Dry Hopping the Belgian IPA / Planting the Hop Crop

Biere de Table

I finally got around to dry hopping the Belgian IPA after about two weeks of fermentation and a week of cold crashing. I first pushed the beer through a new 5 micron filter from Northern Brewer and then through an older 1 micron filter into a keg with the 2 ounces of Centennial dry hops. I've started to find that (new filters especially) leave an unpleasant flavor in the filtered beer, and I think this was the case for the IPA. I hope this flavor will drop out or that the dry hops will cover the flavor, but I'm worried the beer won't quite recover. I'll have to either buy different filters from now on or forgo filtering all together. The more I've brewed recently, I've found that kegging/filtering produces a worse beer than simply bottling so I'll have to figure out how I want to condition my beers in the future.

2 ounces of Centennial for dry hopping

The 5 micron filter covered in yeast after filtering the IPA

I also finally had the chance to plant my hop rhizomes. After planting the Columbus rhizome I received a while ago in a pot, and almost killing it repeatedly, I hope that it'll take in the mound of soil I prepared for it. It seems like there are a few new roots that'll take to the backyard planting. I planted the Organic Cascade and Northern Brewer rhizomes I received last week as well. The rhizomes seemed incredibly weak, and the Northern Brewer rhizome seemed completely dead and decomposed. I planted both, so I'll have to see what comes from these three rhizomes. I'm hoping that whatever is alive in these rhizomes takes hold and gets going soon. If I get any yield from these rhizomes, I'll be brewing with these hops sometime in August or September, which could make for some great fall and winter beers.

The organic cascade (top) and the northern brewer (bottom) rhizomes