Hop Gun Or Hop Cannon

Hop guns and hop cannons are both devices used in the brewing process, specifically for adding hops to beer. They’re designed to infuse beer with hop flavors and aromas.

A hop gun/hope cannon is a piece of equipment used in breweries to infuse beer with hop flavors and aromas after fermentation, often in the final stages before packaging. It works by forcing beer through a chamber filled with hops at high pressure. As the beer passes through the hops, it extracts the desired flavors and aromas. The beer then moves on to be packaged, carrying the infused hop character.

Working Process of Hop-gun:

• Open the top cover (unscrew the bolts).
• Pour partical type hops into the tank (Adding according to technological conditions, maximum adding volume is 50% of total volume), close the cover and screw the bolt tightly.
• According to the above picture, connect the hop-gun and diaphragm pump into the system.
• Empty the air in the hop-gun vessel — open the top relief valve, make beer flow into the vessel. Along with the entering of beer, air is pushed out slowly. When the hop-gun vessel is full with beer, close the top relief valve.
• If the pressure inside of vessel is too low, adding CO2 to increase the vessel inside pressure.
• Then open the valve on the beer recirculation pipeline. Open diaphragm pump for 2-6 hours (time based on the actual brewing technics), make beer flow circularlybetween hop-gun vessel and fermenter.
• When recirculation is finished, empty the beer in the hop-gun vessel. CO2 can be added to help for emptying beer. If the fermenter pressure is too low, this procedure can also increase the fermenter pressure and CO2 content.
• At last, close all valves. Connect with CIP system, clean and sterilize hop-gun vessel and related pipeline.
• At this point, the dry hopping work of beer in fermenter is finished.

Both devices are used to achieve a more intense and controlled hop flavor and aroma in beer. The choice between a hop gun or hop cannon often depends on the brewery’s setup, batch size, and desired method of hop infusion.