# Dry Hop The A Keg With Pellets ?



## Maheel (6/4/12)

cracked a keg last night and it's a little bland as i did not dry hop it ..... my bad 

anyway if i dry hop the keg with some cascade or northern brewer *pellets* for a few days what sort of "bag" should i use 

would a pool skimmer box filter bag work ? (some sort of nylon stuff)

i am not drinking this keg just yet, might get to it late in the weekend so escaping hop material will get to settle a little 

20 grams for 5 days sound OK ? it's the pellets that have me worried... 

thanks


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## pk.sax (6/4/12)

Hop tea?


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## Maheel (6/4/12)

practicalfool said:


> Hop tea?



hot tea into cold carbed keg ? is that an issue ?

what sort of liquid to grams in the tea would i be wanting (19L keg) ?


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## pk.sax (6/4/12)

F'd if I knew the answer to that. just seems a logical solution to hop powder.
One pellet a pint is probably double what is required. So 20ish pellets made into a tea? Add some for insurance


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## Maheel (6/4/12)

lol I dont want a face full of of exploding beer pouring hot hop tea into the cold keg 

reckon i will tea bag it....

Damn Ross shutting the shop for easter... could have bought a hop ball http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=901

been reading old threads and seems both ways will work


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## Nick JD (6/4/12)

I soak a 10cm square of swiss voil and a bit of string in starsan for a few minutes then add my hop pellets and tie it up. Chuck it in.


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## QldKev (6/4/12)

Maheel said:


> hot tea into cold carbed keg ? is that an issue ?
> 
> what sort of liquid to grams in the tea would i be wanting (19L keg) ?




My procedure for my 500ml plunger.

Dump required amount of pellets in it, 
pour in 1/4 to 1/3 full of boiling water
swirl to mix the hops into solution (don't spend too long)
add cold tap water until 1/2 to 2/3 full to cool and stop too much auroma escaping
let settle for a short while ( just enough to allow you to plunge) 
plunge
dump in keg

If you are planning on adding hops this way, allow the extra water volume you are adding back into the malt ratio of the original recipe. 



Otherwise just make a tea bag from an offcut of swiss viole.


QldKev


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## pk.sax (6/4/12)

Maheel said:


> reckon i will tea bag it.....


Ewwwwww teabagger

I've used a large tea ball from T2 to dry hop in the fermenter before. I'm sure that it's the same as a large tea ball from anywhere!


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## sponge (6/4/12)

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Diam-5cm-Creati...=item416437198e


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## Tony (6/4/12)

I dropped about 20g of Goldings flowers in a keg of IPA not long ago. I put some nylon filter cloth (like the stuff hop socks are made from) loosly over the puckup at the bottom of the keg and held it on with a cable tie. 

Worked great!

I havnt tried pellets but when i knock out 20L of 1 zillion IBU American IIPA soon, it will be getting hop soup treatment in the keg


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## Bribie G (6/4/12)

I forgot to hop tea my latest Moby Wheat ( Whale Ale lookalike) - one of the features is fairly marked late hopping with NZ Cascade, so I'll be dry hopping this lot straight into the keg using Cascade Flowers, with the pickup tube onto a supermarket ss scrubby thing sitting in the well. 

In the UK they direct hop into casks through the spile hole (that's what hop plugs are for and why they are the size they are)





Edit: in the UK back in the early 70s when CAMRA was getting a go on, a pub in London had some special wooden casks made with plate glass ends so when the cask was on the counter they could shine a soft light through it and you could see the hop flowers floating in the crystal clear dark amber beer (forget which brewery) - looked like a stained glass window (or aquarium??) I remember seeing the colour photo in the Observer Sunday mag.... pure drool magic. :icon_drool2:


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## QldKev (6/4/12)

sponge said:


> http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Diam-5cm-Creati...=item416437198e



bit small 

These are a bit bigger

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Stainless-Steel...=item41635a4a06


but look like the ones Craftrewer used to sell, they don't seem to last all that long


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## Maheel (6/4/12)

QldKev said:


> If you are planning on adding hops this way, allow the extra water volume you are adding back into the malt ratio of the original recipe.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



unplanned  but it just needs a hit of something as it got to much mega swill nothingness about it 

i poured this cube onto a yeast cake from the last brew, i thought the residual hop pellets of the prior dry hop would give it something light but it's added very little i can taste... 

but now it's in the keg and been carbed up a week or so 

think the hop bag into the keg is the go for this one 

thanks for all the reply's


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## vykuza (6/4/12)

I use cut up stockings (new, unworn ones). One pair of hose or stockings will get you 4-6 dry hop and cube hop bags, just tie one end firmly and the other loosely (so you can get it undone when the hops expand). I just throw them in the fermenter when it's full of napisan getting cleaned and soak them in starsan when I'm about to use them. Never had a problem.


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## Hippy (6/4/12)

Tea infusion balls work awesome and they give it enough weight to sink to the bottom. Here is a selection I use which can be picked up from any kitchen store.


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## mwd (6/4/12)

If you go for a 'teaball' get the biggest you can find as hop pellets expand like crazy once dunked in liquid.


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## Bribie G (6/4/12)

I have one that 4* brought home from Vietnam, it's going strong after 3 years. Some of them have clasps that rust, however, which is why CB stopped stocking those.


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## Hippy (6/4/12)

Tropical_Brews said:


> If you go for a 'teaball' get the biggest you can find as hop pellets expand like crazy once dunked in liquid.



Yeh the one pictured on the left will hold over 30g of pellets allowing for expansion while the middle one will take about 10g, so I'll usually use 2 of those. The smallest one fits about 7g but will fit into the mouth of a cube so are handy for dry hopping into the cube as a no chill compensated late boil hop addition.


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## sponge (6/4/12)

QldKev said:


> bit small
> 
> These are a bit bigger
> 
> ...



Yea I bought a few 3" ones a few months ago and have keg hopped a couple of apa's which turned out quite nicely.

Didn't really go on a huge hunt to find the previous link, just whatever popped up first in the ebay search.

Either way, great little way to add some aroma to the keg. But as has been mentioned, definitely need to watch for swelling. only half fill the infuser....


Sponge


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## rich_4646 (6/4/12)

Nick JD said:


> I soak a 10cm square of swiss voil and a bit of string in starsan for a few minutes then add my hop pellets and tie it up. Chuck it in.



same....except i just boil for 5 mins.


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## winkle (6/4/12)

Hippy said:


> Tea infusion balls work awesome and they give it enough weight to sink to the bottom. Here is a selection I use which can be picked up from any kitchen store.View attachment 53554



Most 2 dollar shops have them


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## Lord Raja Goomba I (6/4/12)

Make your own teabag. Fill it with hops. Tie up (if you overfill yours like mine) and chuck 'er in.

I've had a mouth of disintegrated pellets. Not nice - don't chuck 'em in commando.

Goomba


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## Maheel (7/4/12)

i made up a voil bag and in it went 

1st i tried a bit of thin fishing line to tether it but the seal leaked...

after a couple of goes i just left it to float around and will fish it out later and did not bother with the tether


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## sim (7/4/12)

For the tether ive been using dental floss. its thin and flat enough that it does hold a seal, although the first time i tried it did seem a bit sus, so i try to avoid keeping the gas hooked up whilst dry hopping.


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## abide (7/4/12)

I use a large tea infuser and hook it to the outlet tube of the keg using a small bulldog clip. Works great and easy to remove when you have reached the target aroma..


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## QldKev (7/4/12)

I think it is TidalPete who throws the hops in a bag with a small s/s nut in it, and a plastic fishing float. 

The float keeps the bag afloat, but the small nut ensures the bag is in the beer and not floating on the top


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