IPA Dry Hoppy

[guitar510]

On to the third batch and thought I would experiment a bit with a recipe.

Here's the plan...

9.25 lbs Pale LME
1.00 lb Crystal Malt (22L)
1.00 oz Chinook 60 min (13%)
1.50 oz Centennial 25 min (8.8%)
1.00 oz Cascade 5 min (5.5%)
Wyeast 1056

Question is how much to dry hop????

Initial plan is...

1.00 oz Chinook 7days
1.00 oz Centennial 7days

Is this too much, thoughts?

 

[weirdboy]

I'd say it's fine if you're going for hoppy. I assume you mean you're going to do those at the same time, and not consecutively, right?

Also, some people will probably chime in to say they think 7 days is too long, maybe some will say too short, etc. Anywhere in the range of 3-5 days is what I typically shoot for, but I've gone 7 days with no ill effects.

 

[goose1873]

+1 on 3-5 days. I usually go 5

 

[guitar510]

OK...I'm new so that's certainly good advice on the 3-5 days. Definitely going for hoppy...although bitter is the main goal, so the 60 min addition is going to be the commander of the army.

I know secondary is a highly controversial subject, but for now I'm going to continue using it mainly to free up my primary for the next batch. Soooo...my initial plan was 10 days in primary, 2 weeks in secondary (last 3-5 days dry hopped with 2 oz as mentioned above), followed by 3 weeks bottle. Sound good?

Just for kicks, what is the hypothetical difference between the following schedules (assuming stable SG reading for 3 days in primary in both cases)?

2 weeks primary - 1 week secondary
1 week primary - 2 weeks secondary

OR say...

3 weeks primary - 1 week secondary
1 week primary - 3 weeks secondary

 

[ILuvIPA]

I'm a fellow newb so take this with a grain of salt - That's a fairly big beer (8% ABV or so?) and puts you into the realm of an Imperial/Double IPA. I'd up the hop schedule to carry it.

To your second question - primary/secondary: Time in secondary (off the yeast cake) is going to let the beer settle/clear. Time in primary lets the yeast clean up. I understand wanting to free the primary but don't underestimate time sitting on the yeast. For this beer (around 1.08 OG?) I'd let it sit on the yeast longer rather than rush it to the secondary. Invest in another bucket if need be, but let this one sit.

FWIW your recipe is very similar to the IPA I'm brewing today: 9lb DME, 1lb Crystal, 1lb Victory, Wyeast 1272. Here's my hop schedule for a very similar brew:

1oz Simcoe 60 min
1oz Simcoe 45 min
1oz Simcoe 30 min
1oz Simcoe 15 min
1oz Cascade 10 min
1oz Cascade 5 min
2oz dry hop Amarillo 5 days

 

[guitar510]

I do love hops, but I was trying to maintain within the realm of IPA as opposed to IIPA. Beersmith calculates that my beer will be 7.05% ABV (1.067 OG and 1.016 FG) - within style range of 5.5% - 7.5%. Color 11.2 - within 6 - 15 range. IBUs 75.8 - slightly above the 40 - 70 range.

Chinook were AA 13%
Centennial were AA 8.8%

I'm not sure how accurate beersmith is (especially due to the variety of brew methods), but for your recipe...I calculate 127.3 IBUs based on 13% simcoe and 5.5% cascade...

Certainly staying true to your name

By the way, I'm doing full 5 gal boils which increases hop utilization.

 

[guitar510]

Things went well on brew day...OG is 1.064.

 

[NCBeernut]

You can dry hop for 2 weeks with no ill effects. 7 days is more than fine. 3-5 days...wow that is really short. Also 10 days is really short for a beer with an OG of 1.064. Here is what I would do....

2-3 week primary (based on your gravity readings)
1 week secondary, dry hop the whole time

 

[northernlad]

You can dry hop for 2 weeks with no ill effects. 7 days is more than fine. 3-5 days...wow that is really short. Also 10 days is really short for a beer with an OG of 1.064. Here is what I would do....

2-3 week primary (based on your gravity readings)
1 week secondary, dry hop the whole time

^^This one.
I just sampled my IPA with 2oz Cascade Dry hop and it was the nose and flavor I wanted.

 

[goose1873]

You can dry hop for 2 weeks with no ill effects. 7 days is more than fine. 3-5 days...wow that is really short. Also 10 days is really short for a beer with an OG of 1.064. Here is what I would do....

2-3 week primary (based on your gravity readings)
1 week secondary, dry hop the whole time

You can, but why? no advantage to a 2 week dry hop IMO. Not being an a!@, just wondering if there is an advantage as I have only went 5 days at most. At that point the hops (I use pellets directly in primary) are spent and settled into the yeast cake, I then siphon to keg and call it a day.

 

[NCBeernut]

You can, but why? no advantage to a 2 week dry hop IMO. Not being an a!@, just wondering if there is an advantage as I have only went 5 days at most. At that point the hops (I use pellets directly in primary) are spent and settled into the yeast cake, I then siphon to keg and call it a day.

I'm not advocating dry hopping 2 weeks. I am just trying to make a point that 7-10 days is perfectly fine. I think you do get better extraction from 7-10 days vs 3-5 days. I will have to respectfully disagree that the hops are not fully extracted after 3-5 days. However, there is nothing wrong with 3-5 days, just kind of more wasteful IMO.

 

[goose1873]

fair...I will have to try leaving a week next time. I just assumed once everything dropped and settled it was done. I'm still fairly new to dry hopping I've only done a few IPA batches...

 

[guitar510]

I guess I'd like some more input on primary/secondary schedule. NC you recommend 2-3 weeks primary / 1 week secondary. Why? If we assume that fermentation is complete in say 5 days, is there any difference in letting the beer condition in the primary vs. secondary?

 

[northernlad]

While the bulk of the fermentation may be done in about 5 days, the yeast is not done. After it eats the sugar it cleans up off flavors from the fermentation and has a chance to settle out.

Read this: http://***********/stories/recipes/article/indices/37-hops/2011-dry-hopping-mr-wizard

 

[NCBeernut]

While the bulk of the fermentation may be done in about 5 days, the yeast is not done. After it eats the sugar it cleans up off flavors from the fermentation and has a chance to settle out.

Read this: http://***********/stories/recipes/article/indices/37-hops/2011-dry-hopping-mr-wizard

What he said. Also, but not as important, it lets the beer clear up a bit more.

 

[ILuvIPA]

+1. Let it sit on the yeast longer rather than rush it to the secondary. Invest in another bucket if need be, but don't move it just to free up the primary.