Double IPA

I received a "True Brew" double IPA kit for Christmas and have never brewed a double IPA before The instructions say to dry hop three days after fermentation is finished, and bottle 7 days later. I usually let my brews stay in primary for about a month before racking. Anyone know why this kit specifies such a short time, and is it important to do so?

I would leave it in the primary for 4 weeks total, with the dryhop added during the last week (week 3). Better yeast cleanup this way... especially for a bigger beer.

In my experience, just about every kit specifies periods of time that are too short. I think they want you to hurry up and finish the kit so you'll buy another. Do what makes sense and works for you. Whenever I brew with a kit, I usually take those instructions and glance at their proposed hop schedule. Then, I crinkle them up and toss 'em in the trash.

I agree with bobbrews. I would definately not follow the instructions they gave you. Leave it in primary per your usual routine (3 - 4 weeks and verify fermentation complete) and dryhop for 5 - 7 days prior to bottling.

Ok, I feel y'all are nuts. A correctly brewed/fermented beer is done when fermentation is completed. Four weeks for primary is ridiculous. An APA/IPA/IIPA should be drank as fresh as possible. Most of us around here who brew that style often are grain to glass in 10-14 days.

Cheers.

RuffRider said:

In my experience, just about every kit specifies periods of time that are too short. I think they want you to hurry up and finish the kit so you'll buy another. Do what makes sense and works for you. Whenever I brew with a kit, I usually take those instructions and glance at their proposed hop schedule. Then, I crinkle them up and toss 'em in the trash.

I agree with bobbrews. I would definately not follow the instructions they gave you. Leave it in primary per your usual routine (3 - 4 weeks and verify fermentation complete) and dryhop for 5 - 7 days prior to bottling.

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I agree with this ^^. Kit instructions are pretty much worthless. Though you could probably do 2 weeks primary then 1 week dry hopping then bottle condition for at least 3 weeks.

trent said:

Ok, I feel y'all are nuts. A correctly brewed/fermented beer is done when fermentation is completed. Four weeks for primary is ridiculous. An APA/IPA/IIPA should be drank as fresh as possible. Most of us around here who brew that style often are grain to glass in 10-14 days.

Cheers.

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This is true only if you are brewing all grain and kegging, which the OP is doing neither. Going from extract to all grain I found that extract takes longer to ferment out and start not tasting green than all grain. I do think that a month in primary is a bit on the long side for most normal gravity beers though.

EDIT: The grain to glass in 10-14 days is what I was talking about here, not the drinking APA/IPA/IIPA fresh. I agree that you can and will lose hop presence if you age these beers too long.

trent said:

Ok, I feel y'all are nuts. A correctly brewed/fermented beer is done when fermentation is completed. Four weeks for primary is ridiculous. An APA/IPA/IIPA should be drank as fresh as possible. Most of us around here who brew that style often are grain to glass in 10-14 days.

Cheers.

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I prefer to drink these as fresh as possible as well. My most recent IPA (OG 1.066) was in the primary for 9 days with one of those days a cold crash before secondary. Then in the secondary for 5 days with one of those days a cold crash to drop all the hops out. Bottled and ready 2-3 weeks later. Obviously a bigger beer would take a longer, but 4 weeks is a quite long for an IPA to me. With healthy adequate yeast counts at pitching and temperature control a batch really doesn't need to sit in the primary so long, and thus avoid losing some hop flavor and aroma.

trent said:

Ok, I feel y'all are nuts. A correctly brewed/fermented beer is done when fermentation is completed. Four weeks for primary is ridiculous. An APA/IPA/IIPA should be drank as fresh as possible. Most of us around here who brew that style often are grain to glass in 10-14 days.

Cheers.

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Well, it wouldn't be the first time someone accused me of being nuts! However, I do agree with you, trent, (not that I'm nuts) in that an IPA should be drank fresh. I got so caught up in discrediting kit instructions in general that I forgot we were talking about a IIPA.

Though, I wonder just how much is lost because of an extra week or two. Seriously, I don't know. Just how much would flavor suffer if I waited an extra week or two to drink it? I mean, we're not talking about aging it for a couple months here.

You're not talking about aging it for a couple months, exactly. This is solely about conditioning for a week or two more at best to further refine flavor, and create a sense of quality/smoothness in order to rid any greenness or hotness.

When people say, "Best to drink IPAs fresh", it's more about drinking a fresh bottle of well-made IPA. It should have nothing to do with grain to glass in 1, 2, 3, or 4 weeks... this is a normal brewing & conditioning time frame. I am one to believe that if you skip the proper amount of conditioning time for yeast clean-up, then you're simply drinking a fresh bottle of mediocre-made IPA by comparison. Patience is a virtue.