Dry-hopping method; specialty grain

[JiveTurkey]

Brewing my next batch--an extract APA--in a couple weeks.

1) What do you think about this method for dry-hopping?

-3 weeks in primary (bucket)
-Add'l 1 week in primary with 1 oz Cascade hops in large mesh bag (weighed down?)
-3 weeks in secondary (carboy)

Originally, I was going to dry-hop at the end of secondary, but don't know if I want to deal with the hassle of getting a bag in and out of the carboy or free-floating hops.

I figure fermentation will be pretty much finished after 3 weeks. Will I be losing a significant amount of aromatic oils by racking the dry-hopped beer into a secondary for three more weeks?

2) What about the grains?

I'm using 7 lbs Light DME. What specialty grain(s) and in what amount would you suggest?

-Cara-Pils/Dextrine, and/or
-Caramel/Crystal - 10L

(If needed, I'm using Cascade and Willamette hops in the boil and pitching White Labs Pacific Ale yeast)

 

[Dos_Locos_Brewery]

7 weeks seems like a long time in the fermenters for a beer like this. No harm in it, just that it's probably not necessary. How about:
2 weeks primary. Put your dry hops in the carboy, and rack APA onto them. Then, 2 weeks secondary. When you rack to your bottling bucket, just use some fine nylon mesh twist-tied to the end of the racking cane(all sanitized, of course), and the hops will not be a problem.

As for the grains, you can't go too wrong with a lb. of crystal. I'd use something more medium range than 10L, unless you're really shooting for lightest possible color.

 

[JiveTurkey]

I am going for light-colored, but still adding body and head retention. What about the Cara/Pils? Beersmith says it "significantly increased foam/head retention and body."

I agree 7 weeks is probably too long. I wanted to make sure fermentation was pretty much complete in the primary. We keep our house at 68*F, but only when we're here and awake, so the temp. drops down a lot.

I have seen the method you're proposing online. I guess what I'm asking is if the method I have above is in itself a bad idea?

 

[GroovePuppy]

I've dry hopped a couple beers in secondary. I rack the beer then add pellets to the top. They spend the two weeks breaking up and falling through the beer.

Like Dos Locos I found a small nylon mesh paint bag on the end of the racking cane catches the hops prior to bottling.

 

[GroovePuppy]

I guess what I'm asking is if the method I have above is in itself a bad idea?

The only thing is to do the dry-hopping after bubbling has stopped so you don't blow all the aroma away but you have that covered.

 

[Dos_Locos_Brewery]

I am going for light-colored, but still adding body and head retention. What about the Cara/Pils? Beersmith says it "significantly increased foam/head retention and body."
...
I have seen the method you're proposing online. I guess what I'm asking is if the method I have above is in itself a bad idea?

Sure, go for the Carapils. 1/2 to 1 lb. each of that and the light crystal would not be overkill.

There is nothing really wrong with the dryhopping method you propose; if that's what works for you, do it!

 

[JiveTurkey]

Thanks for the help folks. I've decided to go with the 'loose hops in secondary + muslin bag over racking cane' method. The more I think about it, the less of a hassle it sounds.

My LHBS owner told me cara-pils doesn't add any color or flavor, just body. I've decided to go with .75 lbs. Crystal-20L and .25 lbs. of either Crystal-40L or -60L (leaning toward 40L at the moment to sneak in a little caramel flavor, but not too much as the beer will have a relatively high FG with the Pacific Ale yeast.).

This is going to be a really hoppy (2 oz. each of Cascade and Willamette boiled, 2 oz. Cascade dry-hopped), low-bitterness (25 IBU) APA. The IBU and FG will be out-of-style, though.

I'll post the recipe when I have all the ingredients, so I won't be tempted to change it.