Couple of dry hopping in the cold keg questions.

[msa8967]

Two beer that I made recently are lighter house ales that seem to need a bit more haroma/taste to them. The beers have been under 15 psi for three weeks now and I decided to add 1 oz of hops (saaz for one beer and sterling hops for the other). The hops are in a suspended weighted hop sack in each keg in the keezer. Two questions:

1. Is 1 oz of hops for dry hopping in these conditions enough hops to start with?

2. How long will it take to really notice a difference with the dry hops in a cold kegged beer? (I am guessing that this will be more than just 7 days.)

 

[deepcdan99]

I would start with 1 oz, and 7-10 days sounds about right. Try a bit each day until you feel it's right.

 

[Kealia]

The last time I did this I noticed a difference in about 5 days and it lasted for a solid 6-8 weeks.

 

[msa8967]

Thanks for the replies. I will start looking for changes this weekend and try to be patient.

 

[garcia]

You like your beer carbed up...

 

[Setesh]

I think 1 oz is perfect to start with. You can always add more if you aren't happy with it. 7 days seems to be the magic number. After 7 days it seems that you don't get much more hop flavor or aroma but vegetal flavor starts to increase.

 

[Setesh]

You like your beer carbed up...

Yeah, that's a really high PSI for most beers at the temps most of us keep our keezers at, but maybe he keeps his at 48? Its all about the temp/psi balance.

 

[msa8967]

My kezer is in the attached garage and if I don't keep the pressure around 12-15 psi I can get small chucks of ice forming in my lines or in the beer liquid tubes. There is very little foam in the pours right now.

 

[Setesh]

My kezer is in the attached garage and if I don't keep the pressure around 12-15 psi I can get small chucks of ice forming in my lines or in the beer liquid tubes. There is very little foam in the pours right now.

Why not get a two stage temp controller and have a heater in case the temps get too low? That would solve your problem and allow you to have properly carbed beers too. Its not just about balancing the lines to get good pours, it's about having the proper flavor and mouthfeel in your beer. That's my 2c.

 

[hoperific]

Be careful dry hopping with saaz. It tends to get very grassy, very quickly. I once tried to dry hop a pils, and it was nearly undrinkable after a few days.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew