When To Drink an IPA?

On the topic of when to drink IPA's along the process:

I tend to make my pales and IPA's with just base and crystal, relatively dry, and plenty of flavor and aroma additions, including gratuitious dry-hops. I ferment to FG, warm a tad and let it sit for a few days to clean up (usually 10 days or so total). At that point I dry-hop either in primary or in secondary (depends on my mood and if I need the primary for something else). I usually do this for 3-5 days, then keg. I drink them within a few days as I carb on a high PSI and sometimes shake.

I find that basic grain bills for pales and IPA's are particularly good young, probably peaking about a week or so after being in the keg.

Now, that said, I find my bottled pales/IPA's are good even later, probably due to the fact that they're not gassing off hop aroma from the whole batch with every pint like a kegged beer does.

14thstreet said:

If I've dryhopped in the keg, I've put my hops (pellet or whole) in a hop bag and tied it halfway down my liquid out tube. Sanitize your hop bag before doing this just to be safe. You could also weight it down too. The idea is that you don't block/clog the dip tube with hop or bag. Others have used a tea infusion ball.

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I just toss the bag in usually. Not sure I've ever clogged the dip tube, but I believe that it's possible.

14thstreet said:

If I've dryhopped in the keg, I've put my hops (pellet or whole) in a hop bag and tied it halfway down my liquid out tube. Sanitize your hop bag before doing this just to be safe. You could also weight it down too. The idea is that you don't block/clog the dip tube with hop or bag. Others have used a tea infusion ball.

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Man. Wish I would have thought about the tea ball. I have a couple of those!

Yambor44 said:

Man. Wish I would have thought about the tea ball. I have a couple of those!

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You may also try chilling the hops and tea ball first to help prevent the co2 from coming out of suspension. Never tried it but it helps when filling bottles from the keg

Erroneous said:

You may also try chilling the hops and tea ball first to help prevent the co2 from coming out of suspension. Never tried it but it helps when filling bottles from the keg

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I do. My hops always stay in the freezer.

I've had multiple IPA's that went from grain to glass in 14 days and tasted awesome. The younger the better if you ask me.

There is a reason Pliny is sold in limited markets and says on the label to drink a soon as possible.

Yambor44 said:

As an FYI some key points I haven't mentioned yet:
2. My fermentation chamber is a deep freezer with a Johnson controller kept at 62-66F ambient.

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Yambor44 said:

I am using SO5. Usually no starter and pitch straight into the wort with no re-hydration.

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If you are having 'green beer' issues, fix these things listed above.

Yambor44 said:

3. My kegs stay in that same fermentation chamber after I transfer with CO2 to the serving keg.

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If you like your beers with a lot of hoppy aroma, keep them chilled after they are finished. Also, if your green beer issues get resolved, you should be able to get away with ~10 days in the primary, 3 days crashing, 1 week carbing. Some get away with even quicker schedules. Fermenting at the low end, like Yooper mentioned, seems to off gas less hop aroma, although it can also prevent sulfurous gases from being off gassed as efficiently.

Cwi, much appreciated. However, I have done several tests with the ambient vs beer temp in my setup and the beer is never more than 5 degrees over ambient during active fermentation. I have tried just about every method I have read about on this as well as other sites regarding this issue. Almost everyone of my beers come out fine, I am trying to improve upon my process and some of the things you mentioned fall in line with that. Thank you.

Regarding re-hydrating yeast. I have done that as well (properly - well properly doing as the masses agree) and it didn't seem to make any difference. I have also made plenty of starters and used plenty of smack packs. same thing. Almost all were an American Ale yeast such as 1272, WLP001 or US-05.

I think the general consensus here as well as with pro brewers (like Pliny as mentioned above) is to drink an IPA young. I am glad to come to that conclusion thru each of your input as that makes it easier for me. no longer getting stressed about keeping a 2-3 month pipeline. It will also allow me to brew other non IPA, longer fermenting or conditioning beers and if i need to "catch up" I can now throw an IPA in there!

Cwi, when you mention keeping your beers chilled after they are finished, are you referring to serving temps? Say, in the 30's?

Drink it young so long as your process is controlled, especially fermentation. Otherwise you'll need more time.

Yambor44 said:

Cwi, much appreciated. However, I have done several tests with the ambient vs beer temp in my setup and the beer is never more than 5 degrees over ambient during active fermentation. I have tried just about every method I have read about on this as well as other sites regarding this issue. Almost everyone of my beers come out fine, I am trying to improve upon my process and some of the things you mentioned fall in line with that. Thank you.

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You complained about 'green beer' issues- at least at shorter than 3 weeks ferm time and 1 month cellaring. A 5F increase in ferm temps is significant. Why not control it directly? It is much more accurate/repeatable. Keeping the temps at the low end keep more hop aroma and reduce yeast off flavors. It is fairly simple if you get some bungee cords, or a 'cam strap' to secure the insulation/sensor. It has been proven through testing to be the most effective method for temp control for your type of setup. A computer fan in the chamber is also very helpful- good for keezers, too.

Yambor44 said:

Regarding re-hydrating yeast. I have done that as well (properly - well properly doing as the masses agree) and it didn't seem to make any difference. I have also made plenty of starters and used plenty of smack packs. same thing. Almost all were an American Ale yeast such as 1272, WLP001 or US-05.

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Dry yeast doesn't require a starter, liquid yeast do. At least for a single pack/vial for ~6 gal batches if you like pitching at what most consider 'normal' rates. RE: effectiveness/impact of rehydrating- I trust the yeast experts lab results more than my own. It is very simple to do- one packet fits in a 1/2 pint mason/canning jar, or a pint jar for 2 packs.

Yambor44 said:

Cwi, when you mention keeping your beers chilled after they are finished, are you referring to serving temps? Say, in the 30's?

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Yes. Just like Pliny is only sold to stores that will maintain the 'chain of cold', I keep my finished beers, especially hoppy beers as cold as possible. Storing them warmer results in loss of aroma, and accelerates staling. In the past I have kept them in whatever was the coldest place at the time- keezer, crashing freezer, etc. I am currently setting up a soda/cider/storage keezer that will be ~32F all the time. I got sick of having my beers on tap at colder than ideal temps for serving just to make properly carb'd ciders and sodas not foam wildly. There isn't much much aroma, or taste, when hoppy beers are served below 37F.

We have hop flavor now!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/88016107@N03/8082991428/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/88016107@N03/8082998071/

Can anyone tell me how to get the image to show up directly in this post? This is my first time using Flikr and no matter which tool I use it only provides a link.