Keg Dry Hopping & Carbonating?

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by Jeffries55, May 22, 2014.

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  1. Jeffries55

    Jeffries55 Initiate (0) Sep 5, 2013 New York

    I'm planning on brewing a Citra/Mosaic IPA, and after primary fermentation (which will be ~3-4 days), cold-crashing it for a day and racking it to a keg and double-dry hopping. My question is, when I rack it to the keg, I planned on adding my first dry-hop (4 days), sealing it up, and turning the CO2 on to ~5 psi, then relieving the pressure and removing the first dry-hop and adding the second, also putting it on pressure. Is there anything wrong with this technique, or should I just go ahead and turn it up to ~12? Keep in mind it will be ~68°. Not really sure if there is an advantage or disadvantage, but my thought was flushing it with CO2 would remove oxygen that's introduced while the lid is off.

    I'd like to hear what your methods are, and if this seems like a good strategy!
     
    #1 Jeffries55, May 22, 2014
  2. mikehartigan

    mikehartigan Maven (1,421) Apr 9, 2007 Illinois

    You never want to let the beer sit in a keg without purging the headspace with CO2, so what you are proposing is a necessary step. You also need some pressure in there to hold the seal. 5psi is probably not enough, though, since you'll end up with nearly zero pressure after a few days as the beer absorbs the gas. At 68F, I would just go ahead and leave the gas hooked up at 30psi (about 2.5 vols CO2) and carbonate it at the same time.
     
    #2 mikehartigan, May 22, 2014
  3. jlordi12

    jlordi12 Pooh-Bah (1,856) Jun 8, 2011 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah

    I would dryhop it once in your fermenter , rack. and keghop it for the duration for the second charge. My guess is that when you release the pressure after the first keg hop you are going to drive over a lot of the aroma you worked hard to get.
     
    #3 jlordi12, May 22, 2014
    Jeffries55 and jbakajust1 like this.
  4. jbakajust1

    jbakajust1 Pooh-Bah (2,552) Aug 25, 2009 Oregon
    Pooh-Bah

    I carbonate at room temp while dry hopping on all my DH beers. Give it a few days at 20psi warm and then put in the fridge at 12psi. Just make sure you are careful when pulling the hops from the keg as the beer volume will drop which will create a vacuum for the O2 to enter and the beer that is squeezed from the hops as you pull the saturated sack through the opening could case a lot of splashing. This is the main reason I leave my hops in the keg til it kicks.
     
    #4 jbakajust1, May 22, 2014
  5. soheadyithurts

    soheadyithurts Zealot (551) Jan 4, 2013 Massachusetts

    I'm trying to plan out the best way to double dry hop a Conan IPA I have fermenting. Usually I dry hop once in the fermenter towards the end of fermentation but I want to keep the cake relatively clean for a 2nd batch with Conan. The plan is to drop a weighted hop sock in the keg at two different time 4 days apart from each other while the keg is sealed but not hooked up to gas.
     
    #5 soheadyithurts, May 22, 2014
  6. Jeffries55

    Jeffries55 Initiate (0) Sep 5, 2013 New York

    You bring up a good point, I think it's inevitable unless you dry-hop without any CO2 (in the keg), or as you suggested, do the first one in the primary and then add the second dry hop after kegging.... which brings me to jbakajust1:

    It seems like the best course of action would be to dry-hop in the primary, cold-crash, rack to keg & add second dry hop and leave it in until the keg kicks... I know I've been reading here and elsewhere (HBT) that most people don't get any noticeable grassy flavors leaving the DH in the keg for 30+ days, might be the most reasonable method so I don't lose any aroma... I should mention I'm using pellets in a muslin bag, so wouldn't there be a chance this will negate the affects of cold crashing?

    I see myself now circling back around to dry hopping in the primary and going to a secondary.. then kegging. Any thoughts on the dry hops left in the keg affecting clarity?
     
    #6 Jeffries55, May 22, 2014
  7. jbakajust1

    jbakajust1 Pooh-Bah (2,552) Aug 25, 2009 Oregon
    Pooh-Bah

    I only have issues on the first couple pints and the last couple pints. In between no difference from any other dry hopped beer. Hazy, but only get hop particles on the first and last few pours.
     
    #7 jbakajust1, May 22, 2014
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  8. Jeffries55

    Jeffries55 Initiate (0) Sep 5, 2013 New York

    Which seems pretty in line with how my last two IPA's turned out, cold crashing before kegging.... first pint or two was hazy but somewhere in the middle until the very last pint they were this clear.

    I believe this was the 2nd to last pint of my session IPA (dry hopped in primary, cold crashed and kegged):
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    And one of the first pours of my galaxy IPA:

    [​IMG]
     
    #8 Jeffries55, May 22, 2014
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  9. Jesse14

    Jesse14 Initiate (0) Jul 21, 2011 Massachusetts

    I've been struggling with the best process to follow for dry hopping as well. Seems like a lot of variation in opinions. I planned on fermenting it fully. Cold crashing then racking to a purged keg with a fining agent and my first dry hop. The transfer would be out of a spigot at the bottom of the bucket fermentor. If I try to do my first dry hop in the fermentor wouldn't I be introducing O2 when I take off the lid and add the hops? Just wondering which step I described sounds the best to reduce O2.

    My second step would be to rack to my serving keg which would have a second dose of hops that will stay in until kicked. The transfer would be by pushing with CO2. My concern is a plugged dip tube in the first keg from the fining agent sludge. I've never done any of these steps before so any suggested improvements would be appreciated.
     
    #9 Jesse14, May 22, 2014
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