Hops in closed transfer?

[Tony B]

I feel like I’m losing some hop potential by using mesh bags. I was considering going freestyle and just chucking them in both the kettle and the FV when dry hopping to see if it helps. My only worry is clogging the posts on the keg when racking into the OUT side of the keg. Any tips or tricks to avoid this?

 

[BongoYodeler]

I feel like I’m losing some hop potential by using mesh bags. I was considering going freestyle and just chucking them in both the kettle and the FV when dry hopping to see if it helps. My only worry is clogging the posts on the keg when racking into the OUT side of the keg. Any tips or tricks to avoid this?

If you're dry hopping in your fermenter you can cold crash the fermenter prior to moving the beer to the keg, the hops will drop to the bottom. Use a floating dip tube if your fermenter can support it, to pull the beer from the top, off the hops, over to your keg. *You have to account for suck back as the CO2 in the fermenter will contract when cold crashing. One option is to capture fermentation CO2. I think Bobby sells a balloon type solution at Brew hardware .com that stores the CO2 created by fermentation, which then get sucked back in as you cold crash. Or if you can, hook up your CO2 tank to your fermenter you can just add a bit of CO2 that way. That's what I do. Whatever you're able to do just make sure you're not sucking oxygen back into the fermenter during cold crash.

For hoppier beers I will cold crash, sending the yeast to the bottom of the fermenter. I'm then able to pressure-transfer my beer from above the yeast cake in my fermenter over to a purged dry hop keg. After a few days I'll cold crash the keg and the hops will sink to the bottom. Then I pressure transfer off the hops to a second purged (serving) keg, via a floating dip tube.

There are various ways of accomplishing what you're trying to do, but it all depends on what equipment you have.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I use this inline filter when transferring from my fermenter into keg: https://vacmotion.com/Details.aspx?Cat=InlineFilters&Id=2843 They sell different size mesh filters, but I find this one to be good enough to filter out the hop particles that are big enough to clog my keg poppet. I purchased mine off Amazon, but I don't see this brand there anymore. I believe the Bouncer branded ones are made by the same company.

I also cold crash most of my dry hopped beers. This helps to settle out the hops into a compact layer.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

Cold crash

Inline filter of some sort, I use bouncer brand.

Take your time. Slow transfer will help reduce kicking up any settled trub.

As mentioned above you'll have to come up with a process that works for your system and equipment. Everyone has their own techniques and it may take a time or 2 or several to get your process dialed in. This is normal so don't get discouraged. The inline filter was a huge help for me and being patient with the cold crash.