Crooked Tree IPA Brew

[Jwpj]

Hey all,

So, I just got done brewing my first 5 gallon extract batch, and chose to go with Crooked Tree IPA. It is currently dry hopping in the carboy.

I have two questions really.

First, The beer looks a little cloudy.http://tinypic.com/r/14vn4tv/8. It's not too bad, and I figure the time in the secondary should clear it up a little. Unfortunately, I didn't use any Irish Moss, and I don't have the space to cold crash, so I'm going to have to deal with the cloudiness if it doesn't clear up.

Secondly, it doesn't look like there is quite 5 gallons in there. The glass carboy is not marked (another mistake on my part) and so I'm going to have to "wing it." Can you tell by looking at the picture I posted approximately how much is in there? It looks to be over 4 gallons for sure, but I don't want to add too much priming sugar and have my bottles explode.

Thanks.

 

[fatnoah]

Congrats on the first batch! Welcome to the hobby.

1. I agree it looks a little cloudy, but don't worry about that. If you secondary (or even if you just let it sit in the primary for longer) it will start to clear up some on its own for sure. How long has it been in the fermenter? I typically let my beers sit for about 1 week after fermentation has stopped and they clear up pretty well especially with american ale yeast (Wyeast 1056 or US-05 or WLP001). I see that you dry-hopped. I can tell you from personal experience that dry hopping is going to impart a certain amount of beer haze or cloudiness just because you have a lot of extra hop particles in there, but don't worry it will still taste great. Once you bottle/keg and chill for a while the beer will clear up a little bit more as well. Finally, if you REALLY want to clear it, you can always use a fining agent like isinglass.

2. You are right that you want an accurate measure of how much beer you've got to bottle before you mix up the correct amount of priming sugar to avoid under-carbonation or bottle-bombs. You've already learned that it is important to make gallon marks on the fermenter before putting the wort in there, but you will still be OK with this batch. When you bottle, just rack the beer into the bottling bucket. Usually, bottling buckets have gallon marks on them so you can tell how much beer is in the bucket. Then you'll know how much priming sugar to mix up and add to the bucket once the priming sugar solution is cooled. Just give it a gentle stir so that it gets mixed up.

 

[Jwpj]

Thanks,

It's only been in the secondary for a day now. I plan on letting it sit for around 7-10 days before bottling. I'm okay with it being a little cloudy. In the past, I've made some batches using mr beer that came out cloudy but still tasted great!

This is my first time dry hopping, so it's good to know that the hops will affect the clarity of the beer as well.

Thanks for the suggestion on bottling as well. I can't believe I didn't think about adding the priming sugar after I racked to the bottling bucket. I guess I've just read so many times that it's best to add the sugar boiled in water to the bottom of the bucket and then siphon the beer on top of it. As long as I stir it a little bit, I'm sure I can get it to evenly distribute throughout the beer.

I appreciate the input.

EDIT: So, I just went and checked on the beer in the secondary. This might be a very beginner question, but should I still be seeing activity in the airlock while it's in the secondary? It's not going crazy or anything, but it definitely bubbled a few times (probably about once a minute on average). Also, there is a very small amount of krausen forming at the top, which I assume is normal.

I don't want to dry hop it too long, as I don't want the beer to be even cloudier than it is now. Maybe I should shoot for 5-7 days instead of 7-10? Suggestions?

Here is an update of what the beer looks like after a day of dry hopping http://tinypic.com/r/301lg7q/8

 

[fatnoah]

Bubbling in the secondary is pretty normal. It probably is just some dissolved CO2 being released after transfer. You might also be getting a little more fermentation because you roused the yeast in the transfer, but either way I wouldn't worry about it too much.

As for the dry hop length, I would stick to 7-10 days. Making it go to 7 days isn't going to appreciably increase the cloudiness over 5 days. You just don't want to go REAL long like 14-21 days because you run the risk of getting those grassy notes.


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