Added hops too early during the fermentation process???

[fettersp]

So I added the hops into my carboy after a week of fermentation. I realized that I was supposed to add them a week prior to bottling now. Will this cause a huge issue for me?

 

[troglodytes]

Nope. What style are you brewing and how large was the addition?

I do a dry hop during active fermentation for my NEIPAs and another before kegging. The worst that will happen is that the active fermentation may blow off some aromatics and the "biotransformation" of hops in an active fermentation state will change the hop character which is diffrent depending on what hop you are using. A ton of people like "biotransformed" hop additions better anyway. If you want you can do a second dry hop once the fermentation has fully stopped to get a unique flavor/aroma combo.

If you are not brewing a super hop forward beer, the early addition probably won't affect much at all. Just try to keep the the fermentation close to the mid - high 60s (don't drop your temp if you are already higher than that though). And test your beers gravity in about 4 days and again at 7. There's a good chance that it could be ready to bottle in a little as a week from now anyway. Just make sure you have steady hydrometer readings.

 

[fettersp]

Nope. What style are you brewing and how large was the addition?

I do a dry hop during active fermentation for my NEIPAs and another before kegging. The worst that will happen is that the active fermentation may blow off some aromatics and the "biotransformation" of hops in an active fermentation state will change the hop character which is diffrent depending on what hop you are using. A ton of people like "biotransformed" hop additions better anyway. If you want you can do a second dry hop once the fermentation has fully stopped to get a unique flavor/aroma combo.

If you are not brewing a super hop forward beer, the early addition probably won't affect much at all. Just try to keep the the fermentation close to the mid - high 60s (don't drop your temp if you are already higher than that though). And test your beers gravity in about 4 days and again at 7. There's a good chance that it could be ready to bottle in a little as a week from now anyway. Just make sure you have steady hydrometer readings.

It's a 5 gallon batch that came with my kit called fresh squished ipa. During the boiling stage it called for mosaic, nugget and citra hops vany remember the amount but i added 1 oz pf citra and 1 oz of mosaicfor det hopping. Since it's my first brew I'm not worried about aroma but just want to make sure it tastes good. It still seems to be fermenting since the fluid is moving around and still producing quite a bit of c02.

 

[RM-MN]

It still seems to be fermenting since the fluid is moving around and still producing quite a bit of c02.

It isn't likely to be fermenting anymore but there is an excess of CO2 dissolved in your beer that wants to come out. As it does, it bubbles from the bottom and keeps the beer stirred up. It will soon subside and begin to clear.

 

[fettersp]

Ahhh ok I didnt know that. should I wait for the beer to clear before doing hydrometer readings?
I still have a little bit of foam on the top.
Also just to be clear is the process like this?
1. Let ferment
2. Wait for fermentation to slow down and clear
3. Take hydrometer reading.
4. Wait a day and take hydrometer reading
5. If the hydrometer reading are stable you can start the bottling process.

 

[troglodytes]

Your steps are basically correct. You can take a hydrometer reading anytime, but to limit oxygen ingress I would only start with the hydrometer readings once you're pretty sure activity has ended. A little krausen (foam) may indicate that there is still a little bit of activity going on. Also, I personally space out hydrometer readings to about 3 days apart. I've had a beer stay the same gravity between two readings, bottled and then found out it was not done. The result is...not good (see bottle bombs).

Also I don't know where your beers temp is at, but if its in the mid 60's, its always a little helpful to see if you can get it to about 70 to help the yeast finish up and clean up after themselves. Not a mandatory step at all for most yeasts, but some will leave you beer with a little residual buttered popcorn or butterscotch off flavor (diacetyl) that the yeast will clean up themselves at around 70F.

 

[fettersp]

Ok I took a reading and have a 1.010 reading. The og eas 1.056. Should I wait and do another reading in a couple of days or is it ready for bottling? The recipe says that the final gravity should be 1.010.
Also the kit gave me 5 oz of priming sure for bottling. I now have a little less than 5 gallons in the carboy so I'm wondering if this will give me bottle bombs if the priming sugar is ment fpr 5 gals

 

[fettersp]

Just a little impatient and wanna start bottling

 

[Jag75]

If you check twice , not the same day of course and the gravity hasnt changed your good . One thing one should have when it comes to brewing is patience. I leave my beer on the fermenter for 3 weeks before I either bottle or keg. You dont have to , as some will package in 7 days . I think that's crazy but to each their own . As mentioned above bring up to 70 for cleanup . Once your sure it's done fermenting and its sounds done since it's at 10. Those kits are pretty much spot on , at least all the kits I've done your good to bottle. Use this calculator for priming sugar amounts

https://www.northernbrewer.com/pages/priming-sugar-calculator

 

[fun4stuff]

99% of time beers <1.050-060 will be done fermenting after 1 week providing you used a good starter and fermentation temps were good. Higher gravity beers can take longer. I’ll give them 2-3 weeks and make sure they are close to FG befor kegging.

If i have room in my kegerator, that’s when I’ll keg. I don’t sweat being a few points off from FG. Now if i was bottling, I’d be a little more anal about it to avoid bottle bombs.


——

It’s probably better to add hops in first few days of fermentation. It obviously depends on style. But if you have to open up fermentation vessel, it’s better early
On since the air will be flushed with co2.

 

[Jag75]

With an IPA you really dont want to dry hop during active fermentation, as the aromas will be carried out of the fermenter . NEIPAs on the other hand are fermented on day 2 of fermentation for bio transformation. I think some are actually getting away from doing it that early now . Anywhere from 3-5 days tops before packaging is the sweet spot for dry hopping an IPA . Co2 and purging is your friend and defense to oxidation.

 

[troglodytes]

Ok I took a reading and have a 1.010 reading. The og eas 1.056. Should I wait and do another reading in a couple of days or is it ready for bottling? The recipe says that the final gravity should be 1.010.
Also the kit gave me 5 oz of priming sure for bottling. I now have a little less than 5 gallons in the carboy so I'm wondering if this will give me bottle bombs if the priming sugar is ment fpr 5 gals

I'd say prepare your bottling equipment and clean sanatize everything in preparation to bottle tonight. I f you dry hopped last Wed ( I can't tell by your original post), then you've had the perfect amount of time to for that hoppy goodness to get in there. Do one final hydrometer readin prior to transferring your beer to the bottling bucket. If its still at 1.010 then go ahead and bottle tonight. With this being an extract kit and it being a pretty low FG for extract, I'd feel confident its done.

When bottling, I'm assuming you don't have any equipment that could limit oxygen exposure, so I would just caution you to go slow and steady during the bottling process. Avoid all splashing or aerating. Make sure there is vacuum with no air bubbles in your racking cane and tubing. Make sure the tubing is against the bottom of your bottling bucket and it is not splashing, try instead to get a solid whirlpool going, when racking to each bottle cover and cap as soon as you can. It seems very anal, but the least amount of O2 you can expose you're beer (and particularly your hops) too the longer that fresh flavor will last, especially since you won't be drinking these for another 3 weeks as they carb in the bottle.

 

[fettersp]

I do not have equipment to limit o2. The kit came with the the 5 gal brew bucket and a bottling tube the allows flow of pressed against it. I will check the hydrometer reading tomrrow and bottle wed night as that's when my bottles come in. My bottle collection is only at 24 and have 24 on the way.
My brother has a bunch of 40 oz clear bottles(king cobra) with the reusable twist caps(not bottle caps). Could these be used for cider that I also have brewing or should I get more 12 oz bottles??
Also is there a way to make the hops that didnt sink to the bottom sink??

 

[troglodytes]

Sounds good, just follow what I said to do your best with the O2. Once you have a CO2 setup if you ever decide to do the kegging route it will grow easier to do closed transfers, but its absolutely not mandatory.

As for twist tops, I don't use them, but I think some people here may. I'd stay away from the clear bottles for beer and especially IPAs as light skunks beer, not temps so brown bottles will be your best bet.

As for getting hops to sink, you need to cold crash your beer. If you aren't bottling until Wed, try to get the temp down and the hops should start sinking. That being said, do a little research on cold crashing so you don't suck your star san into your brew as it will create a vacuum and could create suck back. I have had a ton of floating hops that didn't sink in brews in the past. You can rack around them as they will be either floating on top or sunk to the bottom. Put your siphon in the middle and you should be transferring mostly clean beer to the bottling bucket. And if a couple floaties make their way in, don't worry, it won't mess up the batch.

 

[fettersp]

Also will cold crashing affect carbonation st all in my beer or cider?

 

[troglodytes]

Cold crashing prior to bottling? No there will be tons of yeast left to carbonate.

However, once you bottle, you do want to store those bottles somewhere dark and around 68-72F so that the yeast are active and fast in carbing your bottles.

 

[fettersp]

okay so the online priming calculator says to add 3 oz of corn sugar but the extract kit says to add the whole 5 oz packet?? will the 2 oz difference make a bottle bomb?

 

[troglodytes]

I'd follow the online calculator. The 5 oz probably won't create bottle bombs but it, would over carbonate your beer.

 

[Jag75]

okay so the online priming calculator says to add 3 oz of corn sugar but the extract kit says to add the whole 5 oz packet?? will the 2 oz difference make a bottle bomb?

What was the temp of your beer at fermentation? How many volumes of co2 do you want ?

 

[fettersp]

it is usually around 65 to 68 degrees. im not quite sure what to base volumes of CO2 off of? I want carbonation that is similar to a normal ipa you get in stores. The recipe says its a pale ipa.

 

[troglodytes]

The temp in question is the highest the temp got to in the fermentation process, because the warmer a beer gets, the more CO2 it off gasses. So assuming you are bottling 4.5 gallons (the hops usually eat up a little bit of your volume when it comes to IPAs), and want about 2.4 vols of carbonation the only calculators say use 4.1 oz of corn sugar (which is the priming sugar you have).

That's pretty spot on to what I've always done. Even if you have more volume going into the bottles at a full 5 gallons, 4.1 oz would still put you at 2.3 vols of carbonation which is fine.