First run at an IPA Recipe, looking for feedback

Hello all, I am a homebrew newb, but am already hooked by the craft. I recently came up on a free homebrew kit. Glass carboy, stainless steel pot, Papazian's Homebrew Book and most of the supplies that come w/ a standard kit. I read the book cover to cover (twice) before attempting my 1st recipe. I frequent a Brewery that is also a HB store. Last Friday I headed over there, book in hand and the owner set me up w/ an IPA recipe. It was a malt extraxt and partial grain recipe. I pre-boiled the grain in a brew bag, and just before boiling I pulled the bag and added the extract and 1st round of hops. After 50 mins I added the finishing hops, reduced heat and pulled the wort at 60 mins. I had 3 gallons of ice cold water poured in my carboy and w/ a strainer and a funnel, I proceeded to add the wort. I then took a temp and hydrometer reading.(1.043) I pitched the yeast(Wyeast in ale) and attached the feremetation lock. I moved the carboy into my garage and left it alone. I went to an xmas party and when I came home that night, activity was already evident. Over the next 3 days, things were churning and looking great. It has been 5 days and things are starting to settle and clear. The beginners section in Papazian's book states I should bottle between 8-14 days. From what I have read here, I should rack it and possibly run a dry hop sequence. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

After fermentation has completely stopped, I would rack to a secondary if possible and let it clear for a couple weeks. Then add your dry hops (1 or 2 oz) and wait 4-6 days before bottling. That's just what I would do. Others may have a different opinion.

most people will leave beer in the primary for 3 weeks. Most of mine tend to get bottled between 2-3 weeks. No need to rack, just drop the hops in about a week before you bottle

thanks for the input. If I add the dry hops to the primary, is it best to go w/ pellet, liquid or another form?

Soulfeather said:

thanks for the input. If I add the dry hops to the primary, is it best to go w/ pellet, liquid or another form?

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there's only pellet and whole leaf. You can go either way...

just to keep it simple, use pellet hops. Put them in a muslin bag with some sanitized marbles or something so they can fall to the bottom in order to submerge the hops into the beer, increasing the surface area contact and getting more out of the hops. Make sure you tie the muslin bag near the top so that the hops inside have the most room in which to expand. Again, the larger the surface area, the more you'll extract from the hops used in dry hopping.

ok...thanks..I will use the marble/bag and post up when complete

last question, is it a pain to remove the swollen hop bag from the primary after it's been xfer'd to the secondary for bottling?

if you're using pellets theres no need for a bag, they'll sink on their own. just give it 2 weeks in the primary, then add the dry hops for a week, then bottle.

Also, in the future, pull your grains much earlier, you dont want them going above 170F for any extended period otherwise you risk extracting tannins.

sounds good...I'm gonna just drop the pellets in then

Soulfeather said:

sounds good...I'm gonna just drop the pellets in then

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Rack it-- you get a slight yeasty bitterness if it just sits in the fermenter. then bottle.

im gonna dry hop it at 3 weeks for 4 days, then rack it to a secondary w/ corn sugar for bottling...cool?

Clann said:

most people will leave beer in the primary for 3 weeks. Most of mine tend to get bottled between 2-3 weeks. No need to rack, just drop the hops in about a week before you bottle

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Right on. With good practices you can start to limit that time. Lagunitas' beers for their taproom are typically ready to serve in 10 days (force carbing). Pitching the right amount of yeast is huge. My process is down to about 1.5 weeks primary, 2 days secondary, and 5 days dry hopping. Then bottle conditioning time or force carbing in keg time. All of my recent beers have come out well and have done well at competitions.

Soulfeather said:

im gonna dry hop it at 3 weeks for 4 days, then rack it to a secondary w/ corn sugar for bottling...cool?

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No. Dry hop in secondary and you only add the bottling sugar immediately before you bottle it. If you add it to the secondary it will just ferment out within a few hours. When you rack your secondary to the bottling bucket is when you want to add the bottling sugar.

boostsr20 said:

My process is down to about 1.5 weeks primary, 2 days secondary, and 5 days dry hopping.

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Just curious, what's the point of a 7day secondary? If it's just to dry hop, that's unnecessary. Maybe it works for you, but I'd bet you get the same results just leaving it in the primary for that extra time and dry hopping there.

dcp27 said:

Just curious, what's the point of a 7day secondary? If it's just to dry hop, that's unnecessary. Maybe it works for you, but I'd bet you get the same results just leaving it in the primary for that extra time and dry hopping there.

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Because I harvest my yeast and its a million times easier to take the 10 minutes to secondary than it is to try and separate the yeast from the trub that you get in primary.

boostsr20 said:

Because I harvest my yeast and its a million times easier to take the 10 minutes to secondary than it is to try and separate the yeast from the trub that you get in primary.

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oh ok, well then it makes sense. aside from harvesting and long term aging (months), theres not really a need to secondary.

boostsr20 said:

Because I harvest my yeast and its a million times easier to take the 10 minutes to secondary than it is to try and separate the yeast from the trub that you get in primary.

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yeah, keep in mind this is my first go...and I have a buddy who works at a local brewery and he has access to unlimited "supplies". I'm gonna dry hop in primary(4-5) days, xfer to secondary and add corn sugar and bottle immediatley. I'd love to be drinking my own batch by NYE, started it 12/11. Is that farfetched?

You'd have to have it bottled by the 22nd and as long as the attenuation hit its mark it should be doable. Prime with 5oz of corn sugar for 5gal and keep it at 70 degrees until 2-3 days before the 1st. Last couple days in the fridge (I'd do half the batch or less in the fridge) and you might get lucky. Depends on the yeast. What yeast did you use? If your kegging it then, yeah the 1st would be easy.

Bottling on the 22nd is pushign it for sure. Usually you want 2-3 weeks in bottles to carb then another week in the fridge for the co2 to absorb into the beer but I have had beer's carb in a week. Depends on the yeast though.

thanks man...I won't rush it, but maybe I'll crack one on NYE to have a atste

did you cool the wort before putting into glass carboy? thats how i cracked the neck of my fist glass carboy.

chuckb said:

did you cool the wort before putting into glass carboy? thats how i cracked the neck of my fist glass carboy.

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no I didn't, but the large funnel I have sits in the top of the neck, so there wasn't any contact. Strainer on top of the funnel into ice cold water is how I reduced temp

i had a funnel too. i think it was the second time i did it that it broke

chuckb said:

i had a funnel too. i think it was the second time i did it that it broke

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noted....I will be careful next time, maybe dump one of the cold gallons in the wort first

14 days in primary, ran a 4 day dry hop then racked it to secondary to clear. The taste, uncarbonated was awesome....I think I'm in love