For those who've caught the recent Eel River Brewing episode of The Session ( http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/session-eel-river-brewing-co/, ~2:13 in)
They mention a dry hopping technique that involves recirculating pulverized hop pellets through a beer to quickly and completely expose it to all of the hop oils available. He talks about how it completely revolutionized the way he dry hops at the brewery, and the effect it has on the resulting beer.
This got me thinking...couldn't you use the new Blichmann Quickcarb along with a keg with a slightly cut-off dip tube as a dry hopping tank with this method? The issues I could see would be a) preventing oxygen ingress, and b) best practices for pulverizing the hops before tossing the dust in the keg.
My theoretical process would be:
I've been waffling over the Blichmann Quickcarb but didn't see the cost justification just to carbonate...however if this seems like a viable dry hopping solution then it might be worth while.
Thoughts?
They mention a dry hopping technique that involves recirculating pulverized hop pellets through a beer to quickly and completely expose it to all of the hop oils available. He talks about how it completely revolutionized the way he dry hops at the brewery, and the effect it has on the resulting beer.
This got me thinking...couldn't you use the new Blichmann Quickcarb along with a keg with a slightly cut-off dip tube as a dry hopping tank with this method? The issues I could see would be a) preventing oxygen ingress, and b) best practices for pulverizing the hops before tossing the dust in the keg.
My theoretical process would be:
Ferment, cold crash, and rack to a co2 purged keg with a slightly cut off dip tube.
Crush your dry hop regimen in a co2 flushed bag with a rolling pin.
Toss in your hop dust, hit with another blast of co2, then begin recirculation with the diaphragm pump and low levels of co2 through the airstone just to prevent oxygen from getting into the system.
Run system for maybe an hour or two
Cold crash again to settle out the hops, then push with co2 to another co2 flushed serving keg
I've been waffling over the Blichmann Quickcarb but didn't see the cost justification just to carbonate...however if this seems like a viable dry hopping solution then it might be worth while.
Thoughts?