Hey guys. I brewed an ESB a few weeks ago. Let if ferment for seven days and transferred into my secondary on top of an ounce of EKG pellets in a nylon bag. I have noticed that most recipes call for dry hopping for seven days and then bottling. I checked it today, and I think it will need a while longer in the secondary. So, my questions are as follows. Is seven days the magic number for proper hop extraction? Should I remove the hops? Would it be okay to just leave the hops in for about another week? I know these may be kind of noob questions, but I haven't dry hopped more than two-three times previously. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks:rockin:
Dry Hop Time Question
- Thread starter CChamplin
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ArcaneXor
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Seven days in primary is an awfully short time. Based on my experience (and I taste homebrewed and craft brewed beer daily as part of my job), 10 days is about the minimum a beer should spend in primary, and that's for low-alcohol beers. Most beers do well somewhere between 12 and 21 days in primary. By leaving the beer in primary longer, you avoid issues of underattenuation and lack of clarity. Most beers do not benefit from a transfer to secondary, unless you are doing a beer with 8+% ABV, adding a fermentable like fruit, or are doing a sour beer that requires extended aging.
Dry hopping usually takes about 3-4 days for flavor extraction while minimizing grassy off-flavors. Ideally, you'd add the dry hops 3-4 days before packaging, but since you seem to believe that you need additional time before packaging, I would go ahead and remove the dry hops at this point.
Dry hopping usually takes about 3-4 days for flavor extraction while minimizing grassy off-flavors. Ideally, you'd add the dry hops 3-4 days before packaging, but since you seem to believe that you need additional time before packaging, I would go ahead and remove the dry hops at this point.
I usually go 7 to 10 days. I have gone longer with no issues.
Leave them if it is a hassle to pull them. You will have your own experience of what a long dry hop does to a beer rather than going by what others tell you. I think you will find the beer will be fine.
Leave them if it is a hassle to pull them. You will have your own experience of what a long dry hop does to a beer rather than going by what others tell you. I think you will find the beer will be fine.
