dry hopping in primary/ bottling bucket? ?

I have 2 questions as I am looking into getting my equipment soon and want little oop and less hassle with storage/sanitation.

1. For dry hopping in a primary, what is the best method?
2. Do you need a 2nd bucket (I'm going for 5gal. Batches) for bottling, or can you bottle from the primary?

Thanks!!

 

My answer will actually cover both #1 and #2, sooooo:

It's best to check the schedule of your brew before determining dry-hop schedules. In other words, let's say you have a brew that's scheduled to ferment for 4 weeks with 1 week dry-hopping. With my experience, you want no more than 7 days to dry-hop, so that would mean 3 weeks in primary, rack to a secondary, then dry-hop for 7 days before bottling/kegging. I'm not too big on using secondaries unless I dry hop.

As for methodology, it all depends on whether you use whole, plug or pellet hops. If you're using whole, then avoid using any sort of carboy at ALL COSTS!! (Speaking from experience here...2 lbs. of whole hops into a carboy...that was bad times...) Pellet & plugs (to a lesser extent) are the easiest to dry-hop with, and standard buckets make it an absolute cakewalk. Your best option is to get at least 2 plastic fermenter buckets, both with a spigot, and 1 for bottling (only if you bottle).

 

I also just started my first IPA, and am coming up on the 3 week mark. It sounds like going to a secondary is the way to go.
I am using pellet hops, so my question is this, put the pellets into the secondary first, then transfer, or transfer first, then dump the pellets, or does it matter?

 

I always add the pellets first and rack on top of them. This gets them mixed in with the beer sooner and allows them to "disintegrate." the pellets will form a green layer on top and look a little funky. This is normal.
Get a big strainer bag or pantyhose to go over your racking cane/autosiphon when you transfer to the bottling bucket to keep the hop sludge from getting in your beer.
Good luck and Enjoy!

 

Ahh, good idea, don't think green floaties would be to appealing in a beer.

 

I use hop sacks or muslin grain bags for hopping,depending on whether I'm using pellets or raw (whole leaf) hops. Whole leaf or raw hops take up a heck of a lot more room,even though they're the same 1oz.
The sacks make things a lot cleaner,as I found out the last 2 brews where I added them loose to the boil. Even 2oz of raw hops is a big pile when straining into the fermenter. Darn thing got full,& tipped over into my freshly strained wort. good thing the fine mesh strainer produces a few inches of foam.
The hops mostly got stuck on it. So I could scoop it out with my long brew spoon. Bags good.