To Secondary Ferment or Not to Secondary Ferment...

Hey guys,

I'm brewing my first batch of beer tonight, a Pale ale. I have some Cascade hop pellets that I have to dry hop after fermentation. What way do you recommend adding these. Should I rack to my secondary which is also my bottle filling bucket? Should I leave the beer as is and just add the hops to the primary and then rack during bottling time? Don't I have to worry about contamination when just tossing in pellets from the bag the store gave me?

Neither option is really good. I'd recommend getting another fermenter to use as a secondary and dry hop in that.

Your can dry-hop in primary after fermentation is complete. I would recommend getting another fermenter at some point (eventually you'll have a bunch of fermenters). Just toss the hops right in. Contamination just isn't a concern with dry-hopping because hops have a natural antiseptic quality and your beer isn't nearly as susceptible to infection after fermentation.

It would be ideal to have a secondary fermentation vessel. But I don't see any problem with dry-hopping in the bottling bucket for a few days, mind you have a lid for the bucket. Dry-hopping first batch, huh? Starting out strong.

Giggidy...Sorry, couldn't resist after seeing your avatar!

Yeah hopefully i'll pick up some better equipment down the line. Since this is my first batch and my bank account is small I'd like to try it with what I have. Thanks for the info about the hops, it makes me feel a lot better about just tossing hops into my bucket after reading all of this info about trying to keep things out! I was a little nervous.

I'd dry hop in the primary before the bottling bucket. You're not going to want to stir up everything in the bottom of the bucket when you add your priming sugar. Defeats the purpose of doing a secondary at all.

Yeah, I honestly didn't realize this was slightly more involved. Thats ok, I rather jump in head first! Crossing my fingers it comes out half way decent!!

I'd dry hop in the primary before the bottling bucket. You're not going to want to stir up everything in the bottom of the bucket when you add your priming sugar. Defeats the purpose of doing a secondary at all.

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That makes sense, no need for extra left overs in the bottom of my bottling bucket. Do you guys leave your hydrometer in the fermenter? How often do you check SG?

I check my SG, at most, once a week. Don't leave your hydro in the fermenter. In fact, don't put your hydrometer in the fermenter. Take a sample and test that.

Thanks Chshre!

Almost done cooling. going to get my OG, pitch clean up and go to bed!

Thank you for all of your help guys.

I pretty much agree with what you got already. Dry hop in the primary fermenter a day or few before you rack to bottling bucket. I don't do secondaries anymore for anything with an OG less than 1.060

For a pale ale, as distinct from an IPA, I would probably dryhop 3 days tops:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/how-long-dry-hop-secondary-115567/