# Fermentasaurus - dry hopping under pressure



## Fleabag (1/6/18)

Hi all. Long time lurker, first time poster etc 


I’m still in my first 12 months of brewing, so still relatively fresh to it all. My main goal is to reduce the number of steps in the process as I’ve got 2 boys under 5 which, let’s say, can demand attention at any random interval. My setup is a Robobrew > fermentasaurus (in temp controlled fridge) > keg > mini keg. (Space is limited so no kegerator just for now) 

With that in mind I’m keen to keg naturally carbonated beer straight from the saurus, but I have been trying in vain to dry hop with the fermentasaurus while keeping it pressurised. 

I have tried adding 30g of pellets to the collection bottle, but they end up getting clogged in the bottle neck (see photo), so I tried crushing them and prefixing in some of the beer, and still no luck (2nd photo).

Does anyone have any tips on this? I’ve searched everywhere it feels but haven’t seen much. Someone on here was using magnets and hop socks inside which I’m keen to try, but I would love to hear anyone else’s experiences. Maybe I’m just doing it really wrong?


----------



## markp (1/6/18)

Yep I tried the collection bottle with the same results as you  so now I either put my hops in through the top at time of pitch or at high Krausen and that allows the fermenter to re pressurise naturally and chew up any oxygen let in when you lift the lid. 
Cheers.


----------



## Yuz (1/6/18)

If it's not pressurised, you can squeeze the collect bottle a little to get the brew moving through the valve.
The hops should raise up once the valve throat is cleared from trub.


----------



## Fleabag (1/6/18)

Yuz said:


> If it's not pressurised, you can squeeze the collect bottle a little to get the brew moving through the valve.
> The hops should raise up once the valve throat is cleared from trub.



Yeah, when there wasn’t pressure I haven’t had issues. I did just that and gave it a squeeze. 

I’ve even tried releasing pressure from the top to see if the difference helps but to no avail.


----------



## Fro-Daddy (1/6/18)

I've been thinking about this and was going to try something like a hop sock fixed to the top inside with a magnet, then move the magnet to release the pellets so no opening is necessary.
Thoughts?


----------



## Schikitar (1/6/18)

Fro-Daddy said:


> I've been thinking about this and was going to try something like a hop sock fixed to the top inside with a magnet, then move the magnet to release the pellets so no opening is necessary.
> Thoughts?


That's exactly what some others have done - my brother does the aggressive squeeze to get things moving in his which seems to always work with some persistence but the pre-suspended weighted hop sock is not a bad idea..


----------



## NealK (1/6/18)

I put the hops in the bottle then fill with HOT water. The hot water rises when the valve is opened and the hops mix through the fermenter.


----------



## Fleabag (1/6/18)

NealK said:


> I put the hops in the bottle then fill with HOT water. The hot water rises when the valve is opened and the hops mix through the fermenter.



Interesting. I had thought about this - do you give it some time for the hops to break up in the hot water first? My problem is not the hops rising, but that they block the neck when they do...

Do you boil it first? What sanitation do I need to worry about?


----------



## Sidney Harbour-Bridge (1/6/18)

I have done it this way;

Primary ferment with vented top.

Secondary ferment with dry hops under pressure, I made a stainless steel tab washer and attached to the pressure top under the nut for the gas connect, used this to hang hop bomb with dry hops, added at day 4.

Transfer to keg under pressure when done.

No need to use the yeast trap other than to remove yeast/trube.


----------



## /// (1/6/18)

Fleabag said:


> Interesting. I had thought about this - do you give it some time for the hops to break up in the hot water first? My problem is not the hops rising, but that they block the neck when they do...
> 
> Do you boil it first? What sanitation do I need to worry about?


Hot water - no. Have had oxidise the beer before hand.


----------



## huez (1/6/18)

Can you not just release the pressure and dump the dry hops in the top and repressurise from a co2 bottle? It's such a small opening on those things, you're probably pushing more oxygen through the beer by attaching that bottle then you would be if you opened the top for 10seconds....


----------



## Fleabag (1/6/18)

huez said:


> Can you not just release the pressure and dump the dry hops in the top and repressurise from a co2 bottle? It's such a small opening on those things, you're probably pushing more oxygen through the beer by attaching that bottle then you would be if you opened the top for 10seconds....



More a case of losing carbonation, and, in theory, aroma. Fizzes up like a right bastard when you ditch the pressure.

(For the record, yes I did just that this morning when the hops refused to float up.)


----------



## NealK (2/6/18)

Fleabag said:


> Interesting. I had thought about this - do you give it some time for the hops to break up in the hot water first? My problem is not the hops rising, but that they block the neck when they do...
> 
> Do you boil it first? What sanitation do I need to worry about?



Yes I boil it first to sanitise and remove as much oxygen from the water as possible. Let it cool before putting it in the bottle as the bottle will shrink if you put boiling water in it.


----------



## Fleabag (3/6/18)

NealK said:


> Yes I boil it first to sanitise and remove as much oxygen from the water as possible. Let it cool before putting it in the bottle as the bottle will shrink if you put boiling water in it.



So just tried that, put hops in, added water, gave it a swirl, filled with water, put in saurus... and the hops are just sat there at the bottom. So I’ve put a container around it and put 60° water in it and will just leave it and see what happens.


----------



## JayP (3/6/18)

Hi. Same here - 5th Brew in my Saurus as we speak. I’ve successfully dry hopped using the collection bottle but only small amounts - like 30g. There was something in the manual or online from KK about this. Ive just been adding hops and topping up with foam to remove O2, reattaching and the pressure within the primary vessel gives the whole thing a bit of a squirt when the valve is open. To be fair a lot of the hops remain in the collection bottle like you’ve shown, but I have plenty of liquid contact and can see the hop oil slick appearing on the surface. Not perfect but seems to get the flavour based on a “before and after” sample.


----------



## Vazerhino (4/6/18)

I gave up on the bottle for hops. I now dry hop from the top. As long as you dry hop with some fermentation left, the yeast will quickly bring the pressure back to 15 psi, as the hops seems to add a spark and re-ignite the fermentation a little. Alternatively, as someone said, add into the top and then hit with CO2 for a few seconds and you'll lose very little gas.


----------



## wide eyed and legless (4/6/18)

Agree with the above post know your yeast and when it will culminate, add dry hops and pressure will come back up, or as previous poster suggests, give it a squirt of CO2.


----------



## buckerooni (4/6/18)

the other thread mentions a hop tea approach [ https://aussiehomebrewer.com/threads/kk-fermentasaurus-conical-pet-fermenter.93589/page-11 ] I am thinking about making a hop tea, putting it in a 1.25L PET bottle and purge/pressurising it with CO2 above whatever the internal pressure of the 'sauras using a KK carb cap - then transfer it between the bottle and the 'sauras with gas/liquid disconnect jumper lead. Should be oxygen free. thoughts?


----------



## Denobrew (7/6/18)

buckerooni said:


> the other thread mentions a hop tea approach [ https://aussiehomebrewer.com/threads/kk-fermentasaurus-conical-pet-fermenter.93589/page-11 ] I am thinking about making a hop tea, putting it in a 1.25L PET bottle and purge/pressurising it with CO2 above whatever the internal pressure of the 'sauras using a KK carb cap - then transfer it between the bottle and the 'sauras with gas/liquid disconnect jumper lead. Should be oxygen free. thoughts?


Might get some blockage? Worth a shot. Report back and let us know how you went.


----------



## buckerooni (7/6/18)

Denobrew said:


> Might get some blockage? Worth a shot. Report back and let us know how you went.


gonna use the aeropress to seperate the juice from the hop matter to help mitigate this problem. The aeropress uses a paper filter (metal filter may work better) so will be a pretty debris free tea.


----------



## Fleabag (7/6/18)

buckerooni said:


> gonna use the aeropress to seperate the juice from the hop matter to help mitigate this problem. The aeropress uses a paper filter (metal filter may work better) so will be a pretty debris free tea.



Maybe a coffee plunger? Let us know how it goes - I’m curious how this works. I’m wondering how it still transfers once both vessels equalise pressure.


----------



## Mister clark (8/6/18)

My process is similar to others but what I've found works well:

1. Set spunding valve to ~5PSI
2. When you hear that the valve is no longer venting you're 90% done.
3. Take the top off and quickly drop the hops on - no bag required.
4. Purge with Co2 and get the pressure up to 2-3 PSI with
5. Close the spunding valve off/set to a high PSI.
6. Pressure pretty much always gets back up to 13-15 PSI and at that point is almost always done.
7. Crash and transfer under pressure.

I also tend to do my second dry hop (f there is one) in the keg.

If there is no second dry hop per se I'll split my dry hop 70/30 between fermentor and keg with the smaller charge going in the keg in a bag that is weighted down.

Going slightly off topic put I've taken the liquid out tubes out of my kegs and replaced them with a fermentasurus float and tube so I draw all my beer from the top avoiding all the crap and hop particles and the bottom of the keg. Note that to do this you need a gas in post to replace the liquid out tube.

I've done a Julius NEIPA clone 2 times and several big IPAs (including a Jackhammer clone) and I'm getting good results.

One modification I've made since my last brew is to thread a couple of stainless steel bolts over the femetasurus silicone tube that's in my keg to ensure the float is pulled just below the surface of the beer. I was having foaming issues before as I dont think the tube mouth was completely submerged.

The jackhammer just kicked but I had that 9 weeks or so and I noticed no issues with oxidization/loss of aroma or taste. It actually got better after a week or 2 cold conditioning with the hops in the keg.

I'm away at the moment but I'll take a pic of my julius clone which is 4 weeks old, no sign of oxidation and the color will usually turn brown fast if oxygen is present.


----------



## topssip (9/6/18)

markp said:


> Yep I tried the collection bottle with the same results as you  so now I either put my hops in through the top at time of pitch or at high Krausen and that allows the fermenter to re pressurise naturally and chew up any oxygen let in when you lift the lid.
> Cheers.


I have bought some extra large empty tea bags and use these to dry hop in the keg. I'm sure you could use one of these , I put a small stainless steel weight in with the hops. And you could tie on a piece of fishing line for retrieving .


----------



## buckerooni (11/6/18)

OK, tried the hop tea with aeropress + carb cap idea. bit of a PITA because the aeropress only holds about 200ml, there's few vessels involved, takes a bit of time and a bit messy. I really have to do a side-by-side to see the difference (if any) between this and a french press. 

1. make hop tea - 1.5L 70c water, hop pellets, steep for 20mins in a jug, a few stirs and let it settle. *
2. pour off liquid portions into aeropress and squeeze into a cup, repeat x 8. use some of the pellet material in aeropress to squeeze out a bit extra, Ended up with about 800ml of filtered hop tea.
3. transfer into 2L bottle, use carb cap to purge and pressurise to 40psi
4. cool it to around 25 deg
5. use jumper lead on the liquid input on the fermentasaurus to inject
6. boom!

* transferring all the hop material into the aeropress made it clog within seconds!

new thought - would the aeropress would add oxygen to the tea as it passes through the forced filter? seems likely, so it may be similar to a dry hop in terms of oxygen, so perhaps this method only provides filtered hop tea. whether there is any taste difference with this is unknown so lets just call this an experiment at this stage!


----------



## RADbrewing (11/6/18)

Have you tried swapping out the collection bottle for a soda steam bottle?? They're longer and might stop the hops clogging up??


----------



## Chappo (13/6/18)

Why not use a magnet and hop bag? When you want the hops to be added to the wort remove the outside magnet and the hop bag will drop down into the wort (add a small weight to make sure the bag sinks).


----------



## hotmelt (14/6/18)

Maybe this would work better.





It's an adapter to attach pet bottles to a sodastream.If you were to use this you could add your hops to a collapseable drink bottle,connect to adapter and slowly fill bottle. Then squeeze the bottle a few times to transfer the hops or wait till they have rehydrated then do it.
The only place I have found them for sale is here.
http://www.sodaeasy.eu/
Or if you know someone with a 3d printer they could make one.
http://www.instructables.com/id/PET-bottle-to-sparkling-machine-adapter-SodaStream/
I don't have a fermentasaurus to try it but it should work better then the original bottle does.


----------



## pirateagenda (18/6/18)

I either vent pressure for first 3 or 4 days then add dry hop and cap/spund the fermenter... or
dry hop at the same time as adding yeast. 

both have worked fine for me.


----------

