Timing IPA Dry-hop

[DSK901]

Hey everyone, I believe that this is my first post however I have been lurking for a while. I have started extract brewing last weekend after months of planning. I brewed a NB kit SH Mosaic IPA. So far everything has gone great, had a professional brewer on standby for peace of mind, but although I had a healthy starter I believe that I had the temperature too low during primary fermentation. Last night made 4 days fermenting, here's the details:


Full boil in 8gal kettle, used tap water but filtered thru charcoal for chlorine (7.6ph "pre-mash")
1oz Mosaic 60min, 1oz Mosaic 30min, 2oz Mosaic at flameout
5.25 gallons into 6.5 gallon carboy at about 65-67 degrees when filling.
Used Omega British Ale yeast w/2000 mL starter
Starting Gravity 1.072

Fermentation:
Controlled with temp controller and fermotemp wrap in a chest freezer (only batch in there) thermowell temp probe inside carboy
1st 24 hours at 66
2nd 24 hours at 67
Days 3&4 at 68

Read gravity last night and still at 1.036
So I decided to temp up to 70 and let it ride another 2 days.

What gravity should I try to achieve before dry hopping?
I planned on waiting the next two days then dry hop for a week during secondary in the same carboy without racking. Then I was gonna go straight to leg for CO2

Lemme know what I may have done wrong or if you need more info. Thanks in advance, I am stoked to be brewing!!

 

[helibrewer]

Temps look reasonable but ramping up at this point is fine, did you oxygenate the wort prior to pitching?
You're going to need more than a couple more days. Dry hop at 4 or 5 gravity points above your expected FG.

 

[DSK901]

Yeah, at (2.4 ppm? I believe) I let it oxygenate for 60 seconds, using the air stone. So the points we speak of are the last digit correct? So if I am headed to 1.015 I should hop it at 1.018-1.020. Damnit my impatience is starting to ferment mentally, I wanna dry hop lol. I will be brewing again both days this weekend, should I start fermentation warmer. And also I had the yeast starter stirring for 12 hours then 12 hours sitting. Should I oxygenate my starter?

 

[C-Rider]

It's only be fermenting what 5 days? Let it go another week or two then check gravety. When the beer is ready just dump your pellets into the fermenter. Leave them there for maybe 3=4 days. Never rush you beer.

 

[RM-MN]

Yeah, at (2.4 ppm? I believe) I let it oxygenate for 60 seconds, using the air stone. So the points we speak of are the last digit correct? So if I am headed to 1.015 I should hop it at 1.018-1.020. Damnit my impatience is starting to ferment mentally, I wanna dry hop lol. I will be brewing again both days this weekend, should I start fermentation warmer. And also I had the yeast starter stirring for 12 hours then 12 hours sitting. Should I oxygenate my starter?

Since this is your first beer and since yeast never do what they are told, having no ears or brain, don't overthink this. Wait until all fermentation is over, well over, then dry hop. I'll often wait until after the third week to dry hop and give the hops a full week or even more before I bottle the beer. It's always worked.

 

[murphyslaw]

Temps look reasonable but ramping up at this point is fine, did you oxygenate the wort prior to pitching?
You're going to need more than a couple more days. Dry hop at 4 or 5 gravity points above your expected FG.

+1

 

[DSK901]

Thanks for the advice guys, I am exceeding my patience and want to wait it out. Checked gravity last night and it was at 1.028, gonna wait until this weekend to check again. Sunday would make 14 days in primary. I added two more batches to ferment over the weekend. That makes 3 batches in my first 7 days! Taking a couple weeks off, Bearded Iris 2nd anniversary this weekend and Southern Grists on the following. Cheers everyone and thanks again!

 

[DSK901]

Action shot

 

[PADave]

Next batch, don't check anything for 2 weeks, then dry hop. Every time you take a gravity reading you are exposing your beer to oxygen. Patience is a must in brewing. Temps are already plenty high.

 

[divrack]

i like a dose of dry when its still got a good bit fermenting left to do then a dose once its clear and cold crashed. thats just my preference though. your beer will be more cloudy this way and a bit kind of fruitier from the hops, bit less herbal in my opinion.

but the above advice is also good. different ways of doing things. im not too worried about oxygen while fermentation is happening but im a chronic peeker and sniffer.

 

[DSK901]

Thanks for all the advice/info y'all. I transferred my beer and dry hopped it 2 days ago. I pushed it out with CO2, a stainless racking cane and an oversized carboy cap. I kept the temperature at 70 degrees, is that fine or should I raise it at all? I have one more hop addition and then it is on to the cold crash and then carbonation..... Oh yeah it finished at 1.018.

 

[DSK901]

Update........ I kegged my first brew last night. Checked on it this morning and everything looked good. Had a few issues and I also clogged up the keg with a bit of hop trub that got in there, how do you guys handle that? I had one half pint last night after it had a bit of forced carb and it was not bad!!! Also I have it at 38 degrees and 10psi. How long until it is carbonated????

 

[divrack]

View attachment 558446 View attachment 558447 Update........ I kegged my first brew last night. Checked on it this morning and everything looked good. Had a few issues and I also clogged up the keg with a bit of hop trub that got in there, how do you guys handle that? I had one half pint last night after it had a bit of forced carb and it was not bad!!! Also I have it at 38 degrees and 10psi. How long until it is carbonated????

youre a patient man. i whack it up to 30 and shake it like im commiting a horrible domestic crime for a few minutes and leave it at thirty overnight and its about done the next day. then vent it and reset to your desired serving pressure.
unfortunately theres not much to do about trub in the pipe than take out the tube and put some gauze round the bottom of it unless theres just a small amount that will settle/come out in the first pint? if its just a bit you can attach the gas line to the pour line which will push the gunk out but it will probably come back

 

[DSK901]

Just wanted to share my bottling success. Not too bad for my first ever brew. Now some more extract to learn the process better and then soon enough I will be brewing my own recipes. Thanks again for the advice/help!

 

[dmenace86]

Looks like you're doing good here, and most importantly enjoying it! One bit of advice on the bottling end though: try to leave just about 1/2" of headspace. I'm not personally too concerned with oxygen exposure (at least not at this point), but it doesn't hurt to limit any possible issues when possible.

 

[TwistedGray]

Mirroring the above poster, your headspace appears to be a bit inconsistent. I usually go for about 1.5" myself, and I think you'll find most people are in that range (0.5" - 1.5").

 

[A.O. Blitz]

I always rack my beer over to a secondary to dry hop. The yeast will still absorb some of the hop oils. However, your process is yours to have fun with. I just want to get as much from my ingredients as I can.

 

[A.O. Blitz]

You can put the end of your racking cane tube in a cheese cloth bag or hop bag to get the left over trub so you don't clog the keg

 

[TwistedGray]

Just remember, take notes

 

[DSK901]

Thanks for the extra advice. I definitely have inconsistent head space, and I have noticed that the more headspace leads to less carbonation. I did purge the bottles w/CO2 first so shouldn't have any oxygen issues, just low head. I also had a lot of foaming when I bottled this batch, which led to some of those inconsistencies. I do believe that the foaming was due to my releasing pressure off of the keg from the purge valve. I will definitely try the filter over the racking came, I believe that would have made a world of difference. Last two batches I just wasted more beer to play it safe when transferring. I am definitely taking plenty of notes, realizing I need to take more. Started typing my notes from this brew into BeerSmith, I plan on doing this with all my brews. So far I have bottled 3 - 5gal batches and 2 - 1gal batches that will bottle condition. Cheers Y'all!

 

[DSK901]

The bottle to the right was the only one with low head space when bottling last night, it was the only one that foamed on me. BTW I'm using the last straw filler.

 

[TheFrugalEngineer]

You’ve really been busy! So what’s the word? How do your first brews taste?