IPA secondary questions

Ok, we brewed a batch of standard IPA on the 1st of May. Racked to secondary 10 days later and dry hopped... Being the newb, I thought I would just let this one sit in the carboy thinking it would get better or smoother, but then someone told me the dry hopping would just go away... Never knew that... So should we just keg it and drink it? Afte r we keg it and after getting the co2 in there, is it better to let sit in the keg for a while? Does it get better? Thanx all...

So you have been dry hopping since the 11th of May? Grassy/vegetable flavors can occur from too long of a dry hop, and you are definitely in danger of being too long.

People say that the hop aroma fades over time, but for me my beers don't last too long so I don't worry about it. I think your main concern is going to be too long of a dry hop.

I have let some of my IPA's dry hop for 14 days. Yes, the hoppiness of the beer will mellow with age and IPA's should be consumed fresh. However, after bottling or kegging it still needs to condition for a few weeks.

Also a newb...but with 6 all grain 5 gallon batches behind me. I dry hopped an IPA, let it sit for another week and then cold crashed for 4-5 days. Most of the hops fell out with the trub. I force carbed and drank some right away and it was fine. However, two weeks later it was really good.

ok... so the OPTIMAL thing to do, is keg the beer. Then set the CO2 and DONT drink for 14 days...? I guess I could just keep it in my kegerator and NOT hook up the keg?

When I first started dry hopping, I used to let it go 14 days but soon began to notice a grassy, green taste in some of my beer (not "green" beer, but a chlorophyl type taste) so I never go any longer than 10 days anymore.

I've heard some people claim there's no point going longer than 7 days because most hops oils diffuse during the first 3 or 4 days, but I've never dry hopped for such a short period so I can't speak from personal experience.

Firebat138 said:

ok... so the OPTIMAL thing to do, is keg the beer. Then set the CO2 and DONT drink for 14 days...? I guess I could just keep it in my kegerator and NOT hook up the keg?

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Maybe start drinking sooner than this, although I've also heard cold temperatures slow the oil diffusion process. I don't keg so I'll stop now...

Firebat138 said:

ok... so the OPTIMAL thing to do, is keg the beer. Then set the CO2 and DONT drink for 14 days...? I guess I could just keep it in my kegerator and NOT hook up the keg?

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If you force carb it then there is no reason you can't drink it right away. If you do a slower carb and let cabinate over a couple of weeks you may want to wait a week and then try it.

I think it will hit it's peak in two weeks or so. I usually can;t wait that long before I sampel a few.

we are going from carboy to keg, adding the gas and putting in fridge and then drinking 2 days later... should we at least wait a week?

I think you are getting confused with people saying how long they dry hop for and how long they keg for. AFAIK people leave their beer in the keg just to condition. Your beer has been conditioning for a month in a carboy already, so presumably it should be good as soon it is cooled and carbed.

Take a taste though, I think you have gone a very long time with the dry hops in the carboy, and could be getting some off flavors from it.

gotcha... so I shouldnt dump it out just yet?

haha nah don't dump it yet. presumably if a dry hop is one of the first flavors to go, then perhaps a grassy taste from too long of a dry hop would also fade as well. I'm not sure of that though. In the future either plan your dry hop around when you will have a keg available, or you could dry hop in a secondary and rack to a tertiary a week later.

Firebat138 said:

ok... so the OPTIMAL thing to do, is keg the beer. Then set the CO2 and DONT drink for 14 days...? I guess I could just keep it in my kegerator and NOT hook up the keg?

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Firebat138 said:

we are going from carboy to keg, adding the gas and putting in fridge and then drinking 2 days later... should we at least wait a week?

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Keg it. Add CO2 and start drinking ASAP. Also bottle some (from the keg when it's carbed properly) to drink after the keg kicks too see for yourself what time does to your IPA.

Wakadaka said:

I think you are getting confused with people saying how long they dry hop for and how long they keg for. AFAIK people leave their beer in the keg just to condition. Your beer has been conditioning for a month in a carboy already, so presumably it should be good as soon it is cooled and carbed.

Take a taste though, I think you have gone a very long time with the dry hops in the carboy, and could be getting some off flavors from it.

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This is what I was trying to get at when I said start drinking it now. I wouldn't wait much longer. Since you've already overshot the "no longer than 14 days" consensus, get the hops off the beer and enjoy!

nefarious_1_ said:

When I first started dry hopping, I used to let it go 14 days but soon began to notice a grassy, green taste in some of my beer (not "green" beer, but a chlorophyl type taste) so I never go any longer than 10 days anymore.

I've heard some people claim there's no point going longer than 7 days because most hops oils diffuse during the first 3 or 4 days, but I've never dry hopped for such a short period so I can't speak from personal experience.

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I can speak a bit from experience.

Questions about dry hop times will get you a wide range of answers. My first bit of advice is to think of the dry hop in terms of days before racking off of the hops - that way we are all on the same page.

I began with a 12-14 day dry hop, and I was not thrilled with the results. I then moved to 10 days, and the results improved. Now, I use a strict 5 day max. I am thrilled with the results. The caveat is that the short contact time requires a larger quantity of hops. I use 2 oz / 5 gallons as a minimum, and have recipes that go as high as 4.5 oz / 5 gallons.

Give it a try before you say it sounds crazy. The short contact time gives you all the hop oil, with none of the grassy flavors.

Again, I only offer this advice because it falls in line with my experiences.

Joe

Start drinking it right away. Or else how are you going to know when it gets "better"?

Along the same lines of this post...I have an IPA that sat for a couple weeks and had reached its FG with no worries at all. I racked to a secondary for dry hopping about 12 days ago, and that too stopped bubbling after a day or to, so I figured it was close to being ready for bottling. I moved the carboy up to my kitchen to let it settle for the day and bottle that night, but ever since then it has been bubbling away (maybe 1 every minute).

Should I just assume it's CO2 coming up from from the hops/yeast that has settled at the bottom, and go about bottling? I don't want to leave it dry hopping too long....

FarSide792 said:

Should I just assume it's CO2 coming up from from the hops/yeast that has settled at the bottom, and go about bottling? I don't want to leave it dry hopping too long....

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Yes. Dry hops release gasses that cause the airlock to bubble and the hops to form what looks like a green krausen. This happens to me every time I dry hop. 12 days is long enough on those hops. RDWHAHB and bottle your beer!

NordeastBrewer77 said:

Yes. Dry hops release gasses that cause the airlock to bubble and the hops to form what looks like a green krausen. This happens to me every time I dry hop. 12 days is long enough on those hops. RDWHAHB and bottle your beer!

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Good to know. I know what I'll be doing tonight lol.....

Kind of along these same lines, I've got a DIPA that I had in the primary for 2 weeks, and the secondary for one week before I added the dry hops (last Saturday) I was going to DH it for a week and then bottle, but the secondary is now extremely opaque/cloudy since adding the hops (1 oz pellets, 1 oz leaf). Did not use a bag this time, and was just going to wrap my auto siphon with my long sleeve like hop bag to filter, but I'm afraid it might still be too cloudy after 1 week...and I don't want to dry hop any longer. Has anyone transferred to a tertiary fermentor after dry hopping to further clarify the beer? Or should I just say screw it and bottle it this weekend?

I'd say bottle it after a week on the hops. When I have hops that are still making the beer cloudy when I go to bottle, I use a fine nylon bucket filter bag, one that reaches to the bottom of the bottling bucket. I'm careful to start my siphon with the tube on the bottom of the bucket to avoid aerating the beer. I leave the bag in until I'm done bottling for the same reason. This gets the surplus of hops out of the beer before bottling.
I know some on the site would say not to do it this way, because of the risk of aeration. There IS a risk, but there's a risk any time you rack a brew. And my personal experience has taught me that if you're careful when you rack, you can avoid oxidation.