Dry hop in Primary

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philosofool

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I used to dry hop in secondary, but I've recently decided that secondary fermenters don't add anything to a typical ale except oxygen and maybe some bacteria if you aren't careful. However, I am wondering if a heavily dry hopped IIPA would be better off with dry hops in a secondary fermenter. The dry hop schedule is one and a half ounces for seven days and a second one and a half for four, then rack to cornie. I will drop the fermenter temp to sixty for the dry hopping.
 
Should be fine. I dry hopped an IPA with 5.5 oz (3 charges) in primary and it turned out great. Scored 43 and took 2nd BOS in a local comp. Why are you dropping the temp though? Everything I've read, including For the Love of Hops, talks about dry hopping as warm as possible (within fermentation limits or course).
 
Should be fine. I dry hopped an IPA with 5.5 oz (3 charges) in primary and it turned out great. Scored 43 and took 2nd BOS in a local comp. Why are you dropping the temp though? Everything I've read, including For the Love of Hops, talks about dry hopping as warm as possible (within fermentation limits or course).

Well, then perhaps I will dry hop warm. The reasons for dropping it were that Vinnie Cilurzo does it with Pliney (no reason why is given in his article on Double IPA; I assumed it had something to do with leaching tannin and other "green" matter from the hops) and that I want to crash the beer for clarity. Okay, okay, 60 isn't exactly a cold crash, but in my experience, dropping a beer to the low end of ferment temps after rising near the high end at the end of fermentation seems to promote floculation and firmness in the yeast cake. I want that to happen, but I don't want to leave the beer on the hops too long. (Obviously, since I'm not a secondary fermentation guy, I'm not nuts about clarity. Which is a good thing. Budweiser invented crystal clarity--because when you can't say anything else good about a beer...)
 
That makes sense. I may have misrepresented my previous statement. The aroma extraction is greatest at higher temps. I equate that with better. Each brewer/brewery had their own preferred temperature to dry hop at. Some as low as the 50's, if I remember correctly (I checked it out at our library), and some upwards of 70. I'll give you my whole fermentation schedule to give you an example that I found worked for me and may work for you or at least give you more examples to look at.

I fermented at 64. When it was almost done I raised the temp to 68 for a diacetyl rest for 2 days. Then I dropped the temp to 55 to help encourage the yeast to precipitate out and held it for 3 days. I then set my temp back up to 68 and allowed it to free rise. The next day I started dry hopping. 4 days later I added my second charge. 2 days later I added my last charge and 2 days after that I cold crashed it to get the pellets to settle to the bottom. I held that for 2 days and then bottled. It sounds much more complicated than it actually is.

Hope this helps you in your quest for a dry hopping schedule you like.
 
That makes sense. I may have misrepresented my previous statement. The aroma extraction is greatest at higher temps. I equate that with better. Each brewer/brewery had their own preferred temperature to dry hop at. Some as low as the 50's, if I remember correctly (I checked it out at our library), and some upwards of 70. I'll give you my whole fermentation schedule to give you an example that I found worked for me and may work for you or at least give you more examples to look at.

I fermented at 64. When it was almost done I raised the temp to 68 for a diacetyl rest for 2 days. Then I dropped the temp to 55 to help encourage the yeast to precipitate out and held it for 3 days. I then set my temp back up to 68 and allowed it to free rise. The next day I started dry hopping. 4 days later I added my second charge. 2 days later I added my last charge and 2 days after that I cold crashed it to get the pellets to settle to the bottom. I held that for 2 days and then bottled. It sounds much more complicated than it actually is.

Hope this helps you in your quest for a dry hopping schedule you like.

Cold crashing will give you clearer beer, but unless you can explain why, I don't see why it would cause hops to settle to the bottom.

I can see two effects of cold crashing:
Causing chill haze, which will fall out of solution
Floculating yeast so they fall to the bottom

Both of these will happen when you put the beer in the fridge long enough anyway, but cold crashing will give you less yeast sticking to the sides of the bottle, and less gunk at the bottom
 
Cold crashing will give you clearer beer, but unless you can explain why, I don't see why it would cause hops to settle to the bottom.

I can see two effects of cold crashing:
Causing chill haze, which will fall out of solution
Floculating yeast so they fall to the bottom

I'm not sure I can explain the reason. It's got to be in Stokes' Law somewhere, but I'm afraid everywhere I look is counter to increasing precipitation. But I did watch it work when I was cold crashing. It's just one of those areas I can't fully/scientifically explain, but trust to happen again under similar circumstances.
 
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