Two weeks in primary, when to move and dryhop?

I'm brewing up an AHS Imperial Winter Ale. It has been in primary for 2 weeks exactly today. I'm supposed to dry hop 1/2 oz for 7-10 days in secondary. I'm wondering when you guys think I should move it to the secondary?

How long is too long to leave the pellets dry-hopping? I wanted to ferment this for 4 weeks combined between primary and secondary. Should I leave it another week in primary and then secondary for the 4th and final week? I have yet to take any gravity readings other than the SG of 1.058 which was DEAD on.

This is my first time dry hopping and using a secondary. Thanks!

I'd check the gravity before you do anything - if it's reached expected FG then you're safe to move it to the secondary. Dry hop for the second week in secondary right before bottling/kegging. If it's not reached FG or very close then I'd leave it where it's at for another week.

I don't usually dry hop longer than 7-10 days, and after you move it to secondary it will probably bubble for a couple of days as it releases CO2. That's why I wait for at least a few days in secondary before adding dry hops, I don't want that aroma scrubbed out by the CO2.

I don't mean to piggy-back your thread TimSTi, but I have another related question. Is it necessary to move to secondary if you are dry hopping? Can you dry hop in the primary without going to secondary?

I dry hop in the keg. My Amarillo ale has been on tap for almost a month, still yummy.

Darwin18 said:

I don't mean to piggy-back your thread TimSTi, but I have another related question. Is it necessary to move to secondary if you are dry hopping? Can you dry hop in the primary without going to secondary?

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Yes you can dry hop in the primary once the fermentation dies down.

wildwest450 said:

I dry hop in the keg. My Amarillo ale has been on tap for almost a month, still yummy.

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So I imagine 2 weeks in the secondary wouldn't be an issue dry hopping?

I remember an interview on The Jamil Show where the interviewee said he dry-hops in the secondary and he does not wait for the SG to stabilize first. I think his rationalization was that when you dry-hop you are potentially adding oxygen to the wort depending on the surface area of the hops. If there is a little fermentation left to go, the yeast will metabolize that oxygen for you and reduce the risk of oxygenation. If I recall, this is the guy who won this year's Sam Adam's longshot with a double IPA or IIPA. If the fermentation is still pretty active, you are going to lose some of the hop aroma to outgassing, so there is somewhat of a cost/benefit trade-off.