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Hop pellets are not really ideal for keg/cask dry hopping. Dry hopping was traditionally done in the cask using whole hop flowers (or hop plugs which were made for the job) and left in the serving cask till it was empty. If you can get hold of flowers keg hopping with a floating dip will work really well.
Fully agree but there's a couple of problems, back in the day I was a manager for Fullers [oak barrels not kegs, and drawn with a hand pump, no top pressure (CAMRA reg's)] and I could write a small book on dry hopped cask conditioned ales.
Problem number one is obvious, many of the hops we now want to use are not available as cones, and rhizomes can't be purchased, bio risk, propriety material etc.
Number two is probably not as obvious, using London Pride as an example, and assuming correct conditioning/cellar procedures, once tapped the window for serving good fresh ale was 3 days, after that it starts to go downhill fast, and at about 5 days is taken off and sent back to the brewery, I believe it was to get a refund on the tax paid.
It takes a few days to condition a barrel (very much dependant on the individual barrel) and ideally the barrel should be tapped within a week of delivery, so we have a couple weeks max from filling the barrel to finishing it, in this time frame the usual problems associated with dry hopping (vegetal flavour, grassiness) don't occur, in addition the actual amount of hop cones in a barrel of London Pride is surprisingly small, about a couple of handfuls in 36 gallon.
On a home brew scale however where a keg may be on for an extended period, and the trend is for higher dry hopping rates the whole vegetal thing becomes an issue.
It appears our options are,
1: Remove hops from serving keg, and tolerate fading hoppiness over time.
2: Leave hops in and expect the grassiness/vegetal effect.
3: Or my preferred option DRINK MORE BEER! although getting through 19ltrs of DIPA/NEIPA in a week is probably beyond my capabilities.
All this excludes the array of hop matter alternatives such as oils etc but then we run into the old availability to us in Australia, and increased cost of these products. Apologies for the long post.
:bigcheers:
 
It appears our options are,
1: Remove hops from serving keg, and tolerate fading hoppiness over time.
2: Leave hops in and expect the grassiness/vegetal effect.
3: Or my preferred option DRINK MORE BEER!

4. Hop randall ? is this a thing? could you have one in-line between keg & tap?

or daisy chain a mini-keg off a full corny, dry hop in that and when you're done just remove the mini keg and hook back into the 19L?
 
Get an iSpindel/tilt (not 100% essential if you just check gravity regularly) + Kegmenter/Fermentasaurus and dry hop at the same time as spunding at desired gravity from FG to reach desired level of carbonation.

Eliminates oxygen issue, minimal loss in aroma from blown off CO2 due to majority of CO2 produced being used to carbonate the beer. Saves CO2. Minimises number of vessels to clean. Achieves perfect carbonation.

Putting a small ebay plastic filter on the end of the floating dip tube (think I've already posted a link here?), plus cold crashing will drop the hops meaning hop particles in the beer aren't an issue. I've always dry hopped in kegmenter, often ~250-300g dry hop charges for 50L and never had an issue.

Transfer to a low foaming sanitiser & CO2 purged keg after dry hop duration is reached.

I'm also getting as many Cryo hops for dry hopping as I can these days. They're about double as effective per gram as pellet hops for using as dry hops, so you halve the hop charge, minimise the vegetal matter (enables it to sit longer without vegetal flavours) and REALLY minimise beer loss. Like there is SO MUCH LESS beer loss without the vegetal matter.

Cryo hops FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I think it comes down to sensitivity, it could be that you are particularly sensitive to particular aroma/flavour compounds and Seekerr isn't, personally I notice it after a couple of weeks depending on the beer style of course. Safest bet is to just get rid of the hop matter hence the desire for a dip tube filter, my suggested method also purges the hops of oxygen so it's a win,win. Please let us know when you get them in although I imagine it will be quite a while due to the virus thing.

Yes we will get this started but as you say it will be a while until this is a finished product.
 
Exactly why I posted this #3661
Please make a dip tube filter. Rack into purged keg with hops already in there, leave 3 days (or whatever) then closed transfer to purged serving keg leaving hops behind, and having the hops in the purged keg for a while reduces any oxygen in them.

No worries we will get this started and make the dip tube filter device for you guys.
 
Get an iSpindel/tilt (not 100% essential if you just check gravity regularly) + Kegmenter/Fermentasaurus and dry hop at the same time as spunding at desired gravity from FG to reach desired level of carbonation.

Eliminates oxygen issue, minimal loss in aroma from blown off CO2 due to majority of CO2 produced being used to carbonate the beer. Saves CO2. Minimises number of vessels to clean. Achieves perfect carbonation.

Putting a small ebay plastic filter on the end of the floating dip tube (think I've already posted a link here?), plus cold crashing will drop the hops meaning hop particles in the beer aren't an issue. I've always dry hopped in kegmenter, often ~250-300g dry hop charges for 50L and never had an issue.

Transfer to a low foaming sanitiser & CO2 purged keg after dry hop duration is reached.

I'm also getting as many Cryo hops for dry hopping as I can these days. They're about double as effective per gram as pellet hops for using as dry hops, so you halve the hop charge, minimise the vegetal matter (enables it to sit longer without vegetal flavours) and REALLY minimise beer loss. Like there is SO MUCH LESS beer loss without the vegetal matter.

Cryo hops FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for that. Great post. Would agree with you on most these points.
 
@KegLand-com-au, any eta on stainless maltzillas coming back into stock? And can you say whether or not you're intending to make a straight tri-clamp adapter for the Fermzilla cone without a built-in valve please?

Thanks,
 
For your floating dip tube, I put this on the end of the metal tube, and remove the float.
Sometimes it bobs up in the air a tiny bit too much, but otherwise it works great. Can get out beers with 250g DH no problem.

I'd recommend something like this instead of the ball. If you could manufacturer it to fit better on the tube, and with a slightly heavier flat-top, it'd be perfect!

Even better if you can make it magnetic or something, so you can use a magnet to find it up against the wall of the stainless kegmenters. This would help you tilt the fermenter in the right direction at the end to get the last few litres out

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/3x-Stai...lter-Stainless-Steel-Screen-7mm-/132697695100
 
For your floating dip tube, I put this on the end of the metal tube, and remove the float.
Sometimes it bobs up in the air a tiny bit too much, but otherwise it works great. Can get out beers with 250g DH no problem.

I'd recommend something like this instead of the ball. If you could manufacturer it to fit better on the tube, and with a slightly heavier flat-top, it'd be perfect!

Even better if you can make it magnetic or something, so you can use a magnet to find it up against the wall of the stainless kegmenters. This would help you tilt the fermenter in the right direction at the end to get the last few litres out

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/3x-Stai...lter-Stainless-Steel-Screen-7mm-/132697695100


Yep, this is exactly what I have.

I didn't think to remove the floating ball though. I just punched a small hole through the mesh and left the ball on.

I don't have an issue with it sucking air in this configuration. It continuously sucked air with just the ball, prior to getting this filter, and constantly pissed me off. So when I got the filter I was like... great... that fixed the air sucking issue!

My hypothesis with this fix was that the buoyancy of the ball must be greater than the filter, but the ball will float to "x" height, with the greatest weight on the ball at the keyring end due to the tube and filter, this must mean that the keyring, attached to the filter, is always pointing downwards, with the tube submerged. This is how it works in my head anyway.
 
I just punched a small hole through the mesh
What do you mean by this? Does that help the filter sink a little better?

When I used the ball + filter, it floated way too much. Might try it again though (in something see-through) and see what's going.

Would love to get this perfected, I'm still losing a few litres of beer unnecessarily and it kills me every time I pour it out.
 
If the floating dip tube and that ebay SS filter had a baby.. we might be on to something! ;)
 
What do you mean by this? Does that help the filter sink a little better?

When I used the ball + filter, it floated way too much. Might try it again though (in something see-through) and see what's going.

Would love to get this perfected, I'm still losing a few litres of beer unnecessarily and it kills me every time I pour it out.

Not my pictures... this is where I got the idea from!


IMG-20190107-151333085-1336x752.jpg
IMG-20190107-151344898-1336x752.jpg
 
Would this be food grade?
From the website description:
  • Conforms to AS/NZS 2070:1999 for food contact applications
  • Non-toxic PVC
  • Corrosion and abrasion resistant
  • Internal diameter (ID) 10mm

Pope clear vinyl tubing is suitable for the transfer of air, water or other liquids at low pressure.

This clear flexible hose provides a visual reference for easy identification of blockages or foreign objects.

It is suitable for use with petrol contact with siphon lines, cable protection and drainage lines.

https://www.bunnings.com.au/pope-10mm-clear-vinyl-tubing-10m_p3130566
 
Forking genius. Does it still work well at the bottom end of the fermenter, around all the trub?

Yeah, pretty well, a tiny bit of beer loss. Nothing major. Most of the bottom of my fermenter is full of hops anyway!
 

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