Dry hopping carbed keg

[paulmclaren11]

I have just carbed up my latest APA and my early tastes suggest my hopping rates are not to my taste despite a decent whack of dry hops in the primary at about day 6.

The beer has decent malt and bittereness but the aroma flavour is not there.

Would a hop tea added to the keg with about 20g US hops improve or should I attempt dry hopping the keg for a couple if days? Want this puppy ready for Aussie day.

 

[barls]

hows your bitterness in it? the hop tea will add bitterness. id dry hop

 

[paulmclaren11]

Plenty of bitterness. My plan is to wrap the hops in some Swiss voille. Do I just chuck it in or tie it to the lid some how? Maybe some cotton through the lid?

 

[barls]

i just chuck in. sanitise the bag first though i normally use the mesh bags from t2.

 

[paulmclaren11]

I have a small hop bag I can use and will boil it or soak in sanitiser. You leave the bag in until you have finished the keg? Was thinking maybe leaving it in for 3 days and then pulling it.

 

[barls]

i leave in till the kegs done

 

[peas_and_corn]

For dry hopping in cubes I use one of these, it's used for putting herbs into roasts.

I like it because it seals well and has a lot of room for the hops to expand without being filled solid like tea balls.

 

[Yob]

We have some peeps coming over today for a little get together before the bub comes along, I had a glass from my little 9lt party (blend) keg last night and was missing that little something, so for the first time I keg Hopped it, 10g Simcoe, 10g Mosaic..

Holy FS... yep, thats what it was missing.. honestly couldnt believe the change.. BOOM!!

Where did you get that little thing above peas?

 

[paulmclaren11]

Those hop tea balls, are they just thrown in the keg? Worried it might block beer flow..

 

[GalBrew]

Hop bags float on the top of the beer in the keg, not sure about the metal ball thing. Either way I would be suprised if it blocked the flow of beer.

 

[punkin]

I have some of the 8cm ones from ebay. They work very well, don't block the beer and are just big enough to get in and out without too much drama.

 

[Yob]

No rusting thus far Punkin?

 

[Nedasaurus1]

No rusting thus far Punkin?

Kelsey over at coopers uses them too Yob and he seems to have no dramas with them at all

 

[punkin]

No. I had my doubts when i looked at them, i removed the little chains and rings and bits that looked like chrome. I also doubted the catches (fold back style) as they looked raw even before i used them, but i've used them half a dozen times and put em away wet and they seem fine.

They are exactly the same size as a keg opening, so i just squeezed a dent in either end and have no probs getting them back out. Not much room in there when using flowers, but no reason why you can't use two. Great with up to 60 gms of pellets.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

I grabbed those tea bags for 'aromatherapy' and tea for dry hopping in the keg. Back last year when I still had kegs before this Taswegian junket, but that's another story.

IIRC, it was Cascade and Galaxy.

Awesome. First 3 or 4 days was like drinking beer flavoured hops, then it mellowed out to a fantastic aroma.

My other suggestion would be to wait until you're happy with the carb levels, then chuck it in. If you are a "turn the gas on, wait a week, drink" type of brewer, you might miss the best part, which is the first 3 or 4 days after chuckin' 'em in. Losing a bit of co2 in headspace is well worth that hit you get.

 

[mckenry]

There are heaps of keg hopping threads, so I'm just going to tack onto this one, seeing as my keg is carbed already.
Its a little bland so I'm planning to keg hop it. It will be pellets, in a bag of some description. Probably have a small grain bag around somewhere which will do the trick.
Its an Australian PA. Bittered with Victoria Secret, and 0.5g/L at 5mins with Nelson Sauvin. Its good, probably right where an Australian Ale should be, but I've decided it needs more hop flavour.
So, for the experienced keg hoppers (I've done it and grassed it up so didnt ever try again)
1. Whats the thinking these days re times in the keg and at what rate? I assume people still remove the hops later?
2. I dont think I'll keg hop with Nelson Sauv. I have US Cascade, Mosaic, Moteuka, Rakau (never tried these in anything) Simcoe and Vic Secret.

Sorry I havent really been keeping up with all threads these days. I usually dry hop, but not for Aus PA, so havent needed keg hopping.
mckenry

 

[Topher]

Ive done this heaps!
Im doing the same tonight. Not enough aroma or 'pizazz' in my pale ale. Ive always done between 1-3g litre keg hopped. Ive used Amarillo, summer, southern cross, aus cascade, all work well but my faves were nelson and galaxy.
Chuck em in and dont bother taking them out....just make sure they are gonna sink.
I sometimes get an almost instant overwhelming grassyness but it has always gone away in a few days. Oddly sometimes i get nothing at all for a few days then the aroma kicks in.

 

[Yob]

Stockings and unscented tooth floss is a winner

Pretty soon we won't even have to do that

 

[Coodgee]

Suspend your hop bag just below the surface of the beer. Then wait 4 days and drink enough beer so the hops are above the beer. Saves opening the keg and letting oxygen in.

 

[Topher]

Pretty soon we won't even have to do that

Wait, I missed something..... what ....why?