When to Dry hop.....

I was planning on brewing an Oregon IPA today and it requires dry hopping. I was curious if it mattered when i decided to add the hops? Would adding the hops after two weeks in a primary be to long of a wait? My instructions say after most of the fermentation is complete to then add the hops. Leading me to believe i might need to add them sooner than two weeks... Any reasons not to add the dry hops after two weeks in a primary? I would be moving it into a glass carboy for the other two weeks.

I dryhop my IPAs when the fermentation is complete based on hydrometer readings. I dryhop them in the primary for ~5 days and then keg.

Dryhopping after two weeks in the primary is fine as long as fermentation is complete (and it should be after two weeks). Better later than early.

To retain as many of the aromatics from the dry-hopping, you want to add the hops once active fermentation is finished and you've reached terminal gravity; otherwise, the yeast and CO2 will scrub away what you tried to put in.

If there's one thing that homebrewers have the luxury of, it's time. I'm a proponent of a long (3-4 week) primary and eschewing the secondary completely, except when I'm dry-hopping. At a minimum, 10 days from pitching before even thinking about transferring to secondary. Verify this with your hydrometer, then rack the beer onto the hops in secondary. 5-7 days in contact with the dry-hop addition should be perfect.

Jason

ok thanks for the response just wanted to find out before i went brewing today since my Carboy will not be empty for another two weeks.

ohill1981 said:

ok thanks for the response just wanted to find out before i went brewing today since my Carboy will not be empty for another two weeks.

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Sounds like you need another carboy.

I brewed an Amarillo SMaSH 1/3/09 and Friday (2/6/09) I popped in 1 oz of Amarillo.

Tonight I'm bottling.

i just bought the new carboy haha if i put anymore brew equipment in my room i will have no place to sleep!