Dry hop in primary or without crashing

[khillian]

http://www.bertusbrewery.com/2014/12/micro-pale-ale-30.html

"I dry hopped this directly in the primary while there was still some yeast activity. I'm starting to find that minimizing oxidation outweighs hop/yeast contact. This is pretty much the reverse from what my mindset was a couple years ago. For my IPAs and DIPAs, I still rack the beer into a keg to dry hop, but for low gravity IPAs and Pale Ales, I'm dry hopping in the primary to take advantage of the oxygen-scavenging properties of active yeast. Anyway, the dry hops went in day 6, and I chilled the primary and kegged the beer on day 13."

Couldn't agree more! I recently started the same regimen, furthermore I use buckets with spigots to minimize messy racking canes with pumping/splashing. My pales and IPAs are bright, full of aroma, and on par with the best fresh commercial hoppy beers.

It's one of those things that no one wants to try because they read yeast absorbs hop oils and c02 drives off aroma. I think these factors do not outweigh the risk of oxidation, especially for late/dry hopped aromatic beers. All other styles some oxidation is not going to muddle or destroy the beer.

 

[Psylocide]

2 weeks from brew day to keg? Isn't that pretty quick?

 

[khillian]

Nope, if you pitch healthy yeast and control the temperate there is no need to wait 3 weeks. If the yeast are not stressed and create fewer off flavors then there is not much to clean up. I have great luck with beers under 1.050 with this schedule. If anything hoppy beers fade so fast all that wirl pool/late kettle hoping is breaking down as you sit on the beer for weeks and weeks. I laugh when people think hoppy beers and aromatic pale ales are easy to brew, IMHO they are the most difficult if your shooting for Heady/Pliny aromas, your process has to be very very good. Tasted many homebrew and few achieve that bright aroma, most other styles lagers/porters/stouts/milds/belgians are much more forgiving in my opinion.

We are not commercial breweries but they turn around beers very quckly. I think this is critical for that juicy, bright, fruity, aromas we all adore in modern hoppy beers. I notice 3 weeks in the keg and they already start to fade at 38F let alone 3 weeks at 65/68/70F. Same goes for a beer like Heady Topper or Pliny, save a can/bottle next time for a few weeks and taste it compared to fresh. There is a very steep fall off of that bright beautiful aroma. This is why I rarely buy warm stored bottled commercial hoppy beers. The cardboard descriptor is terrible too, I have never tasted wet cardboard, I find hoppy beers turn into a muddled malt mess when old and oxidized.

 

[kh54s10]

I dry hop in primary also though I wait until after the fermentation has finished. I have kegged at 2 weeks and the results are good but if I wait another week I get a clearer beer. I don't use any clearing agents except Irish Moss.

I do the dry hop addition based on when I will keg. 5-7 days prior to kegging so that the hop flavor and aroma have not faded.

 

[khillian]

Forgot to mention I let pellets swim free in primary, nice to not have to crash with spigots, I just tilt and turn off the spigot when I'm near the bottom and the floating hop pellet layer is near the spigot.

For DIPA, lately I do a primary dry hop transfer to the keg without
crashing for round 2 pellets in a bag which does hurt extraction compared to letting them swim.

I have been meaning to try this instead of bags for round 2 in the keg, http://www.bear-flavored.com/2014/09/how-i-dry-hop-my-ipas-with-no-oxygen.html

The oxygen suck back from crashing is not worth it, especially if you warm back up for the dry hop, going to not be bright. Unless you can crash with a little C02 connected to ported better bottle or in a purged keg it's not worth the risk IMHO.

Just saying give dry hop in primary a try!

 

[Psylocide]

So... I've got an American style pale ale that I brewed with SA-04 on 11/28. This was hopbursted and plan to dry hop in primary with pellets (no bag).

At last check... it was pretty clear and tasted decent. Would this be a good candidate for the shorter schedule? I feel like if I crash at the end of dryhopping that'll take care of any clarity issues. But don't want to rush it either.

 

[TastyAdventure]

I can't decide if I should cold crash and then bring the temp up to dry hop, or dry hop then cold crash, or skip cold crash all together.
What do you think?

 

[khillian]

I like to skip the cold crash, as stated, oxidation risks, the yeast left in suspension if near the tail end of fermentation should not be that big of an issue. If your Calcium levels are decent most of the yeast should floc out already, I don't mind letting it clear in the keg and having a few cloudy pours.

Here's a response on Matts approach from FireStone Walker, he used to be a hop chemist making extracts and doing hop experiments.
-----
"We know that yeast activity can result in positive changes to hop oils.
Adding hops toward the end of fermentation (or during fermentation for
that matter) can result in some positive aroma compounds that carry
through to the finished product. The problem is that hop oils can be
scrubbed out of the beer through fermentation (CO2 evolution) and there
are losses due to hop components (oils and resins) adhering to the yeast
cell and being removed from the beer. In other words, dry hopping in the
presence of yeast has some proven positive flavor effects but negative
extraction effects. Once the yeast has been largely removed from the
beer, there is opportunity for better extraction of raw hop character. So
we do both. We try to take advantage of both possible extraction
opportunities and our belief is that we get a more well rounded hop aroma
with high overall hop impact.

The theoretical justification could be argued and certainly great beers
are made with single dry hop additions. The boys at Lagunitas do a single
hop pellet addition for dry hopping and they get a very high hop impact.
You could compare a Union Jack and a Lagunitas IPA and decide which method
you prefer (of course the hop variety, time on the hops, amount of hops
and temperature of the dry hop all play into the equation.)"
------
There is no "right" way just throwing in my two cents, more people on this forum should try dry hopping pales/IPAs just once near the end of primary fermentation as stated, I think you will be surprised with the results.

 

[snowtires]

I keg my beer after 2 weeks and I do not do secondary either. I also dry hop in primary. And It makes the best darn IPAs if i do say so myself

 

[grathan]

I do this method as well. Dry hop day 3-5, keg day 14. No crash.

I still wanna try keg hopping though, gonna make a double batch and compare this one time.

 

[Hoosierbrewer]

I like to crash and use gelatin if I plan to bottle. Keg is not as much of an issue. I do not mind if I get chill haze though in the keg. If I bottle, I usually share it. Not so much from the keg.

I recently dry hopped then cold crashed. It added a good aroma, but the cold crash took a lot of the freshness smell. Not sure if it was cold or the aging for a couple weeks.

I may add about 1/4 oz of fresh while I let it warm back up to bottle or keg. I have not decided which it will be yet.