Process assistance

[botch13]

Hi, haven't brewed in a long time, kids etc. The treehouse videos of late have given me the kick I need to get going again.

I brew small 10L batches.

Would this process work? Any suggestions appreciated.

Ferment in plastic fermenter with spigot/tap.

After 7 day ferment, soft crash, try a closed transfer to purged 8L keg with already added dry hops.

After 5 day dry hop, cold crash and transfer to second 8L purged keg to carbonate/serve.

This is based on gear I already have.

Cheers

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

I don't see any issues with your process. I might suggest to keep track of your fermentation before doing your transfers.

Seven days in the primary and the five in the secondary seem reasonable but I'd want to know as some yeast might have a lag time. You'd to miss out in some potential alcohol.

Keep notes from batch to batch.

 

[tracer bullet]

Agreed also, generally speaking, it would work.

I'd consider a dry hop in the primary fermenter, save a step, and many ways to do it without too much O2 introduction.

Great note about the yeast, keep your process in mind but don't be stuck on the # of days. My previous batch was a stout with the Wyeast Denny's 1450, and even at 3 weeks when I hoped to transfer to a keg it simply wasn't ready, it was still slowly bubbling. By week 4 I did go for it. My current batch fermenting now used Wyeast 1968 ESB and at only 4 days later it looks practically finished. No way I'll keg it yet but this yeast was SO much faster. So just keep in mind they don't all act the same and think of how to see this and be flexible (i.e. keep it in the primary for longer).

 

[hotbeer]

Why do you want to dry hop if you are needing to get comfortable with brewing again? That adds some complication and risk of oxidation. If you want hoppy beers, there are plenty that are hoppy tasting without dry hopping. After you get use to handling everything again, then make your move to beers that need to be dry hopped. If perhaps you don't like hoppy beers then that begs the question why would you even want to dry hop.

Personally don't set time limits on your beer in the FV. Your beer might be fermented completely in 2 to 4 days. But by no means does being finished with fermentation mean it's ready to come out of the FV or be dry hopped, depending on what you are going for.

12 days total time in the FV to me is a little ambitious, though doable if you are planning to cold crash and use gelatin. But those also can add some risk to oxidation depending on how you perform them.

 

[AlexKay]

As long as you've got air displacement worked out so you can crash and transfer without letting air in, I don't see any reason this won't work. You may need a filter and/or floating dip tube to transfer out of the keg you're dry-hopping in.

I have had very good results transferring to a purged keg containing the dry hops, and serving directly from that keg (again, with filter and floating dip tube.) No problems with grassy or other off flavors, though I do cool immediately and keep the keg cold, and I'm generally done with the beer in under a month.

 

[botch13]

As long as you've got air displacement worked out so you can crash and transfer without letting air in, I don't see any reason this won't work. You may need a filter and/or floating dip tube to transfer out of the keg you're dry-hopping in.

I have had very good results transferring to a purged keg containing the dry hops, and serving directly from that keg (again, with filter and floating dip tube.) No problems with grassy or other off flavors, though I do cool immediately and keep the keg cold, and I'm generally done with the beer in under a month.

Thanks for the reply. I've got the transfers worked out. In theory. Have a floating dip tube. Hadn't thought about crashing letting in air. Will look that up, thanks.

 

[botch13]

Why do you want to dry hop if you are needing to get comfortable with brewing again? That adds some complication and risk of oxidation. If you want hoppy beers, there are plenty that are hoppy tasting without dry hopping. After you get use to handling everything again, then make your move to beers that need to be dry hopped. If perhaps you don't like hoppy beers then that begs the question why would you even want to dry hop.

Personally don't set time limits on your beer in the FV. Your beer might be fermented completely in 2 to 4 days. But by no means does being finished with fermentation mean it's ready to come out of the FV or be dry hopped, depending on what you are going for.

12 days total time in the FV to me is a little ambitious, though doable if you are planning to cold crash and use gelatin. But those also can add some risk to oxidation depending on how you perform them.

I do want a hoppy beer. I'm just going basically off the recipe and process treehouse suggested and thought I could probably get that to work. Thanks for the reply I won't set limits on the fermentation time.

 

[botch13]

I don't see any issues with your process. I might suggest to keep track of your fermentation before doing your transfers.

Seven days in the primary and the five in the secondary seem reasonable but I'd want to know as some yeast might have a lag time. You'd to miss out in some potential alcohol.

Keep notes from batch to batch.

Appreciate the response. I'll be taking notes. I won't be rushed or set to get it out of primary I'll make sure it has enough time to finish. Cheers.

 

[botch13]

Agreed also, generally speaking, it would work.

I'd consider a dry hop in the primary fermenter, save a step, and many ways to do it without too much O2 introduction.

Great note about the yeast, keep your process in mind but don't be stuck on the # of days. My previous batch was a stout with the Wyeast Denny's 1450, and even at 3 weeks when I hoped to transfer to a keg it simply wasn't ready, it was still slowly bubbling. By week 4 I did go for it. My current batch fermenting now used Wyeast 1968 ESB and at only 4 days later it looks practically finished. No way I'll keg it yet but this yeast was SO much faster. So just keep in mind they don't all act the same and think of how to see this and be flexible (i.e. keep it in the primary for longer).

Thanks. Yes I always used to dry hop in the primary. I assume the reason behind removing the yeast is it can effect the dry hop ?? I'll have to do a bit more reading on that bit to work out if it's worth the risk/effort or not. Cheers

 

[hotbeer]

I do want a hoppy beer.

This is to me a pretty hoppy beer that I like and I've done quite a few of them. No dry hopping.
https://brewdogrecipes.com/recipes/punk-ipa-2007-2010

But I do get that if you are going for the hoppy NEIPA tastes and such, then you do what you need to do.

 

[MaxStout]

If you're just trying out this new process, why not do a basic beer to see if you need to work out any bugs? You could skip step #2.

Don't assume primary ferm is done in X number of days. Yeast strain, OG, etc., will determine how soon it's done.