1.030 - ok to dry hop?

[nootay]

I am 17 days in to my Stone Ruination IPA clone. I figured the gravity would be much lower at this point. Instead of racking to keg and dry hopping, im going to rack to a carboy and hopefully the process of racking will stir up my yeast friends and they will finish their job. Anyways, is it ok to dry hop at this point? Or should i wait until it has finished fermenting? Ive read if you dry hop while it has a lot of fermenting to do, it will drive off all the dry hop armoas.

I forgot to make a starter for this beer, which i think is my problem. My SG was somewhere around 1.083. I had smacked my smack pack about 6 hours before pitching.

Thanks!

 

[Reno_eNVy]

You should wait until it's done. Racking it will definitely help rouse up the yeast and get them to finish the job; you may also want to raise the temperature. You don't want to dry hop while it's still fermenting as the activity and CO2 off-gasing will throw off all of your sweet sweet hop aroma.

Racking and patience are your friends in this case.

 

[nootay]

good deal thats what i was thinking to. i dont think im going to have time to rack it tonight now. Would it be ok to take a long, sanitized spoon and gently stir it up? Or should i just wait till tomorrow and rack it?

 

[jeffmeh]

I would warm it up a bit and gently swirl the carboy, then dry-hop when it has reached final gravity, either in primary or after you rack it to secondary. I would not transfer until it hits FG.

 

[Bizoune]

I usually dry hop after between day 3 and 5 when fermentation is slowing down. I drop my hops in secondary then rack on top. This way, yeast are still producing C02 and purging out the oxygen in my carboy. You can dry hop now if you like though.

On a side note, not sure what yeast you're using but 1.030 seems a bit high after 17 days. I had a Barleywine go from 1.100 to 1.020 in 7 days with Nottingham.

 

[nootay]

pacman yeast was used so it should definitely be lower. I think the SG was too high for just a smack pack and i forgot to make a starter. Hopefully itll take off again and finish up.

 

[Bizoune]

Might want to add some dry yeast eventually, if it doesn't want to go down. Just an idea..

 

[MikeG]

pacman yeast was used so it should definitely be lower. I think the SG was too high for just a smack pack and i forgot to make a starter. Hopefully itll take off again and finish up.

I've brewed w/o having a starter ready so I've gone a few times where I still make the starter and use the no-chill method. At high krausen I dump the entire starter into the wort. IMO, a starter is more important than pitching ASAP.

For your beer, I think you're doing the right thing, racking and hopefully the yeast will wake up and get the FG a lot lower.

 

[nootay]

thanks for the replies. i do have a few packages of notti in the fridge too if it doesnt come down in a few days.

 

[david_42]

Definitely do not dry hop until a week before bottling.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Definitely do not dry hop until a week before bottling.

+1 Yeah, that's exactly what you should do.

 

[nootay]

well i didnt have time to transfer last night, so i just gently stirred it up. today the airlock is going crazy! looks like she'll be ready to rack in a few days, pending another hydro reading of course

 

[nootay]

checked gravity today and it was down to....... 1.028. Not much! i stirred in gently again. If it doesnt do much this time i might throw some notti yeast on it and see what happens.

 

[Gritsak]

I've heard that several commercial breweries start dry-hopping right after the peak of fermentation, when temperatures are still a bit elevated and there's still activity in the fermenter. This helps keep the hops from settling into a clump and the warmer temps allow for better extraction of aroma.

While this might not translate directly to the homebrew level, it's interesting nonetheless.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

...when temperatures are still a bit elevated and there's still activity in the fermenter. This helps keep the hops from settling into a clump and the warmer temps allow for better off-gasing of the aroma from the airlock

Fixed it for you

 

[Havesomebeer]

why dry hop after fermentation? Just because the aroma will be lost? what about bugs? I'm still learning and advised my newest brew friend to dry hop after chilling and pitching. do we have to worry about bugs? should I give him some more hops for dry hopping? do i need to buy him a new kit and a six pack, now that he is a week into fermenting? should he leave hops in for a whole week or less than or more than? any info is much appreciated, thanks -Tim

 

[Gritsak]

Fixed it for you

So you've done controlled testing then? It's easy to make that assumption, but I don't think places like bell's and firestone walker would be doing this if there wasn't some benefit.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

It's easy to make that assumption, but I don't think places like bell's and firestone walker would be doing this if there wasn't some benefit.

Do you have evidence that Bell's and Firestone Walker do such a thing? I looked it up and Firestone does indeed dry hop at a higher temperature but I'm telling you, dry hopping while there is still active fermentation will off-gas a lot of it. Aromas are all created by volatile substances, so if the wort is warmer the aromas may be extracted faster but then they will also vaporize faster and then the CO2 from the yeast activity will push it right out the airlock.

 

[Gritsak]

Do you have evidence that Bell's and Firestone Walker do such a thing? I looked it up and Firestone does indeed dry hop at a higher temperature but I'm telling you, dry hopping while there is still active fermentation will off-gas a lot of it. Aromas are all created by volatile substances, so if the wort is warmer the aromas may be extracted faster but then they will also vaporize faster and then the CO2 from the yeast activity will push it right out the airlock.

Well, if an interview with brewers at each place is evidence, then yes i do. And if you read my post, they start dry-hopping AFTER peak fermentation, so there's decreased activity.

I've personally always dry-hopped after it's done fermenting, but I just think it's worth considering alternative options. I think one of the main problems with post-fermentation dry-hopping is the hops tend to clump up (assuming pellets) and only the outside surface is in contact with the beer. I try to avoid this by using a hop bag that i can agitate it a bit without introducing much oxygen into the beer. Avery Brewing Co. dry-hops in the secondary, but they have a co2 line at the base of the fermenter that they use to "burp" gas into the beer every few days to rustle up the hops. They claim this dramatically enhances the aroma.

 

[nootay]

well, the IPA is down to 1.026. Still not where it should be! ive stirred it 3 times in the last 10 days or so. It has only come down .004. Whats the next step? My basement is at 68 degrees, so i dont feel like its a temperature issue. I have some nottingham in the fridge, should i pitch it on the IPA? This was originally fermented with pacman yeast. it has also been in primary since July 5th. I feel that it should be transferred to a secondary at this point, as it has been in the same container for about 30 days. thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[ToddO]

It might just be done. I had a similar problem with an IPA that finished out at 1.030 like yours. I pitched a SAF 05 packet and it only dropped it to 1.028 (which it might have gotten to without the extra yeast. I have had poor attenuation when using liquid extract and can only get it so low. Not sure if that's what you used or not..

 

[nootay]

this was an all grain recipe as outlined here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/stone-ruination-clone-155771/

i used pacman liquid yeast WITHOUT a starter, which is what i think my problem is

 

[nootay]

to recap, my questions are:

1. should i throw some notti on the IPA in hopes of start fermentation again?
2. should i go ahead and move to secondary, regardless of SG, since its been in primary for 30 days
3. should i move it upstairs to warm it up? its curently in a room at 68 degrees, the upstairs is 73.

Thanks

 

[Reno_eNVy]

I'll give you the same advice I gave you 2 weeks ago, which will answer your questions.... again...

Racking it will definitely help rouse up the yeast and get them to finish the job; you may also want to raise the temperature:

 

[nootay]

i have stirred it 3 times, which should also get the yeast in to suspension. ill plan on racking today, as well as bringing it upstairs.

thanks for the answer....again....

 

[Reno_eNVy]

No prob