Hop Balls In Kegs...

[Thunderlips]

Hi all,

I've tried a hop ball before, the kind that Ross sells, in a keg but have found that when I poured a beer
there were little floaties all over the place.

But, I force carbonated the keg with the hop ball already inside. So I imagine this would have contributed a lot to that.

So I'm wondering if I placed a hop ball in a keg after it had already been carbonated would I still get little hop particles
floating around in the keg and the glass?

 

[MVZOOM]

Thunderlips, what form factor of hops are you using? I've only ever done this with plugs or flowers, and have found that no floaties come through.

Don't think the answer lies in carbonation.

Cheers - Mike

 

[Thunderlips]

Thunderlips, what form factor of hops are you using?

Mike, I use pellets.
I would have thought that the pellet sludge could make it's way through the hop ball with all that shaking of the keg.

 

[MVZOOM]

Yeah, I've never used pellets as I thought they'd break up (or break down as the case may be). Maybe try a batch using plugs or flowers and see how you go.

Although, I don't get a huge aroma hit with plugs - you need more than you would pellets, for sure.

Cheers - Mike

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Little green floaties here too - with Hop Balls - and added before force carbing

Doesn't bother me

But some people get a little concerned

I'd imagine that a finer mesh is needed for pellets

Might not result in as many floaties if added after carbing

Hopping in the keg adds some brilliant hop flavour!

Cheers

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

I have also used the hop ball method.I used one of my kegs for dry hopping. Tied a piece of fishing line to the ball and clamped the other end under the lid. I had it dry hopping for 6 days whilst I was on holidays.But to tell you the truth I don't think it is as good as just throwing the hops in loose when I use a cube. The aroma did not seem as good.

BYB

 

[SJW]

I just finished a keg of English Bitter with a s/s hop ball filled with a EKG plug and it was great, not a floaty here.

 

[oldbugman]

Use more pellets.. so when it swells up it fills the ball.

 

[Thunderlips]

Use more pellets.. so when it swells up it fills the ball.

I think I probably used about 15gms or so.
When the keg was finished and I took it out the hops were fully swelled up inside the ball.

I've got a Grain&Grape artisinale wort that I'd like to try with cascade hops so I'll try that with pellets
in the hop ball, after carbonation, and see how that goes.

If there's still floaties I'll work my way through plugs and flowers.

BYB, I don't usually bother with secondaries (for ales) these days so the cube option is out.

Thanks all for the replies.

 

[winkle]

You could try using a piece of stocking (boiled to remove dye) instead of the ball if using pellets, the finer mesh might help - worked for me.

 

[Thunderlips]

You could try using a piece of stocking (boiled to remove dye)

Great idea!
I'll try that.

 

[drag]

I dont force carb, but I add the ball with about 10g in it. I dont get any floaties coming through, so I suspect its from all the shacking your doing.

 

[mfdes]

I have found, trying a few different methods, that throwing the dry hops into the primary fermentation when it's nearly over works best for me. The pellets get picked up by the convective circulation in the fermenter and get a lot of exposure to the wort. I haven't noticed a significant scrubbing of volatiles with the CO2, but if this was a concern I'd use more pellets.
The only drawback for me is yeast harvesting is compromised by doing this, as you might have foreign beasties carried in with the hops.
To prevent this I have been rigging up a sanitised blowoff system to collect top cropping yeast.

MFS

 

[BusinessTime]

Don't want to drag this too far off topic but how does your sanitised blowoff system work?