Why people use secondaries for dry hopping

[mgr_stl]

The typical line I read on here is something like "secondaries are unnecessary unless you're adding fruit, dry hopping, or letting it ferment for many months."

What is the reasoning behind racking to a secondary for dry hopping? Why not just throw the hops in the primary 5 or so days before bottling? What am I missing?

 

[n240sxguy]

I dry hop in the primary.

 

[beergolf]

Ask ten brewers how to do something and you will get 12 answers.

I just dry hop in the primary..

 

[Clonefan94]

I usually do it to free up a bucket. After a couple of weeks in primary, that bucket is in line to be used again. If I wasn't planning on brewing soon, I'd just go ahead and dry hop in primary.

 

[Hang Glider]

I like to dry hop in a secondary because I have noticed that the hop flavor isn't as strong when I dry hop in the primary - my theory is that some of the hop 'goodness' gets caught up in the trub. YMMV

 

[mjap52]

I like to dry hop in a secondary because I have noticed that the hop flavor isn't as strong when I dry hop in the primary - my theory is that some of the hop 'goodness' gets caught up in the trub. YMMV

The guy from stone said that if you have a large amount of yeast in suspension, it will reduce the effectiveness of your dry hops. So if you do dry hop in primary, it's a good idea to cold crash first.

 

[geckholm]

Because I like to harvest the yeast from the primary without all the hops from the dry hopping.

 

[dobe12]

Because I like to harvest the yeast from the primary without all the hops from the dry hopping.

This ^^^^

If I don't plan on saving the yeast, I just throw the hops right in primary. If harvesting, I rack to secondary then dry hop.

 

[ajf]

I always dry hop in secondary, because I need the primary for another brew. It's not worth buying another primary, because I only do this 2 or 3 times a year.

-a.

 

[paraordnance]

I dry hop in keg because I get longer lasting aroma this way

 

[KepowOb]

The guy from stone said that if you have a large amount of yeast in suspension, it will reduce the effectiveness of your dry hops. So if you do dry hop in primary, it's a good idea to cold crash first.

But if you transfer to a secondary without cold crashing, won't all that yeast still be in suspension?

 

[n240sxguy]

I dry hop in keg because I get longer lasting aroma this way

I may have to try this.