KegLand - Hop Bong - Hands on Review

We first looked at KegLand's Hop Bong just prior to it's release way back in 2022. It may have taken us a while, but we finally got our hands on one, so here's our hands on review based on our experience with it so far.

Hop.. What?

First things first, what exactly is a "hop bong"? KegLand define it as ".. a versatile pressurizable tri-clover accessory, capable of not only dry hopping oxygen purged hops into fermenters. But also as an inline carbonation/oxygenation accessory."

The device itself is made from Nylon 12: an autoclavable, extremely robust, and chemical resistant engineering plastic. Although versatile, it's certainly not designed for smoking anything through, although you can see from it's shape where the name came from.

It was originally designed to be used in conjunction with one of KegLand's FermZilla fermenters, but thankfully were engineered using tri-clamp, the standard sanitary connection/coupling type within the brewing industry which means they can be integrated with any fermenter featuring a standard 1.5" or 2" tri-clamp port/ferrule.

Ultimately, it's a device that allows brewers to dry hop under pressure and without introducing oxygen into their beer. Oxygen ingress into finished beer can quickly lead to the staling effects of oxidation that will ruin a beer in just a matter of weeks or even days. 

We've previously opted to keep things simple when dry hopping, and simply opened up our fermenter to drop the hops in. A couple of times we've tried running CO2 into the fermenter whilst doing so, which involves a bit of mucking around, but we've ultimately had pretty good results either way and can't recall the last time we had a batch go bad from oxidation. Other brewers have employed all manner of methods to dry hop without having to open their fermenters, like sticking their dry hops in cloth mesh bags to the roof of the fermenter using food grade magnets, then removing the magnet to let the hops drop in when required.

Although we like to keep things simple, we're also open to new ideas and methods, especially if they reduce risk, and are cost effective, so let's carry on and see how the Hop Bong stacks up.

Bong Basics

The hop bong is available in two different sizes, 1.5" or 2" which is the tri-clamp port diameter they are designed to connect to. Our review is based on the 2" version, but you can expect almost identical performance with the 1.5" version, with the only obvious difference being it's slightly smaller diameter and therefore capacity/volume.

Both versions are 170mm tall, with the 1.5" version holding up to 120g of hop pellets, and the 2" version up to 180g, though you can probably expect a little bit more if you include the space afforded by the butterfly valve you'll need to install the Hop Bong onto.

The engineering plastic construction makes the Hop Bong light weight and very strong. KegLand themselves state it can be sterilised in an autoclave, which from our research suggests subjects whatever is inside to temperatures of around 120°C. The usual acid based sanitisers and powdered brewery wash (PBW) used in commercial and home breweries alike would not pose a problem for this material either with it's strong chemical resistance.

Operation

The primary use of the Hop Bong is for oxygen-free dry-hopping, though it has other applications too. For this review, we'll concentrate on dry hopping, but we'll also touch on these additional uses later.

After attaching your hop bong to your fermenter using a butterfly valve, you fill the Hop Bong with hop pellets, and after sealing with a lid that also features a pressure relief valve, you're able to purge it with carbon dioxide (CO2) by connecting gas to the carbonation cap - located where the cone piece on a traditional bong would be. Fill the Hop Bong with CO2, disconnect CO2, then open the pressure relief valve to expel the gas (along with any oxygen) - repeat a couple of times and essentially all oxygen should be removed from within the Hop Bong where your dry hop charge is.

Once this is done, pressurise it one last time so the Hop Bong pressure is around the same as the pressure in the fermenter, then open the butterfly valve to introduce the dry hops into your fermenting (or fermented) beer.

An additional benefit here is that brewers can now dry hop under pressure. Previously, brewers would need to depressurise a fermenter before opening it to add the dry hops which presented two problems. Firstly, if depressurising too quickly, it could cause a "krausen volcano" where the krausen would rise rapidly as dissolved carbon dioxide quickly makes it's way out of suspension. As the CO2 escapes, it causes the krausen to foam up drastically, and in some cases can lead to an overflow of krausen out of the top of the fermenter, hence the term "volcano".

Secondly, when opening the lid of your fermenter you are significantly increasing your risk of introducing oxygen into your beer - which brewers well know is public enemy number one, especially with hop forward styles that require dry hops. As we previously mentioned, oxygen ingress will inevitably lead to oxidation, which will rapidly stale your beer and lead to significant off flavours. Needless to say, this is something all brewers tend to do everything in their power to avoid, and the primary motivation for the Hop Bong being created in the first place.

Historically, brewers have used other homemade contraptions to try and achieve the same thing - typically with sight glasses, and a variety of stainless parts like T-pieces so you can connect a gas source, and vent the gas out again. And while these contraptions may have worked, they certainly weren't cost effective (since stainless parts are expensive), so the hop bong is a welcome addition to the homebrewing scene, with it's engineering plastic construction making it within reach of just about every homebrewer.

Parts Needed

Now we know what the Hop Bong is, you'll also need a few additional parts to get it fully operational and integrated with your fermenter. Since the Hop Bong is available in two sizes, 1.5" and 2",  you'll need to ensure any extra parts you get are the same size. Here's a detailed list of what you'll need;

• 1.5"/2" hop bong sight glass
  
  

• 1.5"/2" butterfly valve
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 1.5"/2" to PCO 1881 Male
  

  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• 1 x carbonation cap
  
  

• 1 x PCO1881 PRV Cap Combo
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 2 x 1.5"/2" tri-clamp
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 2 x 1.5"/2" beaded seals
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

If you plan on using the Hop Bong with a FermZilla, you'll need to get the FermZilla TC Pressure Lid Kit ( KL28219) pictured below. Alternatively, if you're using a different brand of fermenter, all you need is a 1.5" or 2" tri-clamp opening on the lid somewhere that you can attach a butterfly valve to, and you're good to go.

In addition to the listed items above, you'll also need an extra tri clamp and beaded seal to attach the butterfly valve to your fermenter, so make sure you add this to your shopping list if you don't already have some of these spare lying around.

Some Assembly Required

Once you've got all the correct parts for your Hop Bong, it's time to put it together. If you're familiar with tri-clamp connections, this should be a fairly straight forward process. For those new to the tri-clamp world, simply put a gasket between the ports of the two components you're joining then close and tighten the clamp using the screw mechanism.

Starting at the bottom of the assembly, attach the butterfly valve to your fermenter and fasten with a tri-clamp. Ensure the valve is in the closed position, and make sure you have it oriented correctly and with enough space to open/close the valve using the handle.

Next, attach the Hop Bong to the top of the butterfly valve and secure with a tri-clamp. It probably doesn't really matter, but the hop bong is typically oriented so the carbonation cap is located towards the bottom, angling upwards.

Screw the carbonation cap into place - do it up firmly - no need to overtighten.

Attach the PCO 1881 male adapter to the top of the hop bong and secure with a tri clamp.
Pro tip - do up this clamp as tight as it will go. We're always wary of overtightening, especially when dealing with plastic components but we found until we had this clamp tightened up all the way it didn't seal properly and leaked gas.

Screw the PCO1881 PRV cap onto the PCO 1881 male adapter, then screw the PRV into the PRV cap (if it's not already fitted).

And there you have it - a fully assembled hop bong ready to rip.

Is Bigger Better?

The Hop Bong is available in 2" and 1.5" versions, and we'd recommend going for the 2" version if you can. You may initially think that you're restricted to the 1.5" version if you're fermenter or lid only has a 1.5" opening, however you can get 2" to 1.5" reducers to allow you to connect a 2" hop bong onto a 1.5" ferrule. Keep in mind that this will add a bit of height to your Hop Bong solution, so make sure you have adequate vertical space if you need to keep your fermenter in a fridge for example.

Why is bigger better? Two reasons in our opinion. Firstly, the larger diameter hop bong will hold more hops allowing for larger dosage without having to 'reload'. Secondly, when connected to a 2" butterfly valve, it's less likely to become blocked/clogged when opening, as we've occasionally seen with some other users with the 1.5" version. Although not a particularly big deal, as simply opening/closing the valve a few times is enough to loosen things up and get the hops dropping.

Other Use Cases

Although we haven't explored some of these other use cases for the Hop Bong just yet, there are some other use cases to highlight it's versatility that are well worth mentioning as part of this review.

Adding Other Finings/Ingredients

Fining agents like gelatin can be added in much the same way as you would with dry hopping. Attach your hop bong, add your ingredients or fining agent into the hop bong itself, purge with CO2, then open the butterfly valve to drop it into the fermenter. As with dry hopping, you gain the benefits of being able to add these things into your fermenter in an oxygen free environment, and without having to de-pressurise your fermenter if you're pressure fermenting.

The skies the limit in terms of what you could add - gelatin, fruit, spices, wood chips or other tintures you've concocted.

Hop Randall

A hop randall can be used to impart additional flavours into your finished beer between the serving vessel (keg) and the tap. It would most commonly be used with hop pellets or whole hop flowers/cones to give an additional hop flavour hit just prior to serving, but you could add just about anything you like.

You can see from the photo below how you would configure this, but you'll also need to ensure you replace one of the tri-clamp seals with a special seal containing a mesh filter to prevent the poppet on the ball lock post from becoming blocked/clogged with debris from whatever you've got in your Hop Bong.

Inline Carbonator/Oxygenator

Another popular use case would be using the Hop Bong as an inline carbonation or oxygenation system. This will allow you to infuse carbon dioxide or oxygen into your beer during transfer - oxygenating when transferring from your kettle to your fermenter, or carbonation when transferring from your fermenter into your serving vessel.  

As you can see from the picture above, you'll need a couple of extra parts to get this setup, but most importantly you'll need a diffusion stone attached to the carbonation cap on the angled part of the HOp Bong (which your oxygen/CO2 gas source will be connected to).

Although we haven't attempted using the hop bong for anything other than dry hopping (yet), these alternative uses are suggested by KegLand and certainly highlight the versatility of the product. Of course you'll need a couple of extra components to get these setups working, but since most of the parts are plastic, they're cheap, and you may already have some of them lying around (like carbonation caps for example). We are a little wary of how easily ball lock posts can be clogged, so if using the Hop Bong as a hop randall, small bits of hop debris could well make their way through the mesh and clog the poppets - perhaps a finer mesh filter may be a good idea?

How Much Is It?

Being made of plastic, the price of the Hop Bong itself is pretty reasonable at AU$16.95 for the 2" version and AU$14.95 for the 1.5". As we've previously mentioned, you'll need a few other parts like a butterfly valve, clamps, seals and adapter(s) to get PRV and/or cabonation caps installed. Your total lay out is ultimately going to depend on what you've already got lying around in your homebrewery, but as a guide, current pricing comes to around AU$80 for everything listed above, but doesn't not include the tri-clamp capable FermZilla lid.

Final Thoughts

KegLand's Hop Bong is a versatile and innovative tool for homebrewers looking to enhance their brewing process. Its ability to facilitate oxygen-free dry hopping, along with additional uses like inline carbonation and oxygenation, makes it a valuable addition to any brewing setup. The robust construction and compatibility with standard tri-clamp fittings ensure it integrates seamlessly with various fermenters. While it may require some additional parts and assembly, the benefits of reduced oxidation risk and ease of use make it a worthwhile investment. Whether you’re a seasoned brewer or just starting out, the Hop Bong offers a practical solution to improve the quality and consistency of your brews.

The Hop Bong is available from kegland.com.au, as well as KegLand distributors worldwide.

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Building a Home Brewery - Design Ideas

Thinking of designing a dedicated space for your homebrewing adventures, and looking for some inspiration or ideas? This was us a couple of years ago when we were designing a new house. We were able to include a few brewing related additions to our design, in particular in the garage where at least part of it was going to be used for brewing. These inclusions have been paying dividends for us since we moved in, so we thought we'd share our experience on this.

Hot & Cold Water

There's no disputing one of the biggest things you'll use in a home brewery is water. Whether it's for mashing, sparging, cleaning, mixing up sanitizing or pH meter calibration solutions, you'll inevitably need to use plenty of it on (and in between) brew days, so having a water source (ie. tap/faucet) in your home brewery is a major advantage. Bonus points for getting hot water connected as well which certainly works better when cleaning things with powdered brewery wash (PBW).

We had hot and cold water provisioned in our garage which makes every part of brewing infinitely faster and easier. Water can get pretty heavy, pretty quickly, even when dealing with "single batch" volumes of 19L so carting the kinds of volumes required is really not ideal, especially when your throw stairs, doors and other obstacles into the mix.

Water Filter

This one obviously ties in with the previous point, but we thought it deserved it's own separate spot on the list as well. We mentioned above that we had hot and cold water provisioned in our garage, but it took us several months before we got around to installing an in-line water filter. Prior to doing this we were using the filtered water from our fridge which meant carting water through the house for use on brew day. Time consuming, heavy and just generally inconvenient. Basic inline carbon water filters are cheap and easy to install, and are extremely effective at removing chlorine and chloramine, along with other contaminants from your source water which can taint the flavour of your brew.

You can even go the whole hog and get a reverse osmosis filter system to filter out essentially all mineral content from the water which can be particularly useful for being able to build just about any kind of water profile you like for the style of beer that you're making. Something we may look into in the future but for now we're happy with our simple inline-carbon filter setup.

Check out our previous article on our water filter installation.

Large Capacity Sink

Having a sink large enough to fit your pots, kettles and fermenters makes it much easier and convenient for cleaning. Prior to having this we used to drag everything out onto the lawn and spray everything down with a garden hose - which does the job, but you're really limited to using cold water for this. You could also use a kitchen sink or laundry tub, but we've found they're really not big enough to work comfortably in.

Large capacity pot washing sinks are perfect for this - and as you can see from the photo above, we've opted for a single one in our garage brewery. There are plenty of options available in different heights and sizes, you can even get some with a bench attached as well so you can have a small work area to leave things on to dry.

You will of course need a drain connection in order for your sink to work properly, so keep this in mind with your design as well.

Pre-Rinse Tap

To go along with your large capacity sink, a pre-rinse tap like you often see in commercial kitchens is another great idea. The high neck makes it easier to reach up into taller vessels like fermenters and all-in-one brewing systems like the BrewZilla (which we use), and the one-hand trigger operation makes using it fast and easy.

These taps can be expensive though, as most are made for heavy use in industrial/commercial environments - not necessarily what is needed in your home brewery. It's worth keeping an eye on second hand market places which often sell second hand commercial kitchen items from businesses that have shutdown, or alternatively there are significantly cheaper options available on eBay and Amazon like the one that we have opted for.

Another tip is to look for one that has a "regular" tap that can be turned and left on for filling, and a separate pre-rinse tap mechanism (water flow is switched between the two using a diversion valve) - otherwise you'll have to hold the pre-rinse tap open manually whilst filling.

ePoxy Flooring

An epoxy floor is a great home brewery idea, especially if you're looking at utilising a space like a garage that would otherwise be a regular concrete slab. We had our garage floor epoxy coated as part of our new home build and we think it's probably our best idea in our garage home brewery.

Firstly, an epoxy floor looks great and makes the garage feel almost like another room in the house. Concrete floors feel cold, and dusty, and tend to absorb stains and spills fairly easily, and are then nearly impossible to clean off - at least without resorting to using acid washes.

Depending on what colour(s) you opt for, they can hide dirt and dust a bit better as well, which is good and bad. We're often surprised at how much dirt and dust we find when we run a broom over, but because it's essentially a hard floor, you can even vacuum it (which we sometimes do also).

It's chemical resistant as well so you don't have to worry so much about the occasional acid spill, like from phosphoric acid/star san - fairly commonly used in home breweries. These will stain regular concrete, but ePoxy is much more chemical resistant so spills can generally just be wiped up without issue.

Since you're home brewery will inevitably be a "wet area" at times, it's a good idea to get a non-slip coating added as well, as they otherwise become very slippery when wet.

Storage

You'll inevitably end up with lots of "stuff" in your home brewery, so considering where you're going to store it all is definitely something to think about.

Shelving units are an obvious choice to fit out against a wall (or walls) to stack larger, bulkier items like fermenters and kettles when not in use. We keep our larger stuff in their original boxes which admittedly takes up a bit more space but is a bit neater and keeps them dust-free.

But what about for all the smaller things like clamps, seals, brushes, disconnects, hydrometers etc? We ended up getting a tool chest/trolley for ours and find it a really practical solution. Having the trolley on wheels makes it portable so it can be moved around very easily, and the drawers give an easy and logical way to separate/categorise the smaller items in your brewing inventory.

You can of course get these in all sorts of different sizes, but you'll be surprised how much you can fit in a small one like ours

Think we've missed anything? Let us know in the comments below!

Flying Horses - American Amber Ale - BrewZilla Brew Day

Here's the run down from our latest brew day - our Flying Horses American Amber Ale. You can check out the link to the recipe at the bottom of this page.

We started out gathering our water. 23L in the BrewZilla and 12L in the Digiboil for sparging

Next, we added our brewing salts - calcium chloride, magnesium sulphate and calcium sulphate to reach our target water profile.

Next step was to acidify both the mash and sparge water using phosphoric acid. Interestingly, we acidifed our sparge water the night before we actually brewed, and noticed the pH had risen back a couple of tenths during that time, so we're going to leave our acidification until we're about to brew in the future.

Sparge water pH at 5.33 - right in the desired 5.2 - 5.6 range

Our pre-milled grains with a separate smaller bag of 100g light chocolate malt. We can only order in 100g increments, and we only need 50g of the light chocolate malt so we weigh it out separately

An uneventful mash in, with a little bit of extra water (recipe called for 22.2L, we used 23L)

If you haven't got one of these mash stirring paddles you can attach to your drill, do yourself a favour and get one. We've used ours for quite a few brews now and love how quick and efficient it makes stirring the grain through and importantly breaking up those clumps and dough balls to ensure maximum efficiency!

After mashing in we left the grain bed to settle for 10 minutes before taking our first pH reading. 5.44 was a bit higher than the expected 5.3, so we added another 0.5mL (or 1.0mL) of phosphoric acid to the mash to try and get it a little lower.

We took another reading approx 10 minutes later which showed a slightly reduced 5.4 pH now. Obviously with all the grains the buffering capacity of the mash is higher so more acid is required to drop the pH. We're always worried about overshooting and getting the pH too low so we err on the side of caution here.

We then began recirculating the mash using the built in BrewZilla pump and sergeant sparge head attachment

Mash temperature a little lower than the 67°C we were aiming for.

Yet another pH reading and we're a bit lower again, now in the 5.3x range so we're happy with this now

Managed to eventually hit our target mash temperature of 67°C - slightly higher than the "standard" 65°C to try and get a slightly less fermentable wort for a slightly higher FG for a little more residual sweetness which is what is expected in a style like amber ale.

Some more recirculation photos and you can see the wort is starting to clear up a little now

After the 60 minute mash we lifted the grain basket and began sparging.

Towards the end of the mash the recirculation really began to slow down, and this also meant the sparge flow was quite slow. Plenty of stirring was required to coax the sparge water down through the grain bed but we got there eventually

We hit our pre-boil volume of 26.5L so now time to wait for the boil to begin

Pre-boil gravity reading and it's bang on expected at 1.048

Pre-boil pH reading and we're at 5.36 - tiny bit lower than our last reading. Interesting that the pH variation is not as drastic as we had been lead to believe through the mash process

Whilst waiting for the BrewZilla to reach a boil, we began measuring out our hop additions. First one, 12g of CTZ for our main 30 minute bittering addition

Boil time and plenty of foam and hot break on top

First hop addition of CTZ being added

Rolling boil underway, but look at the temperature of our thermometer probe. The probe was right in the middle of the kettle but was only reading 96°C!

As far as we're aware there isn't an option to calibrate these, and last time we used it, it was reading perfectly fine (ie. showing 100°C during the boil). Anyway, after disconnecting and reconnecting the probe, it started reading again correctly. Weird, but hopefully this doesn't mean our mash temperature was off by a few degrees!?

Moving on, it was time to weigh out the hops for the rest of our boil additions

Yeast nutrient also weighed out to be added with 10 minutes left in the boil

Plus a half whirlfloc tablet to be added at the same time as the yeast nutrient

Temperature probe now showing 100°C during the boil after disconnect and reconnecting the temperature probe from the main unit.

Now weighing out our whirlpool hop additions for a 10 minute whirlpool at 80°C at the conclusion of the 30 minute boil

Whirlpool temperature started a bit higher than desired but eventually fell pretty close to the target 80°C

Post-boil gravity and we're a couple of points higher than expected, but also a bit dubious of this as this number doesn't really correlate based on the pre-boil gravity. We'll take a trusty floating hydrometer reading to double check this.

Wort settling nicely after the whirlpool

Wort chilled as much as possible with town water, so time to transfer to our Apollo Titan fermenter

Floating hydrometer reading shows actual original gravity of around 1.052 - more in line with what was expected and pretty much what was expected from the recipe.

After pitching the single packet of US-05 yeast, it took at least 24 hours for things to get underway, but once they did it chewed through the wort pretty fast.

Final gravity as measured with a floating hydrometer was 1.013, giving as a final ABV of 5.12%

After approximately 1 week we dropped the temperature to around 12°C for a soft crash prior to dry hopping

Tasting results and review coming soon!

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