dry hopping practice/technique

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by ronobvious2, Nov 23, 2014.

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  1. ronobvious2

    ronobvious2 Initiate (0) Aug 24, 2010 Tennessee

    So yesterday I racked my all-Citra beer to a keg and loaded up a hop sack with 4oz of Citra. I set my regulator to 30lbs and purged the headspace about 5 times. No preaching needed on how much CO2 I'm wasting. :grinning: I've suspected and read about less-than spectacular extraction when using bags/filters, so late yesterday or this morning I thought about giving the keg a gentle swirl or whatever once or twice a day as a mechanism for getting hop goodness out of those pellets. Good idea? Anyone do something like this before and have a report?

    I'm letting the keg sit at room temp for the week during the dry hop. Last time I mashed the dry hop/cold crash/force carb into one cycle. I'm more patient this time, especially since I spent so much on this kit.
     
    #1 ronobvious2, Nov 23, 2014
  2. FATC1TY

    FATC1TY Pooh-Bah (2,564) Feb 12, 2012 Georgia
    Pooh-Bah

    I see no issue.

    I used to do the same thing, until I started racking under co2.

    I dryhop in the primary as fermentation is ending, crash it ever so slightly, but not enough or fast enough to suck back. Purge headspace before and after doing so.

    THen use co2 to push it in a closed system into the keg. If I want to add more hops, I purge the keg, and purge the dryhops in the sack IN the keg, before I transfer, then I never have to open the keg.
     
    #2 FATC1TY, Nov 23, 2014
  3. ronobvious2

    ronobvious2 Initiate (0) Aug 24, 2010 Tennessee

    Until I get the conical system going, I've been using BBs as fermentors and didn't know if I could safely use a CO2 racking method, plus I have the BB with the racking arm and spigot system, so I *did* hook up some thing tubing from the BB to the keg liquid-out post and just let whatever CO2 in the keg vent out. It worked well.

    What I want to do this time is have an empty keg and force-rack the beer from the dry hop keg over to the final keg. I want to get a spunding valve, but if I can't get one in time then just releasing the purge valve every few seconds should be enough to keep the beer transferring.
     
    #3 ronobvious2, Nov 23, 2014
  4. FATC1TY

    FATC1TY Pooh-Bah (2,564) Feb 12, 2012 Georgia
    Pooh-Bah

    You dont need but a couple pounds of pressure.. like 2psi.

    I use BB's, and have no issues transfering with co2 pressure for what it's worth.
     
    #4 FATC1TY, Nov 23, 2014
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  5. fuzzbalz

    fuzzbalz Pundit (953) Apr 13, 2002 Georgia

    I dry hop in the primary, then cold crash then an auto siphon to the keg through the liquid post, if I add hops to the keg I always add before purging it. I also as you guys know, don't use hop bags :grinning:. I'm going to be picking up a couple Speidel fermentors soon so I can stop using buckets, then I will be able to do a "closed system" to transfer. My need some advice on the best way to hook up the Co2 to a Speidel fermentor.
     
    #5 fuzzbalz, Nov 23, 2014
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  6. ronobvious2

    ronobvious2 Initiate (0) Aug 24, 2010 Tennessee

    So hops drop out nicely for you using a regular way like that? I can't remember the last time I did that.
     
    #6 ronobvious2, Nov 24, 2014
  7. fuzzbalz

    fuzzbalz Pundit (953) Apr 13, 2002 Georgia

    Yea, after cold crashing for about 3 days most of all hop material has dropped out. If any gets by into the kegs I don't sweat it, I've shorten the dip tubes on my kegs just a bit, and I use a SS mesh screen over the end of it to catch any of the keg dh material. The first pour is always a little murky, but no floaties.
     
    #7 fuzzbalz, Nov 24, 2014
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