Another dry hopping question

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Brewin_the_goods

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2009
Messages
106
Reaction score
0
I just started my first batch on sunday, a double IPA, and it says to dry hop after one week. My question is, when transferring from primary to secondary do I siphon everything out of the primary? I'm thinking yes, cause there should still be quite a bit of yeast at the bottom of the carboy, but I just want to make sure. Thanks.
 
I simply take all of the liquid but leave the sediment at the bottom. This can be a matter of taste though. I know someone who transfers everything every time. Removing the beer from the yeast and other fallout from the fermentation can be beneficial. If you used pellet hops they will fall to the bottom as well. If you bring that stuff with to the secondary it will continue to impart it's flavor on the beer and sometimes that is not always a good thing.
 
Well, I believe you would want to siphon all of the wort off and leave the trub layer and as much sediment behind as possible. Secondary is no more than a clearing vessel, or in your case, a clearing vessel and where you dry hop. Siphon the wort from primary on top of the hops.

Just as a side note: I typically leave my beer in primary for at least 2 weeks regardless of if I move it to secondary or not. Have you checked with a Hydrometer for 3 consecutive days to see if fermentation has stopped? You don't want to move to secondary until fermentation is finished.
 
No I havn't checked with a hydrometer yet, I wasn't planning on moving it until Sunday so I'll start checking it on Fri.
 
Leave the beer in the fermenter until it hits the final gravity + 3 days. Premature racking is about the worst thing you can do to a brew. Dry hop in the clearing tank.
 
Leave the beer in the fermenter until it hits the final gravity + 3 days. Premature racking is about the worst thing you can do to a brew. Dry hop in the clearing tank.

My newness is going to show here, but, what's the clearing tank? I got two ale pales and a glass carboy with my kit, one of the ale pales has a spigot, so is that the clearing tank? :confused:
 
My newness is going to show here, but, what's the clearing tank? I got two ale pales and a glass carboy with my kit, one of the ale pales has a spigot, so is that the clearing tank? :confused:

Clearing tank would be the secondary. If your Carboy is 5 gallons that would likely be a secondary. My guess is the is the carboy is 6 gallons and is a primary.
 
The ale pail without the spigot is the primary, and the glass carboy is the secondary(clearing tank). The pail with the spigot on it is your bottling bucket
 
Another suggestion - after you transfer to secondary, wait a few days before adding your dry hops and make sure your airlock activity is pretty much gone. If fermentation is not complete or the beer is still releasing CO2, you'll lose a lot of your dry hop aroma out the airlock. I'd give it 2 weeks in primary before moving to secondary, then after a few days in secondary it's pretty quiet and ready for dry hopping. After 7-10 days on the hops then bottle it up. This has made a big difference as far as hop aroma in the final product. The first couple of batches I dry hopped too early and didn't taste like I did anything at all.
 
Back
Top