature as you can at 38F. Simply set the pressure to the correct setting for the temperature according to whatever chart you're using. The result will be virtually identical.

I should also point out that, with natural carbonation, you'll need to seal the keg with CO2. That's the reason it's generally recommended to use a bit less priming sugar when doing it this way, though the self-correcting nature of kegging is very forgiving, with respect to carbonation.

 

Of course you're right. I only mentioned that the beer needed to be cold in reference to my method, which I explained earlier, but forgot to mention what temperature I use.

Also, good point about the need to seal the keg with CO2 even when naturally carbonating.

 

Cool, have you got a link, I wouldn’t mind reading more. Though may have stumbled across it already.

 

From your post, it looks like you quoted it!


http://www.lowoxygenbrewing.com/

 

And to be even MORE technical, and less oxidative, you move that beer to the serving vessel with extract remaining allowing the keg to carbonate itself.

 

Wow, nice site. Just had a quick glance. A lot to digest and not just on the post-fermentation side.

A lot of my notes came from this website:
http://scottjanish.com/
Some good info on the NEIPA style. Techniques on dry hopping in the keg/ maximising hop flavour/ recipes/ salt additions to get that soft bitterness/ mouthfeel ect.

 

Method that has never failed me:
1. Fill under pressure into a purged and pressurized keg.
2. Set regulator for serving pressure and put liquid disconnect on the gas line.
3. Attached to liquid side, crack co2 and let co2 bubble through liquid for 1-2 days.
4. Serve.