Beer conditioning/dry hopping/carbonating

I just recently got my first kegerator and put my latest IPA batch in the corny keg the other day.

I've read all different forums and even my homebrewing books but I have a few questions I would like to get comments on and see what more experienced brewers think.

I wanted to dry hop my IPA. So, I let the beer ferment for just under 2 weeks. Then, I tranfered the beer to my corny keg with a couple ounces of hop pellets in a nylon bag in the keg. Right now, I've got the keg my sitting in my garage where I'm guessing it's about 50 degrees. My plan was to let it dry hop for a week like this, then through it in the kegerator for a day to drop the temp to about 40 degrees and then hook up to CO2 and let it carbonate for a week. After that point, I will probably take the hops out and then drink.

I am wondering about which procedures would produce the best results. Would it be better to go ahead and put the keg in the kegerator at 40 degrees from the very start of the dry hopping process? (Would this help the condition process or affect the dry hopping process?)

Does the beer need to be dryhopped before being carbonated with a CO2 tank? Will the CO2 remove existing hop oils/aromas? Will it keep more hop oil from mixing with the beer once CO2 is added?

As far as fermentation and condition goes, does beer condition better at lower temperatures, or does it need to be around the same temperator it was fermenting at so that the yeast can continue to work? (For instance, when you carbonate a kegged beer, you carbonated it at lower temperators, but if you bottle your beer you leave them at room temperature so the yeast can react with the corn sugar. This has to affect the taste of the beer some how.)

I've never dry hopped in the keg so can't help much with some of your questions. We will generally dry hop in the primary fermentor, adding the hops about 7-10 days into fermentation and leaving them in for another 7 days before crash cooling and kegging. We dry hop towards the end of active fermentation so that there is still CO2 being generated to purge the fermentor head space of oxygen.

Chemical reactions (transfer of oils during dry hopping) happen more slowly at lower temperatures so I would think that a week of dry hopping at 40 degrees would not be enough. I would dry hop at a higher temperature (68 'ish) for a week before chilling and carbonating. A better option may be to add the hops to the keg and cool and carbonate. Wait a week or two and sample the beer. If you have enough hop aroma then remove the hops. If not, leave them in for longer. Others who dry hop in the keg can probably give you better information. Good luck.