Dry hopping in primary help!

Alright so I have a batch that has been in my primary for about 9 days now. This coming Saturday will be two weeks. I have been reading that people dry hop into the primary vs racking to a secondary and cutting down the chance of getting a contaminated/oxygenated beer. I have a 6 gallon plastic carboy I could use as a secondary but I am worried about head space and my beer getting oxygenated.

So my question is, if I am going to dry hop in the primary should I go ahead and drop my hops in this Saturday at the two week mark then let it sit for another week then bottle? I have read many posts on the subject of leaving the beer in the primary on the yeast cake for extended periods of time without any problems.

With that said, maybe I should let the beer sit for 3 weeks then dry hop and bottle after a week? Any feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Yes, drop them in at ~2 weeks and let sit for another 7-10 days. You really just want to be sure that the active fermentation is over and it usually is after the first week. No worries for sitting on the trub for 3 weeks total.

I've dry hopped in primary many times.

Nagorg said:

Yes, drop them in at ~2 weeks and let sit for another 7-10 days. You really just want to be sure that the active fermentation is over and it usually is after the first week. No worries for sitting on the trub for 3 weeks total.

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Awesome, and thank you for the quick responses. My original plan was to ferment 2 weeks primary and 2 weeks secondary with the 4th week being the week that I dry hopped. Is it really necessary to let the beer ferment an additional week in the primary before dry hopping? So it would still be a month total.. Would that really do anything for my beer as far as taste, or will bottle conditioning take care of that?

And sorry for all the questions, this is a Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale clone that I am working on here and I want it to be good for Christmas.

I'm a fan of dry hops in primary, mostly because I don't own a secondary fermenter, except kegs.

You might want to cold crash the primary before packaging to make all the hop debris drop out of suspension. I've had good luck with that procedure.

It isn't necessary in most cases to let the beer have the 4 weeks but is seldom is detrimental. For this batch I'd suggest you start the dry hopping at the 2 week mark and let those hops have the week to impart aroma and then bottle.

It's a fools errand to say that all beer needs a particular amount of time in the fermenter. A lightly hopped wheat beer might be ready to bottle in a week while a barleywine might need 6 to 8 months. With that said, very few beers need secondary and many of them will benefit from more time in the fermenter as they mature quicker with the extra yeast that is collected in the bottom.

Cool. Then I will dry hop this Saturday and bottle the following week, one again thank you for the quick responses. I have seen the topic of cold crashing brought up before. And I am actually going to be dry hopping with a muslin bag, so is it really necessary for me to cold crash at that point? And as far as sanitation goes I was just going to boil the bag, I don't have any Star-San but I do have Io Star. Will boiling be fine? Thanks.

I'm glad this thread came up. I dry hopped yesterday (1 week in) with half the dry hops and plan to repeat next week, both times using a sterilised bag. I'll bottle the week after that. I was originally going to dry hop 4 days before bottling, as per the recipe that Beersmith spat out, but I've read on here that some people dry hop in stages, which is why I thought I'd give it a try.

I agree with RM-MN that beers are different so you can't have a set schedule for all your beers. Your recipe and yeast you use can also have a lot to do with it too.

I usually do leave the beer in primary for 3-4 weeks all depending on floculation. I never dry hop in primary so I always rack. But to each their own.

The reason I brought up not racking to a secondary and then dry hopping was simply because I was sitting around just thinking about it the other day and thought to myself why? I got online and started doing some research and found out that a lot of people dry hop in the primary vs secondary to avoid potential contamination as well as oxidation. As I stated earlier, I have a 6 gallon plastic carboy I could use as a secondary but my batch is only 5 gallons so I was worried about that extra head space and a lot of 02 getting into my carboy.

The arguments I have read for a secondary state mostly that you're going to get a clearer beer. But I have read multiple posts saying that clarity was a non-issue after letting their beers ferment in the primary for 3-4 weeks. I actually read a post here and Revvy had touched on the subject and basically said he has been complimented on his beers clarity by quite a few judges at competition and he doesn't use a secondary fermentation. It seems all that it boils down to is preference. But there are a lot of advocates of primary ferments due to the fact that yeast come behind themselves and clean up and get a lot of unwanted tastes out of your beer.

I have brewed two previous batches and I believe I bottled way to soon on the first batch and I did use a secondary on my 2nd batch and I feel I racked to early as well. How much of a risk of oxidation is there really? Is there still enough fermentables in the beer to ward off 02 even with all that extra head space?

Just to add to my own curiosity, I've read to add sanitized marbles to the sack to force the hops to sink to the bottom. Is there any advantage to this versus just throwing in the sack? Is it better to let them sit on top or bottom?

I'm thinking dropping a sack with marbles in it might unsettle a lot of the trub too. Not bad if you were planning on letting it sits a few weeks, or cold crashing, but doesn't really appeal to me.

chungking said:

I'm thinking dropping a sack with marbles in it might unsettle a lot of the trub too. Not bad if you were planning on letting it sits a few weeks, or cold crashing, but doesn't really appeal to me.

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I read somewhere (probably here) about 'the mess' left over when using marbles and I imagine what you've described is what it was referring to.

If you don't want them floating you can still use a sack with marbles,just sanitze a piece of string tie it around the banb and leave the other end outside of the FV

Thanks for starting this tread. I too will be dry hopping, probably in about 10 days (3 weeks in primary) assuming my hydrometer readings confirm the fermentation is finished. In my case I am using a 6.5 gal bucket so how will I know when my beer has cleared enough to dry hop? Is is just gauged by how clear the samples are that I pull for gravity readings? I was originally planning to dry hop in glass carboy but have decided to do it in primary.
Jay

Thanks for starting this tread. I too will be dry hopping, probably in about 10 days (3 weeks in primary) assuming my hydrometer readings confirm the fermentation is finished. In my case I am using a 6.5 gal bucket so how will I know when my beer has cleared enough to dry hop? Is is just gauged by how clear the samples are that I pull for gravity readings? I was originally planning to dry hop in glass carboy but have decided to do it in primary.
Jay

Sorry for the double post...don't know how to delete this one.

OptimusJay said:

Thanks for starting this tread. I too will be dry hopping, probably in about 10 days (3 weeks in primary) assuming my hydrometer readings confirm the fermentation is finished. In my case I am using a 6.5 gal bucket so how will I know when my beer has cleared enough to dry hop? Is is just gauged by how clear the samples are that I pull for gravity readings? I was originally planning to dry hop in glass carboy but have decided to do it in primary.
Jay

Sorry for the double post...don't know how to delete this one.

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I'm not really sure how you would gauge the clarity, and I doubt a sample would give you an accurate idea of how clear your beer is. Just curious, cause I am new, why are you worried about clarity before you dry hop? Also, are you just going to be pitching your hops in or using a muslin bag or something similar? I to am going to be dry hopping in 6.5 gallon bucket. My plan is this Saturday, which will be two weeks, to pop the lid and use my beer thief to grab a sample and toss my muslin bag in with my hops and call it good. Of course everything will be sanitized

OptimusJay said:

Thanks for starting this tread. I too will be dry hopping, probably in about 10 days (3 weeks in primary) assuming my hydrometer readings confirm the fermentation is finished. In my case I am using a 6.5 gal bucket so how will I know when my beer has cleared enough to dry hop? Is is just gauged by how clear the samples are that I pull for gravity readings? I was originally planning to dry hop in glass carboy but have decided to do it in primary.
Jay

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With the bucket you won't be able to see the clarity of the beer but if your hydrometer says the ferment is over you are good enough. At 3 weeks I'd bet that the ferment is done and the beer is already pretty clear.:rockin:

@erich8 - I thought I read somewhere that you should try to let it clear up before dry hopping, but I could be mistaken. I'll probably also go with my hops in a sanitized hop bag and toss it on top and let it do it's thing.

@RMMN - I wish I would have primaried In my glass carboy so I could see everything working during primary fermentation. My beer was at 8.5%ABV when I took a reading a couple days ago and so I thought I read that some of the bigger beers needed more time to clear up and also condition (meld flavors/mature). So you still think 3 weeks before dry hopping is cool?

Jay

Don't dry hop until your fermentation is done. You can tell fermentation is done only by using a hydrometer and getting identical readings 2-3 days apart. There is nothing wrong with letting the hops sit on top of the beer. They will eventually float down, and they are still imparting flavor while they float.

Sweet, I learned something new. The hop oils attach to the yeast and then fall to the bottom. Clarity is definitely something I will look for Saturday. Thanks guys.

Can I just throw some hop pellets in and let them do their thing? Like a .5 oz? Will this cause too much gunk while siphoning?

I've heard a few people say that have used a muslin bag or some sort of similar filter on the end of their racking cane to reduce on gunk getting siphoned into their bottling bucket. On that same note, people have said it can clog if you're not careful. Why not consider bagging them before you dry hop? Muslin bag, I even saw a guy use a paint strainer. Otherwise just be really careful when you siphon.

chungking said:

Can I just throw some hop pellets in and let them do their thing? Like a .5 oz? Will this cause too much gunk while siphoning?

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You sure can. When dry hopping in primary just pay attention when racking and you should be fine. I almost never transfer just to dry hop.

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