Dry hop a spund carb beer using a Hop Gun

[massime]

Hi,

I like the versatility of unitanks. No transfer, less time spent on sanitizing, etc.

I like spunding/bunging to carbonate the beer using a SpundApparat. Lower CO2 bill, and I really like the idea of using the CO2 naturally produced by fermentation rather than letting it go and then add CO2 with the carb stone.

Now to dry hop my beers, I would like to use a Hop Gun, like the BrauKon model. Hops in a CO2 purged vessel, beer circulating through the hops and back to the unitank via a mesh "candle'. Better efficiency, less hops/more taste, and much faster than traditional methods.

Question is : are those two techniques compatible ? I mean, is it ok to dry hop with a Hop Gun a beer that is already (even partially) carbonated ?

Here's what I'm thinking of :

-Primary at 68°F/20°C , and spund when 1°P above FG.
-Lower the temp to 59°F/15°C, dump and harvest yeast.
-Dry hop with a HopGun for approx. half a day (4-5 hours) at 59°F/15°C.
-Cold crash and dump more yeast.
-Adjust carbonation level with carb stone if necessary.

Rack (kegs &/or cans) straight from the unitank.

My main concern is that the CO2 would come out of solution while being recirculated for several hours through the Hopgun (Increasing head pressure in the unitank and losing the bubbles from the beer).

Any thoughts ?

Cheers !

Max

[BlackBook]

Got any feedback on this method?

Let me know if you managed to do it or what are your experiences trying to do it.
Cheer mon frère!

[itivino]

For step 2, I've had a hard time dumping trub/harvesting effectively when the unitank was under pressure with beer still in it. Even with very little pressure and cold crashed, beer and trub chunks spray everywhere and it gets pretty messy - opening the dump valve under pressure seems to agitate everything up and I've not found a way to manage that yet.