the75
Well-Known Member
Not nearly as dramatic, BUT I need some guidance with fermentation times, dry-hop additions, & bottling time.
I'm brewing a Maharaja clone that has been in the the fermenter, active for 5 days now. It appears that my yeast are becoming inactive & beginning to settle at the bottom. Recipe calls for moving it to secondary for dry-hopping after 5-7 days or when the gravity is 3-4 points from final gravity. Recipe also calls for bottling after 10 days of dry-hopping.
Insert caveat: The first day of fermentation, I mistakenly allowed the temperature to get to 78-80 degrees. That lasted for 24 hours, then everything was back to 66ish for the last 4 days.
Here are my questions:
1. It has been recommended to keep my beer in the fermenter for an extra week to allow the yeast to take care of any "off-flavors" due to the high temps that I had for the first 24 hours. How will this extra week affect my recipe schedule?
2. My fermenter is loaded with tons of hop sediment because I neglected to strain my brew before adding it to the fermenter. I know that most people do not recommend using a secondary, but under these circumstances, wouldn't it help with clarification if I racked to a secondary with maybe a cheese cloth over the inlet of my racking tube when I go to dry-hop? OR should I just dry-hop in the primary & deal with the sediment when I rack to the bottling bucket?
3. How would you suggest I dry-hop if I'm using pellets? Just throw them in altogether, like I did with my pellets during brewing? I'm trying to avoid EVEN MORE sediment, but don't want to lose any flavor.
4. Would I be correct in assuming that regardless of how much longer I keep my batch in the fermenter, still dry-hop no more than 10 days before I bottle?
I'm sure I have more questions, but they will have to wait. In the meantime, these are my questions & I'm sure there is no truly definitive answer for most of them, but I value the opinions of you all & would love to hear what this community has to say. This is my first time brewing (extract kit). Thanks.
I'm brewing a Maharaja clone that has been in the the fermenter, active for 5 days now. It appears that my yeast are becoming inactive & beginning to settle at the bottom. Recipe calls for moving it to secondary for dry-hopping after 5-7 days or when the gravity is 3-4 points from final gravity. Recipe also calls for bottling after 10 days of dry-hopping.
Insert caveat: The first day of fermentation, I mistakenly allowed the temperature to get to 78-80 degrees. That lasted for 24 hours, then everything was back to 66ish for the last 4 days.
Here are my questions:
1. It has been recommended to keep my beer in the fermenter for an extra week to allow the yeast to take care of any "off-flavors" due to the high temps that I had for the first 24 hours. How will this extra week affect my recipe schedule?
2. My fermenter is loaded with tons of hop sediment because I neglected to strain my brew before adding it to the fermenter. I know that most people do not recommend using a secondary, but under these circumstances, wouldn't it help with clarification if I racked to a secondary with maybe a cheese cloth over the inlet of my racking tube when I go to dry-hop? OR should I just dry-hop in the primary & deal with the sediment when I rack to the bottling bucket?
3. How would you suggest I dry-hop if I'm using pellets? Just throw them in altogether, like I did with my pellets during brewing? I'm trying to avoid EVEN MORE sediment, but don't want to lose any flavor.
4. Would I be correct in assuming that regardless of how much longer I keep my batch in the fermenter, still dry-hop no more than 10 days before I bottle?
I'm sure I have more questions, but they will have to wait. In the meantime, these are my questions & I'm sure there is no truly definitive answer for most of them, but I value the opinions of you all & would love to hear what this community has to say. This is my first time brewing (extract kit). Thanks.