Should I rack to carboy before cold crashing to keg?

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selvajasonr

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Ok, guys. This my third batch. I am making an IPA and have been reading the threads on not using a seconday fermenter and have opted to go single fermentation. I kegged my last batch of beer with great succes but only after a secondary fermentation in a glass carboy and later cold crashing. I have two questions:

1. I am curious to do a single fermentation but was wondering if I should rack the beer into a glass carboy to cold crash and then keg?
2. Do I dry hop in the primary? And if so, when?
Thanks,
Jason

:mug::mug:
 
Ok, guys. This my third batch. I am making an IPA and have been reading the threads on not using a seconday fermenter and have opted to go single fermentation. I kegged my last batch of beer with great succes but only after a secondary fermentation in a glass carboy and later cold crashing. I have two questions:

1. I am curious to do a single fermentation but was wondering if I should rack the beer into a glass carboy to cold crash and then keg?
2. Do I dry hop in the secondary?

Thanks,
Jason

:mug::mug:

1.) You can cold crash in the primary no problems.

2.) You can dry hop in a secondary vessel but I usually do it in primary after the most vigorous part of fermentation is completed so it doesn't blow off the aroma I want in my beer.
 
What I would do (because it is what I do :D) Dry hop for a week, place your bucket in fridge to cold crash. After 1 day add Gelatin solution (search Gelatin around here) let sit 2-3 more days in fridge with gelatin, then rack to keg. Crystal clear beer.
 
Yeah there are only limited reasons for a secondary (BTW it is not secondary fermentation it is putting it in another vessel to clear in the belief that if it sits on the yeast too long it will go bad...not true except for long aging). So go ahead and cold crash in primary and do your dry hops in the primary when fermentation is about complete. Or, you could dry hop in the keg while its lagering like I do. Gelatin is also good stuff as Irregular said.
 
So I dry hop in fermenter, got it? When though? When the bubbling has slowed, at about 7-10 days or the last week of fermentation. I was thinking about letting sit in the primary for 3 -4 weeks before kegging. Is that too long? Also I heard some people let their beer condition in the keg at 10 psi for a while.
 
If you dry hop in ther fermenter wait until the fermentation has about stopped and then dry hop for up to two weeks...I usually go around 8-12 days. There is nothing wrong with letting beer sit in the primary for a month. As a normal practice I let my beer sit on the yeast for a week or two after I hit terminal gravity to give the yeast time to clean it up some, then I toss it into a fridge and cool it down to around 30 F to help clear out the beer to limit the sediment in the keg. I then rack into the keg and lager most beers for a month before serving...some I turn and burn though like a bitter I just did for the 4th that went from brewing to carbed in the bottle in 2 weeks. You can condition in the keg no problem, as I said, I like to clear the beer in the fermentation vessel first before going to keg. People condition under pressure so the beer is carbed up and ready to serve when they tap it.
 
Another good option is dry hopping straight in the keg with one of those huge round tea balls. Zip tie it high up on the dip tube and the level of the beer will eventually drop below the ball.
 
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