Low Oxygen Dry Hopping Techniques For Keg Fermented Beers

[@svetlanavogl6956]

So clear and detailed information. 😊

[@grahamhawes7089]

Good tips. I found a part that makes dry hopping simple, though: Amazon has corny keg lids with 1.5” TC ports welded to them. I just hook up my tank to the keg’s IN post with 1-2 PSI and dry hopping simple through the TC ports welded. Gentle positive pressure will prevent oxygen ingress. I add gelatin the same way. Another thing - I don’t fill kegs with sanitizer before purging. I just hook up the fermentation keg IN (gas) post to the serving keg OUT (liquid) post. Then hook the serving keg IN post to an airlock. The volume of CO2 produced by fermentation is so high, it’ll purge the serving keg of oxygen from the bottom up. You can also get a 1/2in barb plate for a blowoff tube - safer than relying on easily-clogged poppets.

[@thehohnstead]

Great job!

[@nblott]

Do you leave the dry hops in the serving keg for the life of the keg? Or depressurise the keg and extract the bag after a few days (with some exposure to oxygen)?

[@IBrew-UBrew]

Great question - yes, I do. Being suspended, once you drink a few beers from that keg, the hops will be above the liquid level. I feel the oxygen exposure isn’t worth the risk by removing them. Cheers.

[@Ryan_Mooney]

Why do you bother with filling the serving keg with sanitizer and push it out with fermentation co2, only to then open it to add the dry hop bag. Ive seen people (and i have myself) do this practice, but they keep the serving keg closed and then closed transfer the finished beer to that keg - making the beer never get exposed to o2. Why not just sanitize the serving keg and then add the hop bag? It seems like extra work for nothing, assuming I am not misunderstanding something.

[@IBrew-UBrew]

Every step one can take to lessen oxygen ingress is almost always a step worth taking when dealing with highly hopped beers. The co2 pushing sanitizer displacement method shown is more effective than a simple co2 purge method (sure, super easy but not very effective) as gasses still mix in this scenario. As you had mentioned, introducing hops to the serving keg will introduce a small amount of oxygen to the equation but that's where the continued application of co2 from the ferment helps. Think of my method as being similar to using a Hop Bong but, instead of being on the outside of the keg and being expensive, it works on the inside of the keg and is much more DIY.