I brewed my IPA and used one of the Stainless Brewing dry hoppers. The dry hops settled and compacted in the bottom of the tube. It didn’t get the aroma like when I dry hop in secondary. I used 4 oz of pellets in the dry hopper. When those of you dry hop in the keg do you have this problem using a bag? I wonder if whole cones would work better? Now that it is carbonated and cold, do I just finish an IPA w/o aroma? Those dry hoppers would be great for fruit and coffee, not sure they work for pellet hops in the keg. I did like not having to syphon with all the hop matter, even after cold crashing.
I have used mine in the keg and have been very happy.
I still use mine for lightly dry hopped beers, coffee additions, etc., but I quit using it for APA and AIPA. I too noticed some of the pellets getting compacted and not dissolving completely on these latter two styles. I’m back to paint strainer bags for keg hopping APA and IPA.
I don’t notice any pellets when I empty mine.
I wonder if the issue is temperature. Maybe if the beer was allowed to sit warm for a couple of days it wouldn’t compact.
Mine usually sits warm for 3-4 days. I don’t get whole pellets, just patially dissolved ones. Just on the big dry hop loads. An oz or two dissolve fine.
Maybe laying the keg on its side is a good plan. This might cause the pellets to spread out more. Surface area is good.
That’s not a bad idea. I think that would help with that.
Not in a keg, but my last dry hopped IPA in a bucket with dry hopper, the pellets broke down and formed a mush like paste inside the hopper. 10" cylinder with I think 4oz. Big mess like Jon says. I have 2, so next time will use both
Definitely works lying on its side. I use at least 6 oz in the cylinder. Keep the CO2 connected, lay it down. Check for leaks. Roll it well and on occasion for a half hour or so. Stand back up. This is all at room temp. Works great for me. Still has very fine debris but settles out while carbonating.
I’ve only keg hopped with a nylon mesh bag. Works well in my experience, but I’ve only done it in short term cases (re-dry hopping for a festival or something along those lines).
I primed the keg with 2.2oz of dextrose, set the lid with 30# of gas, and let it set at room temp for 10 days. I then stuck it in my kegerator and removed the dry hopper. The hops where so packed in the bottom. I split the batch into 3 fermenters. One got 5 days of hops pitched into primary. One got 12 days with hops in primary, and the other went to keg with the dry hopper. It has almost no aroma. The other 2 kegs are fantastic. I did like the 5 day the best. I could see putting the keg on its side. Maybe the next time I will breakup all of the pellets or use whole cones. It is so convenient if I can get it working like the free hops pitched into the fermenter. It was the first time using it.
I use a muslin bag for both whole and pellets. Stays in the keg 2-3 months. No problems.
Denny do feel you get the same aroma as free pitching them in the fermenter? I did lick not having the hop debris to deal with.
Absolutely.
Looks like I’m going bags. That stainless dry hopper sure looked pretty though.
Same here.
You can’t judge a book by its cover. As I learned many years ago with my funky mash tun, sometimes cheap’n’easy beats big’n’shiny.
I have two of those SS dryhop cylinders. same issues, repeatedly as you did, and gave up on them. as jon mentioned, they are good for <2oz dryhops but no more.
my new favorite method - surescreen + commando hops. then cold crash and jump to a new keg. easy peasy and an added benefit of leaving the sediment behind.
I don’t know if the issue is as big as you are making it out to be. When I pull mine, I can clearly see lots of particulate along the length of the filter. That to me says that at some point the hops were higher in the column.
Just looked at the surescreen. That looks like a great idea. Why didn’t I think of a screen on the dip tube? Guess I will give that a try. I wish I had bought the 10" hoppers in stead of the 18" Horizontal in primary I could see them working. 18" isn’t going to fit. Live and learn, thanks for the tip.