Apr 202212Tue

Dry-hopped HP

30℃ hops

Threw in 25g Citra and 25g Centennial pellets just now via the main opening, also added the floating dip tube. Fermentation has been slowing over the past couple of days and the curve is now pretty much level, though there were still some pops coming from the blow-off bottle. The top of the brew has been clear of Krausen for a couple of days too, and I’ve never seen so much activity with the top clear, then again I don’t often connect the blow-off bottle so it may be perfectly normal and not something related to this first go with Hornindal.

On gently de-pressurising via the PRV there was a great rush of foam and now I had Krausen again, almost level with the opening. Threw the hops in pretty quickly and refitted the lid, knowing that the small amount of fermentation that’s still going on will help drive out any air induced by the procedure but also take away some of the hop aroma. That latter point isn’t as pertinent as it would normally be, given that I’m kegging this one day before a 2 week break aboard and therefore expect to lose some hops over that time anyhow.

As soon as the lid was back on and the blow-off tube connected I saw more bubbles in the sanitiser, and the spunding valve gauge started to creep up again. Using the PRV to re-pressurise gives less control than reducing the spunding valve, but at least I know that the valve is set to where it needs to be. Will I use this method next time? Not sure. The whole point behind reducing pressure gradually is to minimise structural stress on the vessel and the floating digital hydrometer, so will keep an eye on both of those now that I’ve tried another way.