philm63
Grandmaster Brewer
Well, my first attempt at a Double IPA - a black one no less - went very well up to the point I decided to check the carbonation level. After sitting in the kegerator at 12 psi for about a week, I pulled a few ounces into my glass, stuck my nose in and gave it a good sniff and took a sip, and that's when it hit me!
This was my first attempt at the style and also my first attempt at keg-hopping. In addition to 2 separate massive hop charges - one in the primary and another in the secondary - I stuffed 2 ounces of whole-leaf hops, Simcoe and Cascade, into a nylon sock and tossed in a few 1-inch stainless steel ball-bearings to keep it on the bottom of the keg figuring it'll just slowly dry-hop during the 2 or 3 weeks of pulling pint after pint. I'd heard about this method and wanted to try it myself.
If it wasn't bad enough the Simcoe came across with a very heavy cat-pee aroma, the kicker was the ballast used to keep the sock on the bottom. In case you missed it the first time; I said Stainless Steel ball-bearings, thinking this'll be nice and sanitary and should do the trick without risking any kind of infection.
Most folks I've heard from on the topic of keg-hopping-in-a-sock use a handful of marbles (you know who you are...) but I already had these nifty stainless steel ball-bearings in stock. Trouble was, because they were ball-bearings, they were hardened meaning they were made of a higher carbon/lower chromium stainless steel (not very corrosion-resistant) and reacting to a low pH they quickly turned black. The worst part was that first taste. I was devastated. It smelled like cat-pee and tasted like steel. Crap!
It received a short service and a burial fit for a goldfish, the hop-sock was retrieved, keg cleaned, another moment of silence, then back to the drawing board. And the toy store to get some marbles. Glass ones!
Lesson learned: Do NOT use stainless steel ball bearings in your beer - EVER!!
This was my first attempt at the style and also my first attempt at keg-hopping. In addition to 2 separate massive hop charges - one in the primary and another in the secondary - I stuffed 2 ounces of whole-leaf hops, Simcoe and Cascade, into a nylon sock and tossed in a few 1-inch stainless steel ball-bearings to keep it on the bottom of the keg figuring it'll just slowly dry-hop during the 2 or 3 weeks of pulling pint after pint. I'd heard about this method and wanted to try it myself.
If it wasn't bad enough the Simcoe came across with a very heavy cat-pee aroma, the kicker was the ballast used to keep the sock on the bottom. In case you missed it the first time; I said Stainless Steel ball-bearings, thinking this'll be nice and sanitary and should do the trick without risking any kind of infection.
Most folks I've heard from on the topic of keg-hopping-in-a-sock use a handful of marbles (you know who you are...) but I already had these nifty stainless steel ball-bearings in stock. Trouble was, because they were ball-bearings, they were hardened meaning they were made of a higher carbon/lower chromium stainless steel (not very corrosion-resistant) and reacting to a low pH they quickly turned black. The worst part was that first taste. I was devastated. It smelled like cat-pee and tasted like steel. Crap!
It received a short service and a burial fit for a goldfish, the hop-sock was retrieved, keg cleaned, another moment of silence, then back to the drawing board. And the toy store to get some marbles. Glass ones!
Lesson learned: Do NOT use stainless steel ball bearings in your beer - EVER!!