Dry Hopping in a Plastic Primary

[mklein]

I am fairly new to homebrewing (18 months and maybe 75 gallons) and I take every opportunity I can to talk with brewers at our local brew pubs. During one of these conversations, a brewer suggested that I might consider a long primary fermentation and skip the secondary all together. I had read a little on this recently and came here for more info. Found a ton of good advise and have decided to give it a try. (Thanks to Revvy in particular for posting so much good info!)

However, this leaves me with one question. Last night I brewed a low gravity IPA of sorts and am shooting for really big grapefruit and citrus hop aromas. I used the following hop schedule (5 gal batch):

0.83 oz of Centennial at 60 min
1.0 oz of Amarillo at 10 min
0.5 oz Citra at flameout
0.5 oz of Citra in primary
1.0 oz Citra (plus remaining 0.17 oz Centennial) for dry hopping (in about 10 days)

I used my plastic bucket fermenter this time around and plan to skip the secondary stage which is when I would usually dry hop. Does any of this change when only using a primary, and maybe more importantly, should I worry about opening the primary to add the hops? Just worried that it is a really big surface area to expose to new oxygen, etc. Bought a one inch stopper and thought about drilling an access hole in the lid for drawing samples and adding things, but was finishing in the dark and decided to wait until next time. Any thoughts on any of this? Am I overthinking this thing? Thanks for any help or experience folks are willing to offer.

 

[unionrdr]

I don't use a secondary unless oaking, adding fruit or the like. Let the beer finish fermenting. Then give it 3-7 days to settle out clear or slightly misty before dry hopping. Some ad the dry hops loose, others use sanitized hop socks to contain the hop debris. 7 days is usually plenty of time.

 

[kh54s10]

I also dry hop in primary. I add hops in sanitized 1 gallon paint strainer bag(s), 1oz per bag because the hops swell a lot. I go 5-7 days then bottle or keg.

 

[BigPerm]

I am fairly new to homebrewing (18 months and maybe 75 gallons) and I take every opportunity I can to talk with brewers at our local brew pubs. During one of these conversations, a brewer suggested that I might consider a long primary fermentation and skip the secondary all together. I had read a little on this recently and came here for more info. Found a ton of good advise and have decided to give it a try. (Thanks to Revvy in particular for posting so much good info!)

However, this leaves me with one question. Last night I brewed a low gravity IPA of sorts and am shooting for really big grapefruit and citrus hop aromas. I used the following hop schedule (5 gal batch):

0.83 oz of Centennial at 60 min
1.0 oz of Amarillo at 10 min
0.5 oz Citra at flameout
0.5 oz of Citra in primary
1.0 oz Citra (plus remaining 0.17 oz Centennial) for dry hopping (in about 10 days)

I used my plastic bucket fermenter this time around and plan to skip the secondary stage which is when I would usually dry hop. Does any of this change when only using a primary, and maybe more importantly, should I worry about opening the primary to add the hops? Just worried that it is a really big surface area to expose to new oxygen, etc. Bought a one inch stopper and thought about drilling an access hole in the lid for drawing samples and adding things, but was finishing in the dark and decided to wait until next time. Any thoughts on any of this? Am I overthinking this thing? Thanks for any help or experience folks are willing to offer.

You're only opening it once to throw in dry hops. You'd be opening it to rack it too. Open it up, chuck your hops in, take a gravity, close the lid. No big deal. Like any air exposure, theres some risk of infection but its fairly unavoidable now and certainly less than going to secondary (and plenty of people still do that with no ill effects.)

Drilling a 1" hole is certainly not a bad option. Probably preferable to the grommets most use, which are likely never removed and cleaned.

As to your recipe, if you want big grapefruit and citrus flavors, you may think about adding some galaxy (galaxy + citra gives me big grapefruit) and/or amarillo (fresh orange aromas) to your dry hop.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Im looking up dry hopping now.Im in a bit of a rush on this batch.Some old threads here say its no problem,almost recommended, to dry hop at the tail end of fermentation.The reason being the fermenting yeast will clear out the oxygen introduced from opening the bucket.leaving less chance for infection.Goes against what most do here.I might give it a shot,How bad could it really be..not bad

 

[UndeadFred]

When I dry hop, I do it in a HDPE primary. Opening the lid does let O2 in but CO2 is more dense, so unless you are completely sloppy it is usually okay.. if you do in near the end but not 100% at the end there will be more CO2 produced anyway... but a layer of CO2 if not completely agitated out should sit on the beer even with a lid pop or two. Infection (although not likely) is a bigger risk with popping the lid.

Many people would say that the HDPE buckets let in too much O2 over time, but personally I've not had an issue with that. There are only very rare cases that you need a secondary in homebrewing and I would venture to guess unless you purge with a kegging CO2 tank you'll get more O2 in transferring it to a secondary regardless. What you intend on dong will be fine.

Fred

 

[unionrdr]

The reason you wait until the end of fermentation, then let it settle out clear or slightly misty is the settling yeast & trub. Dry hop while a good amount of that is still in suspension & the hop oils from the dry hop coat the settling particles & gop to the bottom.

 

[bobeer]

I have only used a primary in my whole 4 years of brewing. I dry hop with loose hops, not in a bag, and I open my beer at least twice during the whole process. I've never had any issues at all with infections, oxidation, etc... I've oaked beer in the primary for 4 months and still no issues at all. I say go for it!

 

[unionrdr]

I'm sure you meant secondary rather than primary the first time? I've only used a secondary maybe 4 times or so myself.

 

[m00ps]

I agree with skipping a secondary for 99% of beers. This is especially important with IPAs as the transfer will oxidize the beer to some degree

But also, if you are wanting "really big grapefruit and citrus hop aromas", you are going to need to acquire several times that amount of hops

 

[m1k3]

I'd just add the .5oz of Citra with the 1oz of Citra and Centennial.

(were you planning to add that .5oz at the beginning of primary?)

Just dry hop once... fermentation will just blow off the aroma you are trying to add.

 

[mklein]

But also, if you are wanting "really big grapefruit and citrus hop aromas", you are going to need to acquire several times that amount of hops

Thanks to all for the advice. I thought about a massive dump of hops for the secondary, but wondered when it might become over the top. What would be the dry hopping upper limit (assuming cost was no issue) at which most brewers would say it is too much? Does anyone dry hop at an ounce per gallon ratio?

 

[unionrdr]

I've dry hopped with as much as 4-5 ounces, matching the flavor hops in the boil. Depends, to me, on the hops used for flavor.

 

[m00ps]

Thanks to all for the advice. I thought about a massive dump of hops for the secondary, but wondered when it might become over the top. What would be the dry hopping upper limit (assuming cost was no issue) at which most brewers would say it is too much? Does anyone dry hop at an ounce per gallon ratio?

Personally, Ive found you just cannot overdue post-boil additions. Ive got a orange juice inspired Sunny D-IPA kegged that had over 16oz after flameout. 12oz in a hopstand, 6 oz dry hopped, and 2 more oz in the keg. Its glorious, looks like OJ cause I added flour in the boil. Its not bitter though since I kept the boil hops to only 2 oz