dry hopping in the cornie

[delboy]

Not sure if this is the right part of the forum for this question (feel free to move it mods if it isn't).

I was wondering what was the latest thinking on dry hopping in a cornie, do people just bung them in and bag and forget about them or do you run the risk of them blocking the out dip tube (has anyone experienced this problem). Or is some sort of floation device in the hop bag the way to go?

One other question to get the most hop flavour without grassyness is it better to use lots of hops for a short amount of time or a small amount of hops for a longer time??
I would imagaine its the a lot for a short amount of time option but i just wanted to hear peoples experiences. Ta

[RabMaxwell]

Hello delboy i find i dont get the grassy tast with pellet hops i use stainless tea balls.If it's a beer thats ready quick i dry hop when filling if not i open the keg back up & dry hop later on once in the keg they stay till the end

[Duncndisorderly]

As a partial answer you could stuff your hops into one of the detergent tablet bags you get in ariel/persil/daz tablet boxes, (suitably disenfected) i should think the little blue float attached to the draw string would be sufficient to keep the hops afloat and avoid any possible blockage inssues untill you get to the end assuming its whole leaf hops that your using, not sure on the mesh size on those bags if your using pellets and they start to break up.

[Talisman]

use a muslim cloth bag with the hops in and a ping pong ball.

[RabMaxwell]

As a partial answer you could stuff your hops into one of the detergent tablet bags you get in ariel/persil/daz tablet boxes, (suitably disenfected) i should think the little blue float attached to the draw string would be sufficient to keep the hops afloat and avoid any possible blockage inssues untill you get to the end assuming its whole leaf hops that your using, not sure on the mesh size on those bags if your using pellets and they start to break up.

Done this in the past with whole hops the holes are not that small & some hops get through not to bad though

[delboy]

I find 5-7 days is plenty of time in the cornie and it tastes much better if left to mature a bit so I fish the muslin bag out a week or two before its ready. I thread a bit of cotton through the bag and trap it in the lid until I want to lift it out and don't bother with weights or ping pong balls, the hops naturally just below the surface and the flavour infuseses through out the beer without shaking or rolling the keg.

Does the thread not break the seal and cause the co2 to vent off, or do the 0-rings still work?

[delboy]

Not noticably. I use regular sewing cotton off a reel and the capillary action keeps it damp which helps maintain the seal. I initially expected to loose a small amount but this isn't the case at least there's no noticable drop in pressure over the 5-7 days it's in there.

Cheers DaaB the old cotton trick it is then. Thanks to all the other contributers (i think in the long run i'll end up buying one of those ss hop balls).

[sib67]

I use the same method as DaaB - haven't noticed any problems with the seal on the lid.

[Bigster]

I usually just chuck them in a muslin bag and leave them to float in the corni but on my last beer I sunk them with marbles which was a mistake as all the crud gets caught up in the bag and beer is not as clear as I would like. Great taste of hops though every time