Cold conditioning - then back to room temp for 1wk?

[Beestin]

I have about 10 days left in my secondary before i'm going to bottle. I am going to put 1oz Cascase and 1oz UK Kent Golding hops in my british ipa for dry hopping tonight... I was thinking of cold conditioning since the beer is extremely dense looking.. I dont have a fridge - the weather here is going to drop into the 40's as highs. Assuming nothing below freezing can i cold condition this weekend for 2-3 days? then bring the carboy back inside, back up to room temperature for another 5-6 days before bottling?

..or do i need to cold condition right before bottling??

Thanks guys! First brew. Lots of questions. You've all been a great help

p.s. i'm contemplating using gelatin too but dont want to mess it up too bad - i read about some gelatin getting stuck on the bottom of the carboy and having it hard to clean off...

 

[unionrdr]

It'll look darker in the fermenter than in the glass by sheer volume. Did you let the beer reach FG? Did you let it clear before racking? You need it clear so hop oils from dry hopping don't coat the settling yeast cells & get lost on the bottom.
It should also be done at room temp,about 70F. Doing it colder would take longer. Dry hop,then cold crash if needed.

 

[Beestin]

Well i got to 1.020 which it called for up to 1.018 so i was slightly high after 2 weeks in a primary fermenter bucket. The kit called for 1 week fermenting so i figured 2 would be ok. I poured a little in a glass just to see, smell, taste it and it was pretty thick looking from the glass i put it in. i put the glass in the fridge and some stuff settled to the bottom. That's why i thought about cold crashing.

So should i not dry hop if the beer isn't very clear?

 

[Beestin]

Also after the 2 weeks in the primary i racked to the secondary to get it off the trub. Its been in there about 1 week.

 

[BrewerBear]

You've already transfered to secondary go ahead and dry hop.It will probably clear more before long.

 

[unionrdr]

Always let it clear as much as possible so as not to loose dry hop aroma.

 

[Beestin]

How di i let it vlear as much as possible? As in just let it sit there for as long as possible? In the future i assume filtering the wort when pouring into primary would help a lot? I got some whirfloc tabs for the next batch too

 

[unionrdr]

Use a high flocculation yeast,let it sit for a wek after FG is reached to clean up & settle out clear. I pour all through a fine mesh strauner into primary. Whirlfloc would be great as well.