Dry hopping - Leave hops in or remove?

There are many who believe dry hopping for more than a week can contribute "grassy" flavors. So far, this has not been my experience. I also dry hop in the keg - and I suspend the hop bag about half-way up. So if a keg lasts me a month, as many IPAs do - the hops are in contact with beer for two weeks.

I haven't experienced off flavors, but my experience is limited.

 

I also suspend my hops in the keg, but in a stainless steel mesh container. I attached a small stainless steel clamp to the inside of the lid and dental floss to that. The other end holds the container. Even with this, I got a lot of fine hop material in the bottom of the keg which I had to pour off. I plan on using whole leaf hops in the container the next time around - it will be a lot less messy.

Depending on how long it takes to finish off your keg, you can probably leave it in the keg for the whole time. If your keg will last for some time, you can always suspend the hops higher in the keg, so that the level of beer will be below the hops before the hops have been in contact with them for too long.

I also don't find that I get grassy flavors from the hops after dry hopping in the keg for several weeks (especially when your keg is at lagering temperature).

 

If you're using pellets, I suggest dry hopping in the primary. After 3 days, you won't be leaving much hop flavor behind.
I've found you really can just throw them in there as long as you put a muslin bag over your siphon when you transfer to keg or bottle.
Or if you want to avoid the mess, just put them in the sanitized muslin bag in the first place and throw that in. If it's one of those nylon bags, you might benefit from putting some marbles in there to keep it submerged.

 

I use pellet hops and leave them in the serving keg till it kicks. I don't put them in anything, but I do use a ss mesh screen over the dip tube. Never had any grassy off flavors, and sometimes it does take the beer an extra week to completely clear. I think there's not much benefit to transferring to a second keg unless you want a clearer beer quicker, or maybe just to throw more hops in, but be careful because it is possible to add to many dry hops.....know your equipment limits.

 

yes...which ever you like most

 

I use a large grain bag for pellets -- plenty of room for them to swim, and not enough gunk escapes to worry about. I've found that if I leave them in for more than three or four weeks, it starts to develop very objectionable grassy flavors. With four kegs in the kegerator, and as many as four more 'conditioning' while they wait for a keg to kick, more than three or four weeks is not at all unusual for me. Obviously, ymmv. Generally speaking, though, I dry hop only after the keg hits the chiller. I don't lose nearly as much flavor to age that way. At around ten days, I push the beer to another keg, leaving the hop bag behind.

As far as dry hopping in the keg versus primary, one of the understated bonuses of dry hopping in the keg is the pint you draw about 20 minutes after adding the hop pellets. The hit of hops is huuuuuge! I think this is caused by hop 'dust' settling around the dip tube, but that's just a guess. If that's the case, whole hops may not have the same kick.

 

I leave them in when I dry hop. I use a filter when I bottle so no solids go into the bottle.

 

I bought some small nylon mesh bags a while back off of AIHB on a whim. I was going to use them for bittering additions. I then decided to dryhop with them. I dry hop in the keg, and I tie the mesh bag full of hops (pellet) up with fishing line. I then tie it off to the outside of my keg, suspending the hops halfway ish down, that way I can avoid these impending doom comments about grassy beers. I've never had a beer turn out grassy, they must get lucky and get all of the dank hops.

 

I heavily dry hop in primary, no bag. Cold crash for 2-3 days and then keg, no additional hops. My beers are not short on aroma at all (pungent, actually) even after two months in the keg. I have found no need to add additional hops in the keg yet.