I’m fermenting under pressure for the first time using the G4 fermenter. Between 24-48 hours after pitching I plan to seal off the tank and increase to 12psi. I’ll be dry hopping so first, will opening the tank to add the hops have a negative impact? Can I add the dry hops sooner assuming the entire process is supposed to happen quicker?
My understanding is that the beer will simultaneously ferment and carbonate leaving me with a finished product sooner. However, the trub will still exist in the tank…so how do I get rid of the trub without losing carbonation?
You will just have two replace the pressure if you lose any. I use a spunding valve and if I dry hop or fine or whatever I just have to top the co2 back off. Remember, the co2 is still in solution. It doesn’t dissipate immediately.
If you add hops to a carbonated beer, either do it really cold or really fast to avoid the dreaded “hop volcano”. The small particles of hops will provide a point of nucleation and the carbon dioxide will come out of solution extremely fast. Think diet Coke and Mentos.
Great point. My beer has been fermenting for about 5 days now at 10psi and is very close to the FG. If I dry hop in the next 24 hours should I expect the beer to be carbonated enough to cause this problem?
How much headspace do you have in your fermenter? My batch size is about 3.5 gallons in a 5 gallon keg, and I’ve never had a volcano even tossing in 4-5oz of hops at high krausen.
Unfortunately I can’t see actually my headspace since it’s in stainless steel. I should have about 5-5.5gallons of wort in this 7 gallon conical fermenter.
That probably should be fine, but I’d be prepared just in case.