Dry hopping in primary

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Dr. Fedwell

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I have a ten gal batch of Biermuncher's Kona Fire Rock clone in primary still. It has been two weeks and fermentation has ceased. I usually leave beer in primary for 3-4 weeks then crash cool and go straight to keg. I don't like the idea of dry hopping in the keg, as I am accumulating enough beer that I am able to age new batches now. Is there a reason I can't dry hop in primary now that things are calm in there? Just add pellets straight? I have whole hops on the way, I could wait. Any advice to a dry hop noob.
thanks
 
If you aren't going to rack to secondary and everything is calm now, you probably could dry hop in the primary. I haven't done it in primary so I can't speak from experience; I've always dry hopped in the secondary. The purpose of waiting until fermentation is done for dry hopping is to have the most aroma obtained from the hops. If the beer is still fermenting, the co2 will drive off some of the aroma.
 
I am a big fan of dry hopping in the keg. But, if that is not for you, then go for it the primary. I never have, but this is because I usually like to save the yeast which I would not do after dry hopping.
 
I have dry hopped the primary many times at 14 days without a bad result. 7 days to 2 weeks dry hop works great. Go for it. :mug:
 
...Is there a reason I can't dry hop in primary now that things are calm in there? Just add pellets straight?..

That's how I do my Kona.

Loose pellets in the primary after two weeks.

Let them sit for 7-10 days and give that primary a gentle rocking once a day to cascade those hops down through the beer.

When you're ready to rack out of the primary, wrap a 1-gallon paint strainer around the cane of your siphon using a small zip tie. THat will hold back the hops and keep your beer clear.

Hopstopper_3.jpg
 
Thanks for the help guys. Beerrific, why won't you harvest yeast after dry hopping?

The hop gunk and yeast get co-mingled. It's not impossible to "Wash" the yeast clean of the hop residue, but some micro brews will not do that because of the speculation that health of the yeast has been compromised by the rich exposure to the hops.

That's what I've heard anyway.
 
Yep. I prefer to dryhop at the end of primary, then transfer to a secondary to let it clear. Only on batches I don't want the yeast out of it though.
 
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