When to dry hop?

I brewed a black IPA this weekend and am wanting to dry hop it. I know that I will have to wait until the SG is stable for at least 3 days in order to do so, however, I am wanting to know if I should dry hop as soon as the SG is stable or if I can allow my beer to condition for 3 weeks in the primary and then transfer to the secondary and dry hop for 2 weeks. My OG was 1.052 so it isn't exactly a big beer. I guess what I'm asking is, is there any benefit (other than time) to dry hopping during the early stages of conditioning over waiting a few weeks to dry hop? Thanks!

Once you are at stable gravity it should be fine to dry hop. The yeast will continue to condition the beer even with dry hops in, just not as quickly as they would without a dry hop. I always let me 1.050 Pale Ales go 14-18 days and then dry hop for 10 additional days and then bottle.

I have found that cold crashing the fermenter before dry hopping helps the beer absorb the hop aroma without it getting absorbed by the yeast which then settle out and "rob" some of your aroma.

Jayhem said:

The yeast will continue to condition the beer even with dry hops in, just not as quickly as they would without a dry hop. I always let me 1.050 Pale Ales go 14-18 days and then dry hop for 10 additional days and then bottle.

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Agreed. I let the higher grav IPAs go 17-21 days before I dryhop for an additional 7-10 days.

Jayhem said:

I have found that cold crashing the fermenter before dry hopping helps the beer absorb the hop aroma without it getting absorbed by the yeast which then settle out and "rob" some of your aroma.

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Good tip. A sort of compromise if you are not racking to secondary. You must then avoid agitation at all points after though. I easily do this by bottling from the same counter height location that the beer is dryhopping at.

Thanks for the tips! I will for sure let my beer condition for about 3 weeks and then do the dry hopping after that!

I don't do much "conditioning" before bottling, but you can if you want. I dryhop about 5-7 days before packaging the beer, for the freshest hops aroma.

Yooper, how long do you keep your IPAs in the primary and/or secondary excluding the dryhop time?

bobbrews said:

Yooper, how long do you keep your IPAs in the primary and/or secondary excluding the dryhop time?

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In primary until done and fairly clear (7-10 days), and then dryhopping for 5-7 days.