Dry Hopping, Warm Vs Chilled?

[Smokomark]

Me too....or +1 thingy. Tea ball dropped into the keg.

+1 tea ball with 7 or 8 grams in the keg last couple of brews. Awesome

 

[sponge]

Yea those SS tea balls are a great little invention for keg hopping.

Had one open whilst in the keg and got hop floaties everywhere....

Theyre perfect when they stay closed though..

 

[Dave70]

Looks like nan might be down one tea ball next time I pop in for a cuppa.

How about this.
Instead of drowning some hapless anthropoid in vodka, how would you go jamming a few hop cones down the throat of a longneck?
Make a nice gift for someone special.
Unless the cone breaks up and contaminates the beer or gets wedged in the bottle neck.
So an ornamental gift in that case.
Or someone you hate.

 

[mckenry]

I have been dry hopping in the serving keg with pretty good results, heaps better flavour and aroma than I have been able to get from dry hopping in the fermenter.

Nathan.

Me too....or +1 thingy. Tea ball dropped into the keg.

This got me thinking. So I searched for an answer, but surprisingly nothing. Lots of threads suggesting methods for keeping hops from getting into the beer and causing floaties etc. The only search result I could find to avoid the grassy taste was to remove the teaball after a few days. Not what I want to know.
I have dry hopped in the keg, in a tea ball before with poor results. I always get a grassy taste AND the pellet matter gets through, so tried the plugs. Better as far as avoiding floaties, but still produces grass.

My question is: Which hops are you guys using that are giving you good results? I am assuming youre not removing the tea ball after a short period?
I have used Cascade (US) Hersbruker and EKG in a tea ball. All give me that aweful grass taste after a few days. I would like to get that big flavour & aroma without having to remove the tea ball at all. Just a PITA if you ask me.

 

[sim]

Hop pellets direct into bottles can cause foaming issues i think, by providing lots of neucleation points - co2 comes out of solution. I can remember getting away with it once or twice, but then i dont highly carb my beers generally which might have been my lucky charm.

As for grassy hops, a chart of comments on dry hopping (ie grassyness, dry vs flameout impression, timing, how forgiving the hop is to long periods etc) with different varieties would be awesome, something iv been wishing for/thinking of collating lately. I tend to avoid dry hopping because it can be less predictable than flameout additions.

As for cascade ive always found it very forgiving. Ive found with galaxy at about 10 days youve gotta get it out or its grassy town. From what ive heard Chinook is not such a good hop for dryhopping.

In the same breath, i reckon the method used for containing the hops can create some big variation - i think im more of a free-baller. Using stockings which tend to clump the hops into a ball and restrict absorbtion, versus loose into fermentor where end of fermentation convection currents can churn the hops around all over the place, ive noticed a big difference. 30g loose in fermentor is big and lovely, where the stocking with 60g has done (comparitivley) bugger all and a little one dimensional, generic greenery/chlorophyll/grassy.

These days when i dry hop cold in the keg i use a mesh bag, and accept there will be some bits for the first few pints (much better than stockings).

 

[Bizier]

I am a total keg hopping convert, good aromas, nothing blown off and no residual yeast interacting with hop materials at the cold temps. Plus you can whip them out when you are happy with the flavour.

 

[hoppy2B]

Has anyone who dry hopped for a lengthy period and whose beer became grassy as a result, left the beer for an extended period to see if the grassiness dissipated? And what was the result?
I left some wet picked and dry hopped POR (100gm wet), in the fermentor for about 3 months and it came out tasting like burnt rubber. After a few months that went away and it ended up pretty reasonable.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

Huh?
3 month primary fermentation?

 

[hoppy2B]

Huh?
3 month primary fermentation?

Yeah it was a 3 month primary ferment. The whole thing was wet hopped with POR.

 

[Malted]

Yeah it was a 3 month primary ferment. The whole thing was wet hopped with POR.

From what I saw of your hop harvest (in the photos you posted), I wouldn't have called them wet. Wet hops are generally green.

 

[hoppy2B]

From what I saw of your hop harvest (in the photos you posted), I wouldn't have called them wet. Wet hops are generally green.

They were pretty green. They had probably just started to turn brown, which is when some of the quotes from experts suggest to harvest. I don't think I took/put up any pics up of the POR after harvest actually anyway. As the POR was the last to ripen I had worked out when was the best time to pick, it being my first year growing and all.
Are you suggesting there is a pre-ripeness time frame for green brewing? I might try something like that next year with the Cluster as they looked like they could have been picked long before they started to turn brown later in the season.
I think you might be referring to my Cluster pics Malted. They looked browner in my photos than they actually were.