[Village Taphouse]

I did have my first issue with keg hopping recently. I bag the hops in small muslin sacks and just knot it off to keep the hops in. I don't worry about cutting off the extra material above the knot and that happened to get caught in the dip tube after a couple of weeks. It took me a while to figure out that this was the problem.

I've heard of that happening.  Connect a length of thread to the muslin bag and let it come up and out of the main hatch so you can pull it out of the way (or out completely if you're done with them). 

[Village Taphouse]

I'd add that I think that vegetal character largely comes from letting fine hop debris into the bottle/keg. Crashing and jumping to another keg helps, as does double layering the paint strainer bags. I found that using one bag was letting some fine hop debris into some pints. Those pints were more harsh (some might say vegetal), where the ones that showed no hop debris (double layered bags) were great.

I don't want to go on a loosely-related tangent but I usually use a gel solution once the beer is cold in the keg.  This will bring hop material, yeast, etc. down and the first pint is usually very cruddy but pint #2 flows clear.  You guys know that I'm all about the clear beer but I also realize that some claim that the gel strips out that precious hop character you just worked so hard to get. 

[Iliff Ave]

I did have my first issue with keg hopping recently. I bag the hops in small muslin sacks and just knot it off to keep the hops in. I don't worry about cutting off the extra material above the knot and that happened to get caught in the dip tube after a couple of weeks. It took me a while to figure out that this was the problem.

I've heard of that happening.  Connect a length of thread to the muslin bag and let it come up and out of the main hatch so you can pull it out of the way (or out completely if you're done with them).

I have had issues sealing the keg this way. What kind of string? I will probably just start removing that extra material.

[blatz]

I did have my first issue with keg hopping recently. I bag the hops in small muslin sacks and just knot it off to keep the hops in. I don't worry about cutting off the extra material above the knot and that happened to get caught in the dip tube after a couple of weeks. It took me a while to figure out that this was the problem.

I've heard of that happening.  Connect a length of thread to the muslin bag and let it come up and out of the main hatch so you can pull it out of the way (or out completely if you're done with them).

I have had issues sealing the keg this way. What kind of string? I will probably just start removing that extra material.

Teflon tape works better, IMO

[Iliff Ave]

Using the muslin sacks does let some hop material into the beer but it usually settles out within the first week. I am okay with this as the beer is usually carbing and continuing to clarify anyway.

My current pale ale has improved drastically from week 1 to week 2 due to this. I was very worried as it was extra pungent and almost savory with a modest amount of hops. My continual lack of patience bit me again...

[BrodyR]

That first exbeeriment - it looks like the warm dry-hopped batch underwent one more keg-to-keg transfer which will add a bit of 02 no matter how careful you are. May have contributed to the even result.

I've been liking dry hopping while some fermentation is still on to keep the hops circulating and O2 out. Usually I top crop my yeast a couple of days in then add the hops. Like theDarkSide said if I don't feel I went hard enough I'll add some more hops into the serving keg.

I've been racking my brain a lot about this lately. Freshly armed with a DO meter I've noticed how much more oxygen get's into beer served in a C02 purged serving keg as supposed to a spunded keg. With lagers this is an easy thing to control by transferring into the lagering/serving keg with some extract left, spunding, lagering, and serving. With how fast ale fermentations go and dry hopping times it's tough.

I think I'm going to try this method:
1) Dry hop in the keg as fermentation is subsiding and the yeast has been cropped.
2) Keg-to-Keg transfer into a receiving keg after FG has been reached with a fresh canister of dry hops and krausen awaiting.
3) Let it finish out at room temperature for a couple days then crash it down.
4) Dump the first couple pints (should be hop and yeast residue) then serve.

It's tough. Oxygen kills hop aroma. I once had a growler of tired hands hop hands (pure raw hop juice when fresh) taste like a zero dry hopped english ale after sitting a little too long. Same thing with HFS Edward. If you keep the O2 out of the serving keg it should taste fresh a hell of a lot longer. But the only way to reliably seem to do that is to have active yeast in it.

[hopfenundmalz]

I did have my first issue with keg hopping recently. I bag the hops in small muslin sacks and just knot it off to keep the hops in. I don't worry about cutting off the extra material above the knot and that happened to get caught in the dip tube after a couple of weeks. It took me a while to figure out that this was the problem.

I've heard of that happening.  Connect a length of thread to the muslin bag and let it come up and out of the main hatch so you can pull it out of the way (or out completely if you're done with them).

I have had issues sealing the keg this way. What kind of string? I will probably just start removing that extra material.

Teflon tape works better, IMO

Agree! I got that trick from you.

[blatz]

what is spunding?

I fill my kegs to the brim with sanitizer and push that out with CO2 before jumping or racking the beer in.  seems to limit O2, but I get what you are saying.

[rob_f]

What kind of string?

I use dental floss tape with a glob of keg lube at the O-ring. Works great.

[Village Taphouse]

What kind of string?

I use dental floss tape with a glob of keg lube at the O-ring. Works great.

I use thread.  The hatch seals just fine.

[erockrph]

What kind of string?

I use dental floss tape with a glob of keg lube at the O-ring. Works great.

Keg lube! Of course! I've had issues with a leaky seal when I tried this in the past. Never thought to add some keg lube. Thanks for the tip!

[Village Taphouse]

what is spunding?

I fill my kegs to the brim with sanitizer and push that out with CO2 before jumping or racking the beer in.  seems to limit O2, but I get what you are saying.

Spunding is moving the beer to the keg with some amount of fermentation left to go.  Then you connect a spunding valvle (I just bought one but have not used it yet) to allow the pressure to escape but the valve allows you to dial in the amount of carbonation you want to retain in the beer.  So it's a way to naturally carbonate and you can also assume that it's a great way to keep O2 out of the beer at the same time.  Personally I find the "dialing in of the carb" a little intimidating but if you ended up low on carb, I could see topping it off with CO2 from a tank to make up the difference.

[denny]

The "experts" are all over the map on dry hop temp.  Many say room temp, yet a year or so ago someome posted info here from S.S. Steiner that 35F was the perfect dry hop temp.

[toby]

I usually keg hop instead of dry hopping. I use fine mesh nylon bags which I dip in Starsan and wring out before putting the hops in and putting it in the keg.  I transfer the beer into the keg at fermentation temperature.  The keg has been effectively purged since I push the sanitizer out via CO2, so the beer just floats the hop bag up as it fills.  I'll then do a quick CO2 purge for the top pressure, and put it in my aging fridge under pressure (typically 12 psi).  So, basically it's at the ~65F temp briefly until it drops to aging temp in the 40s overnight.

[BrodyR]

Yup, with a lager you can transfer with 1p or so of extract left into a fresh keg, seal it up, and hook on the pressure relieve valve. It has a few benefits - it saves time and money by eliminating the need to force carb with C02, the transfer seems to rouse it up and results in higher attenuation, and the big one is your serving keg will have less oxygen.

I've done the whole fill the serving keg with sanitizer, push it out, purge and purge again, then close transfer thing as well but my DO meter showed it's not as good. Actually took some readings last night. A bottle conditioned beer had the lowest oxygen, my spunded lager had a bit more (imagine more headspace and the transfer, working on my processes), and the c02 purged/racked into serving keg after FG was reached beer had significantly more 02. Purging with C02 seems to be materially not as effective as active yeast. I just got the meter so I'm looking forward to taking more readings.

We've all noticed that drop off in dry hop aroma - in theory this should be significantly reduced with less oxygen in the serving keg. I guess it's why canned and oxygen obsessed Heady Topper and bottle conditioned Sierra Nevada last so much longer than filtered and bottled beer.


http://www.homebrewing.org/Adjustable-Pressure-Relief-Valve-w-Gauge_p_1813.html&utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping?gclid=CPj4g4DRqs4CFclZhgodsBoOLw

what is spunding?

I fill my kegs to the brim with sanitizer and push that out with CO2 before jumping or racking the beer in.  seems to limit O2, but I get what you are saying.

Spunding is moving the beer to the keg with some amount of fermentation left to go.  Then you connect a spunding valvle (I just bought one but have not used it yet) to allow the pressure to escape but the valve allows you to dial in the amount of carbonation you want to retain in the beer.  So it's a way to naturally carbonate and you can also assume that it's a great way to keep O2 out of the beer at the same time.  Personally I find the "dialing in of the carb" a little intimidating but if you ended up low on carb, I could see topping it off with CO2 from a tank to make up the difference.