Leaving hops in keg?

[timdurning]

I'm a bit pressed for time and want to force carb while dry hopping so that I can get some more contact time with the hops.

The keg is going to be poured at a large event, and I wanted a 5 day dry hop. Is there a problem with leaving the hops bag in the keg during carbing and serving? Right now, the hops are in a bag that's tied to a handle on the keg with some sanitized floss, so there shouldn't be any clogging issues.

If I'm making a if mistake on this one, please let me know. I'm generally new to kegging so any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[j1n]

Ive never heard of anyone trying this.... you going to just leave the hops in there when serving too?

 

[Yooper]

I leave my dry hops in for the life of the keg, but I never move my keg. I'm not sure how much the hops will fall apart during the move, and you may have quite a bit of hops debris loose in the keg. If you have a very tightly woven mesh bag, it may not do that, though.

 

[Takuie]

I don't see why it wouldn't work. In my head it sounds like a good idea.

 

[IslandLizard]

Sure, I usually leave my dry hops in the kegs until they kick (or when I clean them).

I found the fine-mesh hop bags you buy at the brew store still too coarse for pellets. When rolling to force carbonate, which also forces hop extraction (a good side effect) a lot of fine hop debris makes it out which takes a long time to settle, aside from too many murky pours each time the keg is moved.

So I now use much tighter weave muslin bags, and agitate during the dry hop period by swirling, rolling, or shaking, and force carbonation. The tighter weave of muslin prevents any hop particles from coming out. I suspend the hop bag with a piece of uncoated soft "braided" SS (picture) wire, tied to a welded nut or washer on the inside of the lid.

I reuse the hop bags by rinsing well, then boiling in PBW, followed by more rinsing and a Starsan soak.

 

[dkennedy]

I leave mine in for the life of the keg (which always seems shorter than expected for that IPA). I'm using a Wilser bag that came with his triple-play package, been happy with the tight mesh. I tie the bag onto the liquid dip tube, about half way up.

Once it settles from moving it to your event, would think that you'd be fine, just tell people to chew if there is excess material .

 

[m00ps]

I use the unflavored dental floss tied to a bag method to suspend my hops. I leave them all in the keg the entire time. I even once left 2oz of keg hops in a keg at room temperature for 4 months before I chilled it and tapped it. It was heavenly. These were whole leaf hops though. I've heard some people getting grassy flavors from leaving pellets in too long

 

[Andyoesq]

I've thrown the bag in the keg for IPAs, and dry hopped while carbing , and it has worked out fine

 

[WNCBrewman]

I use arbor fab stainless steel micro dry hop cylinder and drop the thing in the keg and let it set for how ever many days i want at room temp for better hop extraction, then start the chilling process in the keezer...never had any issues with off flavors leaving hops in the keg for any length of time. But I think that what Yooper mentioned is key - she doesnt move her keg. So, I would expect that if you did prep it and move it, you would still need a good 2 days of settling at fridge temps and a pour or two to clean out any hop debris along with any sediment. You would have to plan on the sediment issue anyway.

 

[LLBeanJ]

I leave the hops in the keg for the duration. I bag the hops and add to the keg about 3 days prior to moving it to the fridge.

 

[stevedasleeve]

I have a screen on my out tube and every beer is hopped with whole cones in the keg. 6 weeks no problem, and longer...!

 

[Callacave]

I do the opposite. Use a sure screen on the dip tube, and tie a fine mesh bag around that. That way I can dump leaf and pellets in the keg, and let them free float in the keg for maximum extraction.

 

[njviking]

I've been using 4 inch tea ball strainers that I got from my local asian food market. I wouldn't trust them when burst carbing a keg but drop them in right after I pull it off bursting gas.i get a little hop gunk but not a big deal for me.