How do I dry hop a keg?

A lot of us use floss tied to the outside somewhere (like the rubber keg handle for instance), and it runs under the lid O-ring. And use more weight than you think you'll need, especially if using 'leaf' hops. (Stainless steel or marbles or whatever.)

 

i was messing around with muslin bags, floss and marbles for weight...after playing for a bit i said screw it and dropped the hops in the keg. 3 oz. of citra right in and not one problem. its probably best to use a bag but idont know that i ever will.

 

No problems with the hops clogging up the dip tube? I know thats a major concern if you use pellet hops. I use the floss method mentioned by Vikeman... I use a thicker than normal shot glass to weigh it down.

 

nope, i was concerned about it, buti wanted to see how realistic it was. i didnt have any clogging in the tube and afterwards i took the fittings apart and didnt have any clogs anywhere else either. honestly, its not the safest way to go but i have a hard time not doing something when told not to.

i think it would be wise to place a filter over the end of the di tube to keep it from clogging, but i have no data to support it.

 

Next question in the same vein, did you wind up getting a lot of hop particles in the beers you pulled from the keg? im drinking a hefeweizen now that had 2oz of hops total (zero dry hop) in it and i didnt use a bag during the boil and get hop particles coming up from my keg... not cool

 

yes i did get hop particles coming through. in fact as a DIPA, it was completely out of style appearance wise. i dont get too caught up on appearance if i'm just enjoying it with friends though.

 

I just tried my first dry-hop in the keg. Put 1.5 oz I pellet hops in a small paint strainer bag with a spare SS fitting for weight, tied it with some dental floss and hung it midway down in the keg. The other end of the dental floss just comes out the top under the large o-ring. Tastes great but definitely not as clear as I would like. Probably going to go back to the dry-hop in secondary and transfer to keg.

 

I have a 3" Stainless Tea Ball that I got from and Asian market for $2 or $3 or you can get it from Northern Brewer for $5.

Only downside is that you should probably only put .5oz-1oz of pellet hops in it otherwise they just turn into a solid ball of hops that probably are not utilized to the max. Just sanitize it when you are sanitizing everything for kegging, add hops and dump it in.

As for hops not clogging the dip tube for jthahn I think you got extremely lucky. Hops in an IPA that was dryhopped transferred during the siphoning to the keg have clogged my dip tube in the past. I had to burp the pressure, disassemble, run water through the dip tube, sanitize it and reassemble about 4 times to be able to dispense beer. So just dumping hops in the keg without anything and not clogging it was quite lucky.

 

I also think you got lucky, and its only a matter of time before you see the errors of your way.

 

I have never had dry hopped keg before.

Bag, floss, marbles...go for it. Otherwise, just throw the bag in and leave it.

 

Here's how I do it.

 

They will sink eventually. I don't add any weights to mine FWIW.

 

I don't know if it has to be satin floss. That's the kind I buy anyway so that's what I used. I've also heard of using mono-filament line.

As for weight. I just put a sanitized ss spoon in there. Just make sure you don't use the decorated slotted spoon your wife wanted to use for the vegetables when your parents came over for dinner.

 

I was wondering the same thing... I assume you don't want the minty-flavored floss?

 

I also use one of these. Never had an issue with it.

 

What floss did you use? Was it flavorless?

 

I just use the flavorless satin floss. Oral-b brand that I get free from the dentist every 6 months.

 

Same brand/style I use. No leaks yet.