Dry hopping under pressure help please

[Elliott 22]

How quickly do people dry hops drop out of suspension in fermzilla 27l conical, mine have dropped into the yeast container within a few hours?
My pressure was at 16psi yesterday when I dry hopped and now letting it go up to 20-22psi today as at end of fermentation and transferring Saturday.
Temperature is 24c.
Any help greatly appreciated

 

[Leon103]

Do a rumble. Release the pressure and knock the side, the hops will go back into suspension

 

[Elliott 22]

Do a rumble. Release the pressure and knock the side, the hops will go back into suspension

Thanks Leon

 

[muppix]

Your pressure looks to be above what I've heard most people fermenting at, 10-12 PSI. Not saying it's wrong - I have little to no experience myself - but one of the side effects of too much pressure is stressing the yeast. With this in mind I'd make extra-sure that fermentation has indeed finished, and that you haven't just stunned the yeast into submission.

As for the hops, I normally put mine into the collection jar when I dry hop, first dumping out all the trub. Before releasing the hops from the refitted jar I flush it liberally with CO2 from my cylinder - I could use the gas being produced by the fermenter itself but I tend to wait until fermentation is practically over, and since you're not supposed to close the butterfly valve under pressure I'd be waiting a long time for enough gas to purge that jar. On releasing the flushed hops from the collection jar there's an almighty rush as the gas in there goes to the top, taking the hops with it. After that they can settle all they want, I'm sure they've mixed well.

Just one other thing that may (or may not) be relevant; while reading up on staggered dry-hopping versus dumping everything in at once I came across the opinion that the all-at-once method is fine when you're using a flat-bottomed vessel and want to minimise oxygen exposure, but when using a conical you have a smaller surface area of your hops exposed at any time, and staggered drops can give you better exposure because you're layering. I hadn't realised this before and may well give staggered dry-hopping a go in future, but it means I'll have to add them from the top of my Fermzilla or I'll end up dumping out the previous hop addition via the collection jar.

 

[BlackRegent]

Your pressure looks to be above what I've heard most people fermenting at, 10-12 PSI. Not saying it's wrong - I have little to no experience myself - but one of the side effects of too much pressure is stressing the yeast. With this in mind I'd make extra-sure that fermentation has indeed finished, and that you haven't just stunned the yeast into submission.

I don't think it's a problem near the end of fermentation which is when the OP is saying he will increase the pressure. The objective of increasing the pressure at the end is simply to carbonate the beer with free CO2 which will then be absorbed by the beer during cold crash. IMHO, you could even remove the spunding valve completely and let the PRV blow off any excess

 

[muppix]

Yeah, that's a good call. If you know you're at the end of fermentation then there's no reason not to pile on the pressure and enjoy some free carbonation. To be fair I've gotten a good amount from 10 PSI and then switched straight to serving pressure once out of the FV and into the keg, but that's down to the style of beer and personal taste as well I suppose.

 

[Elliott 22]

Your pressure looks to be above what I've heard most people fermenting at, 10-12 PSI. Not saying it's wrong - I have little to no experience myself - but one of the side effects of too much pressure is stressing the yeast. With this in mind I'd make extra-sure that fermentation has indeed finished, and that you haven't just stunned the yeast into submission.

As for the hops, I normally put mine into the collection jar when I dry hop, first dumping out all the trub. Before releasing the hops from the refitted jar I flush it liberally with CO2 from my cylinder - I could use the gas being produced by the fermenter itself but I tend to wait until fermentation is practically over, and since you're not supposed to close the butterfly valve under pressure I'd be waiting a long time for enough gas to purge that jar. On releasing the flushed hops from the collection jar there's an almighty rush as the gas in there goes to the top, taking the hops with it. After that they can settle all they want, I'm sure they've mixed well.

Just one other thing that may (or may not) be relevant; while reading up on staggered dry-hopping versus dumping everything in at once I came across the opinion that the all-at-once method is fine when you're using a flat-bottomed vessel and want to minimise oxygen exposure, but when using a conical you have a smaller surface area of your hops exposed at any time, and staggered drops can give you better exposure because you're layering. I hadn't realised this before and may well give staggered dry-hopping a go in future, but it means I'll have to add them from the top of my Fermzilla or I'll end up dumping out the previous hop addition via the collection jar.

Thanks @muppix

I hadn’t read that about the staggered dry hopping and will definitely look into that,
I fermented at 15psi all the way through and at 24.5c top end of the yeast and fermented out completely in 3-4days down to 1006fg before dry hopping.

In the end I inverters the fermzilla each day once and shook the hops back in to suspension after a few replies and suggestions on the kegland Facebook support group which quite a few people do. I did purge container with co2 and then matched the pressure with my spunding valve before opening butterfly valve.

Moving on to my first closed transfer today

 

[muppix]

In the end I inverters the fermzilla each day once and shook the hops back in to suspension after a few replies and suggestions on the kegland Facebook support group which quite a few people do.

I've occasionally wondered about doing that. If I ever manage to get a second Fermzilla (they're sold out everywhere) then this would make for a good A/B test. Then again, one day I hope to own a stainless unitank and I've been half-kidding myself that the Fermzilla is but a stepping stone on the way. Not sure if I'll ever get there, or how I'll invert / shake a 7 gallon monster when I do.

I did purge container with co2 and then matched the pressure with my spunding valve before opening butterfly valve.

That's a good call about matching the pressure, I never thought of that. Probably why there was such an upward explosion of gas last time. I'm due to dry-hop a batch today and will give that a go. Cheers!

 

[Elliott 22]

I've occasionally wondered about doing that. If I ever manage to get a second Fermzilla (they're sold out everywhere) then this would make for a good A/B test. Then again, one day I hope to own a stainless unitank and I've been half-kidding myself that the Fermzilla is but a stepping stone on the way. Not sure if I'll ever get there, or how I'll invert / shake a 7 gallon monster when I do.

Wow definitely not sure I could do a 7 gallon shake

That's a good call about matching the pressure, I never thought of that. Probably why there was such an upward explosion of gas last time. I'm due to dry-hop a batch today and will give that a go. Cheers!

I probably read too much but have 2 spare carbonation caps and made sense to match and also better way to purge co2 with the sounding valve