Hello all. Great site, I have referred to this place umpteen times over the past month as I brewed my first batch (English Pale Ale) and now as I am in the midst of my second batch, a run of the mill IPA. My first batch turned out excellent, far better than I hoped, and now I am hopelessly hooked. Here's where I am at with this IPA, what I am concerned with, and what I want to accomplish. Any input much appreciated.
Boiling went fine, as did wort cooling, however, I think I got a little impatient with pitching the yeast,(pitched at too high a temp, I am guessing 78deg) and also I think the thermometer I used might have been a little off because after 24 hours of fermentation, the yeast were going insane, and there was foam almost to the top of my primary (5gallon better bottle carboy). I slightly freaked out, but just watched it closely, no beer bomb situation ensued, and it settled down after another day or so. The temp in my basement is consistently at 68 degrees. There is a ton of foam/krausen hunk all over the headspace at this time, a full 4 days after fermentation started. Its all the way up to the neckof the better bottle, and has sort of dried out, and isnt falling back down. My plan is to dry hop with 1-3oz of cascade hops. I would also like to cold crash to clear the beer as much as possible. My main questions are what order should I do everything in... From my research, basic understanding of dry hopping, and I guess just plain assumptions I am making at this point, this is what I am thinking of doing;
1.) After 2 weeks in the primary, I was going to add my dry hop pellets and let them sit in the primary for a week
2.) 3 days after dry hopping, I was going to crash chill for an additional 4 days at 41 degrees. We have a wine fridge in the basement that I have commandeered from my wife (shhh...) that should be perfect
3.) after dry hopping for a full week, I was going to pull the primary from the fridge, and bottle. 2 weeks at least in the bottles, then taste the 'wares.
Does this sound like a good overall plan? My biggest concerns are that the higher pitching temp might warrant leaving the beer on top of the yeast cake for a longer period of time as opposed to racking to a secondary to dry hop. Is this right? Also, is it ok to dry hop and crash cool at the same time?
Boiling went fine, as did wort cooling, however, I think I got a little impatient with pitching the yeast,(pitched at too high a temp, I am guessing 78deg) and also I think the thermometer I used might have been a little off because after 24 hours of fermentation, the yeast were going insane, and there was foam almost to the top of my primary (5gallon better bottle carboy). I slightly freaked out, but just watched it closely, no beer bomb situation ensued, and it settled down after another day or so. The temp in my basement is consistently at 68 degrees. There is a ton of foam/krausen hunk all over the headspace at this time, a full 4 days after fermentation started. Its all the way up to the neckof the better bottle, and has sort of dried out, and isnt falling back down. My plan is to dry hop with 1-3oz of cascade hops. I would also like to cold crash to clear the beer as much as possible. My main questions are what order should I do everything in... From my research, basic understanding of dry hopping, and I guess just plain assumptions I am making at this point, this is what I am thinking of doing;
1.) After 2 weeks in the primary, I was going to add my dry hop pellets and let them sit in the primary for a week
2.) 3 days after dry hopping, I was going to crash chill for an additional 4 days at 41 degrees. We have a wine fridge in the basement that I have commandeered from my wife (shhh...) that should be perfect
3.) after dry hopping for a full week, I was going to pull the primary from the fridge, and bottle. 2 weeks at least in the bottles, then taste the 'wares.
Does this sound like a good overall plan? My biggest concerns are that the higher pitching temp might warrant leaving the beer on top of the yeast cake for a longer period of time as opposed to racking to a secondary to dry hop. Is this right? Also, is it ok to dry hop and crash cool at the same time?
