Ferment, Cold Crash, Age - Best Options

[Imburr]

I have an Extra IPA I am finishing up now. The recipe states 14 days in primary fermenter, with dry hops added at 7 days. I just passed the 9 day mark. I am going to cold crash, and I am going to age. What is the best way to do it?

Should I finish out my primary fermentation @ 67 degrees, THEN cold crash for a week? Or should I use these last 5 or 6 days of the primary fermentation to cold crash? I've been checking my gravity, and I believe it is done fermenting.

Once I am done both fermenting and cold crashing, I am going to keg. There is a lot of info about how to go from here.

Add reduced priming sugar and let it sit at room temp.
Force Carb @ 30 PSI and let it sit at room temp.
Force Carb @ 30 PSI and refrigerate.

Which should I do? I have the fridge space to keep it cold, or I could keep it in my house which is roughly 70 degrees. Or I have a cool garage that is maybe 60-65 degrees.

I would like to age it for 30 days before hooking it up to try, and if it is not great I might give it another 30 after that.

Secondary question for bonus points: with a 5 gallon batch and a 5 gallon corney keg, would it be possible to bottle say a 12 pack, and then keg the rest? I would love to compare the carb, and also to give out a few samples to friends.

 

[theowlman16]

If you hit your target FG, you can do the cold crash. 5 or more days in the fermenter at 67 degrees could clean/clarify...that is up to you. Once you drop the temp for the cold crash, your fermentation is going to be arrested (mostly)...these don't overlap. Cold crash can be 24 hours or a week, with a lighter style a couple days will probably suffice - Your fridge will be best for this. You can go very cold, just don't freeze it. I don't keg...

 

[C-Rider]

Don't think there is any advantage to "age" your ale. People don't generally age an IPA.

 

[RM-MN]

Aging an IPA is probably an exercise in frustration if by aging you mean 3 to 6 months. The wonderful hop aroma that IPA's usually have will be pretty much gone by 3 months.

The hop aroma from dry hopping will also be carried away by the CO2 if the beer is still fermenting when you dry hop. I would wait for at least 2 weeks to be sure the beer is done before I would add the dry hops. I want as much of the aroma in the bottles as I can get.

No matter how you cold crash you will still settle out some yeast in the keg. You might be better off just dry hopping at ambient temps and then kegging. Let the beer set in the keg under pressure and cold for several days before serving.

 

[Kjay]

I concur with not aging your IPA. Get that thing into a keg and serve when carbed up. I primarily brew IPA's and regularly have Ipas in the keg and ready to serve in 14ish days.

As for dry hopping I dry hop when the beer is around 1020 on my hydrometer trying to follow North Eastern style of dry hoping schedules and therories. With good results.

As for cold crashing I will cold crash on day 5-7 of my dryhop in the primary. I use my garage in the winter time as I am from southern Ontario and have near freezing temps in there. In the warmer months I try and align my cold crash with my fridge space and move my beer into kegs.