Noob Question

[Captain_A]

Hey guys,

I've been lurking on here for awhile and have finally started on my first beer, a Sierra Nevada clone. I brewed it on Saturday and everything seems to be going fine. Here is my question. In the instructions, it tells me to rack to secondary after 3 days of fermentation and do the dry hopping then, but everything I've been reading says that dry hopping should only happen during the last few days of fermentation to prevent contamination. I was just wondering, is this was a common practice, or if I should wait to rack the beer?

 

[Quadrupled]

There will be no "contamination" by racking early, but still let your beer get to it's final gravity in the primary and then rack onto the hops.

 

[djfriesen]

Typically, you'll want to throw fermentation directions for a kit right in the trash. They are motivated to get your beer done quickly so you will buy more.

I would advise 3 weeks primary or primary+secondary. You can go 4 if you have the patience. It definitely won't hurt things. Then, depending on how much hop character you want, dryhop for the last 7-10 days of this period. But, make sure and verify that fermentation is complete by getting a stable SG reading (using a hydrometer) 3 days apart.

For beer, time will heal almost all wounds. It also will usually improve your beer immensely. Bottom line: 3 weeks fermentation is minimum. 4 weeks will make it better. Dry hop after fermentation is complete for 7-10 days, depending on how much hop presence you want.

 

[jetmac]

In the instructions, it tells me to rack to secondary after 3 days of fermentation

For this beer, you don't want to rack to secondary before fermentation is complete. Could be 3 days could be more. But even after fermentation is complete you need to let the yeast do some clean up of their mess. The stuff you'd rather not have in you beer. So after fermentation is done you should leave it a few more days or more prior to racking to secondary. You can dry hop in your primary. If you are kegging, you may even want to dry hop in your keg.

 

[Captain_A]

Damn you guys are fast!!! I'll definitely wait to rack then. Thanks for helping a newbie out!

 

[Brewnoob1]

Also, you dont want to dry hop before fermentation is complete or the gasses produced will take that aroma right out of the airlock with it. So, wait until you've hit FG then decide whether to rack or hop at that time. No issues dry hopping in primary and skipping secondary all together if you'd like. It's really personal preference.