Dry Hopping in primary fermentor
- Thread starter kpipes68
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There are only two reasons I can think of where you should dry hop in secondary. 1) That is if the addition of the hops would overflow the primary, as unlikely as that would be. 2) You are using a huge amount of hops. But still don't really see a need.
Another would be for very long bulk aging, but a beer like that would not be a good candidate for dry hops.
Another would be for very long bulk aging, but a beer like that would not be a good candidate for dry hops.
The only thing I do in secondary now is the odd occasion where I'm doing some fruit additions or oak spiral aging. For those, since I'm trying to age my way into a particular taste (through periodic sampling), I don't want the extra debris sitting in there at the bottom since I don't know how long I'll age before kegging.
Since my dry hops are only in there 2-3 days, I dry hop all the time in the primary. Less opportunity to get oxygen in there starting to stale my beer.
Since my dry hops are only in there 2-3 days, I dry hop all the time in the primary. Less opportunity to get oxygen in there starting to stale my beer.
I also cold crash in my primary for 2-3 days before kegging. I make sure I have an air-tight fermentor and I've got a one-way valve (BrewJacket) that only lets air out. This again minimizes my opportunity to be exposed to air/oxygen. I don't like the idea of the sludge precipitating out in my serving keg, so I cold crash before kegging.
I've also found drastic taste improvements and taste longevity with my hoppy beers by doing a "low oxygen" keg fill. There's lot of different ways people do it. I do the method of filling the keg with sanitizer until it comes out a ball lock I have attached to the gas post, then pushing out all of that sanitizer with CO2. Then gravity feed (spigot on my typical fermentors) into the keg through a hose connected to the liquid out ball lock post. I used to think this all sounded like something too complicated to be worth the effort, but I am completely sold on the process now. Much happier with my IPAs.
I've also found drastic taste improvements and taste longevity with my hoppy beers by doing a "low oxygen" keg fill. There's lot of different ways people do it. I do the method of filling the keg with sanitizer until it comes out a ball lock I have attached to the gas post, then pushing out all of that sanitizer with CO2. Then gravity feed (spigot on my typical fermentors) into the keg through a hose connected to the liquid out ball lock post. I used to think this all sounded like something too complicated to be worth the effort, but I am completely sold on the process now. Much happier with my IPAs.
deadwolfbones
Well-Known Member
I do what he said ^^^ and I'm very happy with the results.
