Dry Hopping and another question....

[gERgMan]

So, I have a Dogfish clone that was in the primary for a week and then the secondary since Monday. I added some reserved hops to it Tuesday, but my question is should I add all of the hops I reserved for dry hopping at one time or spread it out over the course of 3-5 days?

My other question is I was hoping to bottle it this weekend. When I transferred to the secondary on Monday and started dry hopping, I seemed to "reactivate" the fermentation. Even looking at it this morning, I can see little bubbles going to the top and the airlock is bubbling every 20-30 seconds. When I measured the SG during secondary transfer, it was 1.020 at 55F. Does it sound like I will be able to bottle come Saturday or Sunday? I know the SG is a good indication of bottling time, but if there is still active fermentation, I don't want to blow-up any bottles. Any thoughts??

 

[david_42]

Add it all at once. You'll get more out of the hops by letting them soak longer.

The hops are probably just making the brew de-gas. 1.020 for this ale is done.

 

[cweston]

I think you should add one hops pellet per minute over the next week.

(just kidding--dump 'em all in there--I usually dry-hop for 2-3 weeks.)

No, I don't think you should bottle this weekend if your airlock is bubbling and your gravity is at 1.020. (What was the OG?). There's really no rush--this beer isn't going to be near it's peak for several more weeks anyway.

Did you ferment at 55? What yeast did you use? (That's well below the temp range for most ale yeasts.)

 

[gERgMan]

No, the fermentation was around 65-70F. The only reason the SG measurement was 55F was I had the graduated cylinder sitting in cold bleach water to sterilize and the room was a bit cool that day as well. The orginal gravity was 1.060, the recipe is a modified Dogfish clone. The yeast was White Labs California V Ale yeast. I actually washed and stored the yeast for future IPA's. This was my first time doing this, very interesting and could save some money. I agree with the first reply in that the hops seemed to "agitate" the fermentation. However, I also agree with the next reply that it could get better with aging in the secondary.

My schedule is a bit hectic for the next few weeks, so that was the main reason why I wanted to bottle this weekend. I will add the remaining hops this evening and let it sit for a couple of days. How much do you think the final flavor will be affected if I bottle this weekend versus letting it sit in the secondary for another week or two?

 

[cweston]

I'd have to see the recipe to say for sure, but I'm a little hesitant to say it's done fermenting. 1.020 FG on a 1.060 OG beer is only 67% attenuation. It could be done, or not--attentuation depends on a lot of things: recipe, techniques (esp. in all-grain or PM brews), temperature...

 

[freyguy]

I know my 60min clone took some time to finish. I did 2 weeks primary and 2 weeks secondary. I think mine ended up at 1.014. I'd say leave it a bit longer if you can. Plus, the longer you leave it, the more the hops will settle out making transfering easier.