The trick is to slowly engage the butterfly valve to control the trickle of hops through the narrow part of the chamber. ![]() I did a test with Cheerios…yes Cheerios, and it works a lot smoother. My solution was to place a 3″ butterfly valve before the reducer in order to free up space by the 1.5″ port. The hops can have a difficult time fitting through the now tighter space. The problem with the previous options is the lack of space between the 1.5 TC port when a butterfly valve is added. 3″ TC Lid with Gas Post and PRV (mine came with 3″ gasket)įermenting combo with TC for blowoff tube, PRV etc.īuild number 3 is extreme… but really versatile and works the best.The 1.5-inch butterfly valve promotes “hop bridging” and prevents the hops from being able to fall through effectively, especially when packed in. After some trial and error with this version, I’m not sure it’s worth the aggravation. It’s smaller but you can also add hops in two rounds if you’re on a budget. This hopper holds about 4 ounces of hops (without overstuffing). FYI, I’m assuming you already have a 1.5″ TC and gasket to attach the dropper to the conical itself. I have to rock my valve handle back and forth several times to get them past the valve and into the fermenter. It does not have a sight glass so you’re blind to the hops actually dropping however you can hear them fall in. My first variation runs around $80-90 depending on if you have an extra 1.5″ TC clamp and gasket on hand. This will do a better job at purging the entire space inside from the bottom up, especially if you pre-purge before adding hops. My fermenter has a gas port on it so I can install my dry hopper, crack the butterfly valve to the dry hopper, and force CO2 through the entire system and up through the dry-hop chamber. One, purge via the top of the dry hopper through the PRV/gas lid OR by using the conical itself. There are two paths to remove oxygen from the dry hopper. Luckily, I was able to source all my parts from Amazon really quickly. A butterfly valve makes for easy flipping from my blowoff tube, hopper, or PRV. Since the accessory lid port on my conical is only a 1.5″ TC ferrule, I wanted a cone-like shape to help funnel the hops in and not have too narrow of a space for the hops to get stuck. Both seem reasonably budget-friendly relative to the cost of buying a premade one. I put together a smaller, more budget option as well as a larger and slightly more ridiculous option. Lastly, it needs to be large enough to hold a large dry hop charge. You also need an easy way to purge the space with CO2. ![]() ![]() Hop dosers easily get very expensive because most utilize wide site glasses or pipes to hold the hops. My goal was to build a ‘not totally ridiculous’ zero oxygen dry hopper for a 1.5 TC fitting on the lid of my conical. In other words, homebrewers need to be more careful about dry hopping techniques than commercial breweries. Oxidation destroys IPAS, but especially NEIPAs.Įven with a conical, homebrewers are more susceptible to beer oxidation than commercial brewers based on pure volume of beer relative to the amount of oxygen exposure when opening a vessel to add dry hops. Why does this even matter? Well, with mine and everyone else’s obsession with brewing NEIPAs, we need a way to add hops without introducing oxygen along with it. ![]() I never thought I would go as far as building a dry hopper device to be honest, however, after investing so much into a conical, I figured I might as well take it all the way and eliminate the last oxygen hurdle.
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