Any good experiences on a long (2 month secondary) followed by a dry hop at the end. I'm just trying to envision aging beer and then tossing it in the fridge for 2 to 4 weeks to drop the yeast out to make "like filtered" beer. Wrong?
Dry hop an aged IPA for clarity?
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Bisco_Ben
Well-Known Member
Are you saying that you want to crash cool your beer and then dry hop after to achieve better clarity? In my opinion, I would dry hop and then crash cool after the dry-hopping period so that the hops fall out of suspension as well. That being said, I dont really ever crash cool my beers since I keg and get perfect clarity just doing that. Might start messing around with crashing when I bottle.
Schnitzengiggle
Well-Known Member
Cold crash primary 3 days or so at 32°f, then rack onto dry hops in secondary allow temperature to stay in the 65°-70°f range for about 7 days, then cold crash again at 32°f for another 3-4 days then rack to keg and carb.
Your beer may have some hop haze if it was extremely hoppy, but your beer will be quite clear.
If you aren't filtering (I do not), unfortunately the only thing that will make your beer clearer is time, and cold temperatures will help to speed up the process a bit.
Your beer may have some hop haze if it was extremely hoppy, but your beer will be quite clear.
If you aren't filtering (I do not), unfortunately the only thing that will make your beer clearer is time, and cold temperatures will help to speed up the process a bit.
Yeah I'm kind of talking about store bought filtering clarity like I get from beer sitting around for a long time and then in the fridge for a while as well. I have never got anything close from all of the various additives and crashings. And I don't mean hops I mean yeast.
Schnitzengiggle
Well-Known Member
You can try finings or gelatin, but if you were to cold crash twice for a min time of 6 days, (ensuring you DH in secondary) plus the 2-3 week carbing period, you are looking at nearly a month of yeast flocc time.
Further, the majority of highly flocculent yeast cells will be left in primary when transferring to secondary. Then your tertiary transfer to a keg will eliminate the majority of the less flocculent yeast cells thst should have dropped out from the cold crash (if you are bottling then the addition of priming sugar and the production of yeast to create carbonation is likely the culprit).
After you pull the first pint or two out of the keg that, has been in essence, lagering for at least 2 weeks usually 3, (cold crashing in my case my kegerator is set at 38°F) you should have very, very clear beer.
Look into other issues if you are having problems with clarity, such as chill haze. I'm assuming this isn't the issue as long as you havebeen brewing, but I thought I'd mention it
A 2 month secondary just seems ridiculous (to me) for clear beer, especially if you have fermentation temperature control.
2 month secondary shouldn't be needed for clear beer.
I'd just secondary as long as you need for the dry hops, then cold crash for a day or two with gelatin, then rack to a keg and force carb for two weeks. After a pint or two you should be able to read through it.
I'd just secondary as long as you need for the dry hops, then cold crash for a day or two with gelatin, then rack to a keg and force carb for two weeks. After a pint or two you should be able to read through it.
