Joshone
Member
Hi all,
What all started with Mr. Beer and went quickly into a Brooklyn Brew Shop kit has turned into regular 5-gallon batches. I'm still a newbie but just bottled batch 8 and 9. We're starting on 10 and 11 tomorrow, which we're doing one all grain (our working IPA) and another using dry and and wet extracts.
We've been working on an all-grain IPA (tomorrow will be our third batch of our own design), which has now become our In-Progress Ale. This will be the first batch we move to a secondary fermenter. I also would like to dry hop this batch.
So far, each batch has included 3 oz. of hops: Centennial (60, 45), Chinook (30, 15) and Cascade (5, cooldown). The flavor has been decent and citrusy but not quite strong enough. So, along with clarifying the beer, I also want to taste the difference of this batch without the trub continuing to flavor it (we've bottled after 2.5 and 3 weeks so far), and I'd like to dry hop an extra ounce in a clean hop bag when I transfer.
Aside from adding gypsum to the boil, I'm wondering if anyone has any other useful tips I may have missed. We moved from cane sugar to corn sugar for bottling, and previously measured each bottle for priming sugar but are batch-mixing now (it's just bottled, so a few weeks out to taste a difference or note carbonation). Each time I am making slight adjustments. The taste has been ok but not close to where we want.
Sorry for the long note but trying to hit pertinent points. Just looking for any tips to head into this new batch.
A few questions:
What's too long to dry hop for a first-timer - or is there a too long?
What's an ideal secondary fermentation time for an IPA?
Should we be conditioning in the bottle before refrigeration longer than two weeks with an IPA? Our beers have been at times a little too carbonated in spite of good measurements for priming sugar (and stable readings with the hydrometer).
What else are we missing?
What all started with Mr. Beer and went quickly into a Brooklyn Brew Shop kit has turned into regular 5-gallon batches. I'm still a newbie but just bottled batch 8 and 9. We're starting on 10 and 11 tomorrow, which we're doing one all grain (our working IPA) and another using dry and and wet extracts.
We've been working on an all-grain IPA (tomorrow will be our third batch of our own design), which has now become our In-Progress Ale. This will be the first batch we move to a secondary fermenter. I also would like to dry hop this batch.
So far, each batch has included 3 oz. of hops: Centennial (60, 45), Chinook (30, 15) and Cascade (5, cooldown). The flavor has been decent and citrusy but not quite strong enough. So, along with clarifying the beer, I also want to taste the difference of this batch without the trub continuing to flavor it (we've bottled after 2.5 and 3 weeks so far), and I'd like to dry hop an extra ounce in a clean hop bag when I transfer.
Aside from adding gypsum to the boil, I'm wondering if anyone has any other useful tips I may have missed. We moved from cane sugar to corn sugar for bottling, and previously measured each bottle for priming sugar but are batch-mixing now (it's just bottled, so a few weeks out to taste a difference or note carbonation). Each time I am making slight adjustments. The taste has been ok but not close to where we want.
Sorry for the long note but trying to hit pertinent points. Just looking for any tips to head into this new batch.
A few questions:
What's too long to dry hop for a first-timer - or is there a too long?
What's an ideal secondary fermentation time for an IPA?
Should we be conditioning in the bottle before refrigeration longer than two weeks with an IPA? Our beers have been at times a little too carbonated in spite of good measurements for priming sugar (and stable readings with the hydrometer).
What else are we missing?