The best way?

What is the best way to dry hop a brew? I was taught to rack into a five gallon carboy on top of the hops after one week of fermentation. I've read that I can just toss the hops in the primary after one week. This is my first time dry hopping so I'm not sure if it's just a choice thing or does it make any difference either way?
If it makes any difference, It's an extract brew called rogues double IPA purchased from morebeer.com.
Thanks guys in advance for your help.

Cheers!

I just toss them right into my primary 5 to 7 days before I plan on kegging. Works just fine for me.

IffyG said:

I just toss them right into my primary 5 to 7 days before I plan on kegging. Works just fine for me.

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So you've never noticed a difference in taste? I noticed you said 5-7 days. My brew calls for 14 days secondary, is that preference or should I just follow the instructions?

Dude. You're over thinking it. Doesn't matter.

I know it seems like I'm over thinking it but I'm trying to get a better understanding for what I'm doing. Before I came to this site, the guy that taught me to brew had me fermenting for one week, bottle for one and then drink. So when I found this site I got see how much I really don't know. I'm not trying to over think it, I'm trying to find out when, how and why to do something.

dave1226 said:

I know it seems like I'm over thinking it but I'm trying to get a better understanding for what I'm doing. Before I came to this site, the guy that taught me to brew had me fermenting for one week, bottle for one and then drink. So when I found this site I got see how much I really don't know. I'm not trying to over think it, I'm trying to find out when, how and why to do something.

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I do not think you are over thinking.

I put my hops- pellet or whole- in a muslin bag with some stainless steel bolts in it (so it will stay on the bottom/ middle of the carboy), put it in my secondary, then rack on top of it. I leave it there for 7 days, then bottle. Keeps excess hop matter to a minimum. Just make sure you dont compact the hops too much, otherwise you wont get proper utilization from the hops.

Here's what I do:

1. ferment for 10 - 30 days in the primary, depending on the beer

2. if I'm harvesting the yeast, I transfer the beer into a secondary carboy and dry hop for 4 - 10 days, depending on the beer and hops

3. if I'm not harvesting the yeast, I add the hops to the primary, to avoid transferring the beer

Hope this helps!

IffyG said:

I just toss them right into my primary 5 to 7 days before I plan on kegging. Works just fine for me.

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This is how I do it too. You figure out when you will be going to bottle/keg then count backwards 5-7 days and add the hops then. I've also just added them to my primary. Less rackings, less risk of oxidation/contamination and you still get great results.

My current quest is finding the correct amount of hops to add. First batch was 1oz. total (half EKG and half Fuggles). Second batch was 3oz. total (same tyoe and %s). This time I'm planning one ounce each (for a week). It's my English IPA recipe, which is damned tasty.

Pappers_ said:

Here's what I do:

1. ferment for 10 - 30 days in the primary, depending on the beer

2. if I'm harvesting the yeast, I transfer the beer into a secondary carboy and dry hop for 4 - 10 days, depending on the beer and hops

3. if I'm not harvesting the yeast, I add the hops to the primary, to avoid transferring the beer

Hope this helps!

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That's helps a lot. Thank you for the tips.

Golddiggie said:

This is how I do it too. You figure out when you will be going to bottle/keg then count backwards 5-7 days and add the hops then. I've also just added them to my primary. Less rackings, less risk of oxidation/contamination and you still get great results.

My current quest is finding the correct amount of hops to add. First batch was 1oz. total (half EKG and half Fuggles). Second batch was 3oz. total (same tyoe and %s). This time I'm planning one ounce each (for a week). It's my English IPA recipe, which is damned tasty.

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Gonna try it your way and see how I like it. Thanks for the help.

Kahler said:

I put my hops- pellet or whole- in a muslin bag with some stainless steel bolts in it (so it will stay on the bottom/ middle of the carboy), put it in my secondary, then rack on top of it. I leave it there for 7 days, then bottle. Keeps excess hop matter to a minimum. Just make sure you dont compact the hops too much, otherwise you wont get proper utilization from the hops.

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Not a bad idea with the stainless steal. I'll have to keep it in mind. Thanks for the info.

No porblem man. Happy brewing

My opinion is that there is no one right way to ferment. If you got the temps where they should be, then it doesn't really matter much if you primary for 3 weeks then secondary (or not) for a few more.

or, primary for 1 week, secondary for 3...

or primary for 2 weeks, dry hop in primary for 1 week...

I like a longer primary so the yeast can settle better and I don't have to mess with the racking into secondary. I've dry-hopped in secondary and in primary and it doesn't seem to matter.

All of this for your standard strength ale, of course. Heavier beers usually get a nice 2-3 week primary and then a transfer into secondary for a couple of months before bottling and aging for several more.

The best way?

-Rack to secondary to remove as much yeast as possible
-Throw the pellets straight in
-Rouse the hops every couple days
-If you are adding more than 1oz, add them in several doses so you are continually adding fresh hops to the beer.
-Use a hop sack or paint strainer bag around your racking cane to keep the hops out of your bottling bucket/keg.

Most of those tips are from Vinnie at Russian River. I've found I get much more explosive hop aroma when I follow those tips. With that said, I often dry hop my less hoppy beers in the primary; I'm lazy. For IPAs or DIPAs it's worth the effort. Just give your beer enough time in the primary before you rack to secondary (1-2wks depending on a number of factors)

scottland said:

The best way?

-Rack to secondary to remove as much yeast as possible
-Throw the pellets straight in
-Rouse the hops every couple days
-If you are adding more than 1oz, add them in several doses so you are continually adding fresh hops to the beer.
-Use a hop sack or paint strainer bag around your racking cane to keep the hops out of your bottling bucket/keg.

Most of those tips are from Vinnie at Russian River. I've found I get much more explosive hop aroma when I follow those tips. With that said, I often dry hop my less hoppy beers in the primary; I'm lazy. For IPAs or DIPAs it's worth the effort. Just give your beer enough time in the primary before you rack to secondary (1-2wks depending on a number of factors)

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This sounds really logical. I think going with this method. Simple, but gives me options and I like options.
One question tho, to this DIPA I'm doing now, I'm gonna add 2 oz of hops, how long would you dry hop it and how much would you put in each time. Or how many times would add hops. I think I can get away with one week secondary.

I say connect 5 or 6 of these and then run your beer through it....

A hophead's little friend

Btw, I'm not affiliated. I just think it's crazy...

dave1226 said:

This sounds really logical. I think going with this method. Simple, but gives me options and I like options.
One question tho, to this DIPA I'm doing now, I'm gonna add 2 oz of hops, how long would you dry hop it and how much would you put in each time. Or how many times would add hops. I think I can get away with one week secondary.

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For a DIPA I dry hop for 14 days. Put half in at the start add the other half at 7 days. Cold crash for 2 days then move onto bottel or keg with hop bag around racking cane. One week to me just doen not seem enough time with a big beer to my taste.

dave1226 said:

One question tho, to this DIPA I'm doing now, I'm gonna add 2 oz of hops, how long would you dry hop it and how much would you put in each time. Or how many times would add hops.

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I would split the hop additions, and figure about 7 days for the dry hop give or take. Anywhere between 5-12days is fine.

Here's the truth about dry-hopping: There hasn't been a terrible amount of research into best practices. Even the commercial breweries known for really big hop aromas in their beers don't do it the same.

Sierra Nevada created the 'Torpedo' which is an inert-gas fired wort recirculater. It recirculates the wort through a boatload of whole hops loaded in a cylinder. Too rich for my blood.

Dogfish also has an inert-gas fired wort recirculater that they call 'Me So Hoppy'. Again, too rich for me.

Russian River preaches multiple hop additions over the course of 5 days to 4 weeks, they just add straight pellets, and rouse the pellets back into solution with CO2

Firestone walker dry hops with more hops for less time 3-5 days tops, and their head brewer was a hop chemist before he worked at FW.

So as you can see, even the professional brewers that make excellent hoppy beers have different methods. The one thing they all do though is crash the temp, and drop the yeast before dry hopping. In homebrewing that translates to rack to secondary.