Just brewed my IPA. How long do I wait?

I've searched around and have gotten mixed answers so I thought I would ask...

I brewed an IPA a couple days ago and it is fermenting quite furiously and had an OG of 1.062. I was told IPA is a beer you want to drink young, but how young? I have found people saying as soon as its gravity evens out rack it to secondary to dry hop and bottle a week later. Others say leave it for 3 weeks then dry hop for a week then bottle. I am not sure what to go with. I would like to drink it soon so of course I'm hoping the first answer is the right one. Any advice?

Also.. When you dry hop so you steam hops before hand to sanitize or toss 'em in right from their bagg?

Sorry if the answers were out there I just couldn't find them.

as soon as ferm. slows down is when I throw the dry hops in( I dont secondary) let the hops soak for 1-2 weeks ( 2 is better) then bottle/keg. I keg so I can drink it soon.. you must wait longer if you bottle. if you can fit fermenter in fridge for a week,do it. (will settle excess yeast out) if you dry hop with cones,better to put them in a bag. pellets will settle out on bottom.

dont steam hops,just put them in.

I just made my first IPA, 3 weeks in the primary, 10 days dry hoped, 3 weeks in the bottle. turned out great! just throw your hops in straight from the bag...they dont need to be sanitized, at least not that i have ever heard of.

I have an ipa going now, well the gravity was within a couple of points form the final gravity I tossed the dry hops in. This was last night actuallly. Going to dry hops about 10 days and then crash cool 4 days or so and keg. By that schedule, I will be in the keg on day 19

buzzkill said:

as soon as ferm. slows down is when I throw the dry hops in( I dont secondary) let the hops soak for 1-2 weeks ( 2 is better) then bottle/keg. I keg so I can drink it soon.. you must wait longer if you bottle. if you can fit fermenter in fridge for a week,do it. (will settle excess yeast out) if you dry hop with cones,better to put them in a bag. pellets will settle out on bottom.

dont steam hops,just put them in.

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Pellets will float around for a _long_ time in my experience; I prefer putting them in a bag (hint: you can get a bazillion knee-high nylon stockings for a couple of bucks; no need to worry about emptying/reusing them when you're done.).

I sanitize the bag and the nylon string that I tie it off with, but not the hops.

Thanks for the feedback. I think I'll just give it two weeks, dry hop for 10 days then bottle.

I just bottled my IPA. It was in primary for 8 days, secondary with dry hop for 13 days. Tasted great when I sampled it. Now the hard part will be waiting 2-3 more weeks while it carbonates

From Bottling:

People will tell you different things about time to wait.

Some people will start drinking as soon as it's carbed. Others say to drink young, but for them that means some time during the first 3-6 months. The hops flavor and aroma will fade over time, starting as soon as you pull the beer from the dry-hop. However, you still have green beer. The best time is during that small period when the beer has matured and the hops have not gone away yet.

I have yet to let an IPA sit and linger. I usually dry-hop and keg and as soon as it's carbed it starts getting drunk. But I rarely have my pipeline completely filled. And I usually do at least 3 week in the primary before dry-hopping in the secondary (although I will probably start dry-hopping in the primary now that I have another bucket to use).

So the answer is anywhere between just carbed, and 3 months. After that, my opinion is you've missed the prime hops.