Dry hopping in primary?

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Th3int3rn3t

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This is my first brew and it's turned out well so far, but now it's time to switch my Chinook IPA to secondary and dry hop. However, I know that some feel secondary is unnecessary. I couldn't find another thread about this, so I figured is post one...

Can I dry hop without switching to secondary, or is this a bad idea? Any help/advice will be greatly appreciated.
 
I just did the dry hopping this way. I used pellet hops and just dropped them in. Next time I will put them in a bag as they didn't settle by the time I wanted to bottle and wanted to clog up the bottling wand and I got some stuck in the autosiphon that were hard to clean out. The beer came out with a very strong aroma and once in the bottles it cleared up in a couple days.
 
I've only done dry hopping once, and I did it in the secondary. I will share a lesson learned with you though. If dry hopping with whole leaf, and a carboy, you will have a tough time getting the beer out. I know I did.
 
I've dry hopped all my batches (that have been dry hopped) in primary with great results.

I keg, and rack to my keg via a CO2 push, through a stainless steel racking cane, into the liquid post on the keg. My last English IPA that I kegged (having a pint right now) got a bit clogged up from some of the 2oz of whole hops that went into it (loose)... I'm thinking about bagging my hops next time too. Only issue there is I ferment in a sanke keg, so getting the bag out could prove tricky. My other option would be to dry hop in keg. I'm going to try that next.

BTW, I typically dry hop for a full week (7 days)... I wouldn't want to go past about 10 days if at all possible (normally two weeks is about the safe limit)...
 
I dry hop with pellet and whole hop in both carboys and buckets during the last week in the primary with great results. 2-3 days before transfer to the keg I drop the temp to 32f which helps drop everything out. Go for it.
 
I've dry hopped in primary and in kegs. I use paint strainer bags from Lowe's, tie non-waxed/flavored dental floss around it and drop it in. Works great with one exception. Glass carboys don't work as well due to the narrow hole. Better bottles work better.

The advantage to primary is the warmer temp where with the keg the cold temp slows the dry hop process down. Another trick with kegs is that as I drink it, I pull that bag to the top of the keg so the hops don't sit in the beer the whole time.
 
Dry hop all of my beers just prior to the end of active fermentation in the primary. Then chill at 32 for a couple days and everything crashes out into the bottom. Good luck.
 
I've done both primary and secondary. When I put the pellets in the secondary and racked on top of them they never settled out. When I put them in the primary I put them in a muslin bag and the bag let out enough of them I still had to put a strainer over the autosiphon like the first time. Either or you will get similar results in my limited opinion.
 
I like to dry hop in secondary. I feel like it gives a cleaner hop aroma. However, I've only dry hopped in primary a couple of times so I can't argue with others' results.
 
Every time I have dry hopped in a secondary I have used a hop bag I cut out and secured to the siphon, very well sanitized I might add, when transferring to the secondary. I then add my hops, then give it another week at the minimum for flavor, because that is all you will achieve dry hopping.
With that said I have read many topics on seondary, and I actually dry hopped an oatmaeal stout after 2 weeks in the primary, and did no secondary. Just bottled after 3 weeks and I am anticipating a simply smooth stout with a nice cascade hop, oatmeal and hawaiian coffee finish!:mug:
 
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