Bottling the Hop God

[iskeptici]

I just finished dry hopping an intensely hoppy IPA that ended up coming in at around 9% ABV. I let it sit outside in the cool night air (temps usually get down to about 50º at night here) in order to "crash" the yeast a bit before transferring to secondary and adding the dry hops, and again last night in order to settle out some of the hop residue before bottling later today.

My question is this - given the higher ABV and "cool" crashing, should I add fresh yeast before bottling? I've done this with my last two Belgians to great effect but have never heard of this being done with an IPA.

I definitely don't want these precious hop aromas to sit around in a bottle getting stale while it's waiting to carb up.

This is a recipe I've been working on for awhile and the previous batches didn't quite end up the way I wanted. I sampled this batch yesterday and the flavor and aroma are incredible! I want to make sure that every step from here on out protects the hops... so when the bottles are cracked open in a couple of weeks that big hoppy floral aroma still punches you in the face.

Everyone here has been incredibly helpful so far, and I really appreciate the great advice.

 

[unionrdr]

So you basically "cool" crashed it twice? Not sure that's a real good idea. But you may still have enough yeast to carbonate with. I don't cold crash myself,just give it 4-5 weeks in primary to settle out clear,or slightly misty. That depends on recipe as well. For instance,any wheat malts,etc that were used. Then 1 week dry hop before bottling. I get clear beers this way. My Sunset Gold APA particularly.

 

[libeerty]

I just finished dry hopping an intensely hoppy IPA that ended up coming in at around 9% ABV. I let it sit outside in the cool night air (temps usually get down to about 50º at night here) in order to "crash" the yeast a bit before transferring to secondary and adding the dry hops, and again last night in order to settle out some of the hop residue before bottling later today.

My question is this - given the higher ABV and "cool" crashing, should I add fresh yeast before bottling? I've done this with my last two Belgians to great effect but have never heard of this being done with an IPA.

I definitely don't want these precious hop aromas to sit around in a bottle getting stale while it's waiting to carb up.

This is a recipe I've been working on for awhile and the previous batches didn't quite end up the way I wanted. I sampled this batch yesterday and the flavor and aroma are incredible! I want to make sure that every step from here on out protects the hops... so when the bottles are cracked open in a couple of weeks that big hoppy floral aroma still punches you in the face.

Everyone here has been incredibly helpful so far, and I really appreciate the great advice.

I love the passion for the hops. I feel it too. Last summer I went on a hop binge, kept brewing hoppy beer after hoppy beer. I think you will find that even with the normal carbonation method, you will be plenty happy with the product if you already are happy before bottling. It will only get better from here. Of course, if you wait months and months to finish them, some will lose some hop magic, but something tells me it won't take months and months for you to finish them...

 

[TopherM]

What yeast strain did you use? For all typical yeast strains you'd use with an IPA, 50F isn't going to zonk them out too bad, and just warming back up to room temp before you add your sugar should be fine to get carbonation started. You might have a 24-48 hour lag time, but it'll happen. I wouldn't add any extra yeast.

 

[iskeptici]

Thanks for the input! I've only cooled it to 50º for about 8 hours each time so I'm hoping it hasn't been cold enough to knock out the yeast... The reason I did this is that I've read from several sources that dry hopping is improved if some of the sediment is settled out beforehand. I've found this to be true in the past. In my previous batches I didn't crash before bottling but I've used a ton of hops this time and there is a lot of debris.

Topher, I'm using WLP001 which has yet to fail me! Libeerty... if these bottles last a whole month I will be quite surprised! I just have to hoard a few away from my hop loving friends. Hang on I'm drooling on my keyboard...

 

[unionrdr]

Well,with the average ale yeast being the most active between 64-72F for good results,50F is low for them. So settling would happen,but at a slower rate than the usual colder temps used.
And the point I always preached in regard to dry hopping & settling was that it should be settled out clear or slightly misty before the dry hop. Settling yeast will have the hop oils coat them & go to the bottom & lost. Once settled,the hop oils stay in suspension much better.

 

[billl]

The yeast sitting in a 9% IPA are fairly stressed but will certainly still be capable of carbing a beer. They will probably just take a little longer, so if you are trying to get this in a glass ASAP, the fresh yeast will probably help with that. There really isn't a down side to using some fresh yeast at bottling time other than cost.

 

[iskeptici]

Thanks for the suggestions. Decided this one was worth the extra few bucks and added the yeast. My previous IPAs have all tasted best about 4 weeks after bottling so the risk of waiting too long didn't seem worth it. Gotta pay respects to the hops!