Amount of Hops for Keg Hopping

[marc e]

Hi everyone. I've recently finished a keg filler that I tasted last night right after i force carbed it. Recipe as follows:

1.7 kg coopers pale ale
1.5 kg Morgans extra pale lme
0.5 kg dex
0.5 kg DME
US05 yeast fermented @ 18deg
23L total vol.

It tastes pretty boring, no off flavours or anything just fairly bland. I wasn't expecting huge flavour or anything given the ingredients used, but it really is a bit boring for my palate. Maybe it's too early to be judging it?

I've done a bit of research and found some topics on keg hopping.

I have 40g of Armarillo left over from a batch made on the week end. If i throw this into a sanitized stocking and place it straight into the keg for a few days will it give this brew some more punch?

Is 40g of Amarillo too much, or should I halve this to 20g? Keg volume is about 18L at the moment.

I don't mind hoppy, bitter beers. But don't want to completely wreck this brew by having it taste like a glass of hop pellets. Any advice appreciated!

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Then chuck in 20. I have chucked in 90, but I'm a hop head. :icon_drool2:

 

[wereprawn]

The hoppiness will be fairly intense for the first few days then ease back significantly after 4-5 days to a pleasant background flavour. I've only been kegging for about 4 months myself so I'm no expert but I use 20-40g for dry hop in the keg and am happy with the results. I reckon throw 20g in as it will definitely improve the flavour without being over the top. Who knows, you may even develop a raging hop addiction and want to add a lot more after your first foray into keg hopping.

cheers.

 

[Yob]

anywhere between 1g/l to 3g/l depending on tastes

really depends on the brew you are doing it to, a Pale ale you might treat less aggressively than an IIPA for example...

to taste is really the best guide :icon_drool2:

 

[marc e]

Thanks guys, i am aiming for a pale ale....

But i do like my hops. Might just go the whole 40g straight up! Thanks again

 

[lukiferj]

Keg hopping is my primary method of dry hopping. I generally will use around 2g/l for most brews but will go higher if I want a punch in the face. Haven't had any issues with grassiness and I leave them in the keg until it's bkown. Generally between 1-4 weeks. I did have issues with grassiness in beers that were conventionally dry hopped occasionally.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Obviously depends on the hop variety - some are grassier than others as a keg hop.

And I actually like a little gut grass in my beer.

 

[lukiferj]

Obviously depends on the hop variety - some are grassier than others as a keg hop.

And I actually like a little gut grass in my beer.

From my anecdotal testing over the last 6 months, I have found that the grassiness is far reduced in a keg hop vs tradtional dry hop in the FV. I'm not basing this on anything other than my experiences but using the same dry hop at the same g/l , this is what I have seen.

 

[angus_grant]

Hmm, my brew notes don't include my keg-hopping rates but I am fairly sure it is about 1g/L of Citra and 1g/L of Cascade for Goomba's Lord Nelson pale ale. :icon_drool2: :icon_drool2: Bags of passionfruit!

I did add my Saaz hops I was steeping straight into the FV for my current saison so I hope that doesn't go grassy on me.... That will work out to 1g/L but that will be in there for the entire ferment. Which might only be 4 or so days they way it is going...

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Hmm, my brew notes don't include my keg-hopping rates but I am fairly sure it is about 1g/L of Citra and 1g/L of Cascade for Goomba's Lord Nelson pale ale. :icon_drool2: :icon_drool2: Bags of passionfruit!

I did add my Saaz hops I was steeping straight into the FV for my current saison so I hope that doesn't go grassy on me.... That will work out to 1g/L but that will be in there for the entire ferment. Which might only be 4 or so days they way it is going...

That's what came to mind. I think the first keg was about 90g of Cascade, the second about 50g of Citra. Awesome! :icon_drool2: :icon_drool2:

I'm thinking Mosaic is another good candidate for a keg hop.

 

[Gregos]

I tried keg hopping for the very first time 2 weeks ago, I put 20g of cascade and 20g of Nelson in a Pale Ale, awesome flavours, will be using this method more often.

 

[OzPaleAle]

When keg hopping does it work well if the keg is chilled? Or does it have to be left at ambient temps to have a good effect?

 

[lukiferj]

When keg hopping does it work well if the keg is chilled? Or does it have to be left at ambient temps to have a good effect?

Why would you have something in a keg that is not chilled? Mine are all left at serving temp and find that this works well. Also works because you can easily test how the flavour is progressing just by pouring straight of your regular taps.

 

[carniebrew]

Worth noting for future reference though, your recipe seems super tame from a balance perspective. My calcs put you at around 6% abv, with a paltry 18 IBU. If you're brewing a 6% pale ale, you should be looking to get up into at least the 30's, if not 40 or more IBU.

Your BU:GU (bitterness to gravity) ratio is around 30%. Upping it to say 45 IBU would give you around 75%, which is good for a pale ale.

 

[marc e]

Yeah i know carniebrew, i did the calcs also and knew it was way down on bitterness. To be honest I wanted to try a toned down beer, something refreshing after a hot day. The last few have been a bit over the top flavour wise.

But alas, I must be a hop junkie as this one doesn't do it for me. But hopefully the keg hopping will bring it back to life a bit. I'll know for next time.

I have another pale ale fermenting at the moment which should be more my style:

1 x 1.7kg Coopers Real Ale
1 x 1.5kg Morgans Pale LME
200g Carabohemian
500g Light DME
400g Dextrose

10L boil with:
10g Amarillo @ 30 min
10g Amarillo @ 15 min
20g Amarillo @ 5 min

American Ale yeast from Craftbrewer

... I think, this is off the top of my head. Looking forward to comparing the two when it's finished.

 

[OzPaleAle]

Why would you have something in a keg that is not chilled? Mine are all left at serving temp and find that this works well. Also works because you can easily test how the flavour is progressing just by pouring straight of your regular taps.

I can only fit 3 kegs in fridge, have more than 3 kegs of beer.

 

[angus_grant]

If you were naturally carbonating the keg at the same time, just stick a tap on it and drink some. This might give you a taste for the keg-hopping levels.

It may also make you puke from drinking very warm beer. Let us know how it goes...

 

[law-of-ohms]

buy some cheap vodka, and make a hop extraction from cascade.

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/77504-hop-ethanol-extraction/

 

[lukiferj]

I can only fit 3 kegs in fridge, have more than 3 kegs of beer.

Fair call. Do you naturally carbonate or leave them uncarbonated until you're ready to chill them?

 

[lukiferj]

Yeah i know carniebrew, i did the calcs also and knew it was way down on bitterness. To be honest I wanted to try a toned down beer, something refreshing after a hot day. The last few have been a bit over the top flavour wise.

But alas, I must be a hop junkie as this one doesn't do it for me. But hopefully the keg hopping will bring it back to life a bit. I'll know for next time.

I have another pale ale fermenting at the moment which should be more my style:

1 x 1.7kg Coopers Real Ale
1 x 1.5kg Morgans Pale LME
200g Carabohemian
500g Light DME
400g Dextrose

10L boil with:
10g Amarillo @ 30 min
10g Amarillo @ 15 min
20g Amarillo @ 5 min

American Ale yeast from Craftbrewer

... I think, this is off the top of my head. Looking forward to comparing the two when it's finished.

If you want something easy to drink and not hoppy, try some dark milds. This is one of my favourite beers to drink at 3.5%, super easy on the palate.