Dry hopping . . . incident

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

nibiyabi

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2009
Messages
170
Reaction score
0
Location
Santa Clara University
OK, so I had a minor boo-boo and added the extra hops that came with my IPA kit immediately after racking to my primary. No harm, no foul, right? Just kinda makes the dry hopping a mostly wasted effort. However, I put them in a cheesecloth bag and was unable to pull them out after 7 days. Not wanting to impart a vegetable flavor in my beer, I went out the next day and bought a secondary (two, actually :drunk: ) and after a quick StarSan rinse I racked the still-fermenting beer to the secondary, making sure to get as much yeast in there as possible to allow the fermentation to continue. I was then able to jimmy the hops out of the bag and thoroughly clean and sanitize my primary. However, is this going to harm the fermentation process? Am I going to end up with some 3% ABV IPA wannabe? :(
 
What was the gravity at when you racked? After 7 days, it may be close to done. If not, you may get a stalled fermentation because you took the beer off the yeast prematurely. Try ramping up the temperature into the low to mid-70s, and if it looks as if it's stalling, you may want to pitch some more yeast.

Not to worry, it'll probably turn out fine. Just be ready to provide some tender, loving therapy in case your yeasties get a case of performance anxiety.
 
I'll give it a couple days to settle and then take a SG reading. If it's not very close to what it's supposed to be, I'll move it inside the house to see if that rouses anything and then finally add yeast if necessary.
 
7 days fits the 1-2-3 rule that lots of folks use here on most of their beers. I'm sure it'll finish up just fine as it is. Leave 'er be for a while and let the yeast (and there are lots of them still in suspension) do their own thing.
 
SG tested today at 1.020, which is actually on the high end of acceptability considering the OG was 1.071. I might be at my FG after all. :D I will let this baby mellow for at least another couple weeks just to be on the safe side. Thanks guys. :)
 
Back
Top