I'm brewing the orval clone from the clone brews book and there are a couple of changes to those I've brewed before (I'm an extract brewer and this is my third batch).
Firstly, it says to transfer to a secondary after 7 days or when fermentation is nearly complete. I've never used a secondary before (and I know there are lots of threads saying they aren't needed) but I'm tempted to go with it this time as its all extra experience and I've seen some comments about needing a secondary when dry hopping. so two questions:
1) Do i need to transfer to dry hop or is there no benefit?
2) How do i know when fermentation is "nearly complete" or should I just use the 7 day figure?
With regard to dry hopping, I've never done it before and the guy in the lhbs only had the bags for steeping grains so gave (sold) me an extra one of them for my dry hopping. Based on the size of the hop pellets, i'm not sure it will contain them as they look like they will slip through gaps in the mesh as they dissolve/hydrate. So the three questions on dry hopping:
3) Do I need to use the grain bag for the dry hop pellets
4) If I use a bag do I need to put a weight in with the pellets to get them below the surface?
5) Do I need to sanatise the pellet bag?
Thanks in advance.
Firstly, it says to transfer to a secondary after 7 days or when fermentation is nearly complete. I've never used a secondary before (and I know there are lots of threads saying they aren't needed) but I'm tempted to go with it this time as its all extra experience and I've seen some comments about needing a secondary when dry hopping. so two questions:
1) Do i need to transfer to dry hop or is there no benefit?
2) How do i know when fermentation is "nearly complete" or should I just use the 7 day figure?
With regard to dry hopping, I've never done it before and the guy in the lhbs only had the bags for steeping grains so gave (sold) me an extra one of them for my dry hopping. Based on the size of the hop pellets, i'm not sure it will contain them as they look like they will slip through gaps in the mesh as they dissolve/hydrate. So the three questions on dry hopping:
3) Do I need to use the grain bag for the dry hop pellets
4) If I use a bag do I need to put a weight in with the pellets to get them below the surface?
5) Do I need to sanatise the pellet bag?
Thanks in advance.