Dry Hopping Schedule/Pellets vs Whole Hops Question

[brewinginct]

I'm getting ready to dry hop my first beer in a few weeks and this was the schedule the guy at my LHBS store gave me He's been going at this so long/won so many awards that I have to assume he knows his stuff. Regardless, how does this schedule sound:

*Primary - 7-10 Days

Transfer to secondary

*Secondary - 2 Weeks

Transfer to another 5 gallon carboy

*Dry hop with pellets - 2 Weeks

I was also told that when transferring from secondary, put the hop pellets in the bottom of the carboy and rack on top. Apparently the hops will settle out enough after 2 weeks that I shouldn't have any trouble transferring to bottling (maybe I'll use nylon over the end of the siphon tube).

THE QUESTIONS:
-Does anyone follow this schedule (I'm aware some people skip secondary but I'm going to try it give it a try this time)
-Pellets vs. Whole Hops - What do you prefer? What differences do you see?

 

[2morrow]

I would skip the secondary and just leave it in the primary for 3 weeks. I like pellets during the boil and then whole leaf to dry hop.

 

[Revvy]

That's sort of a ridiculous and needlessly risky way of doing things. Racking twice? Geez current recommendations are not to rack at all, let alone rack to a secondary AND a tertiary simply to dry hop.

These days I dry hop in primary at the end of my month long primary...I'll just add my hops to the fermenter on day 21 with the intention of bottling on day 28.

But if I do secondary (which I hardly do anymore), I wait a minimum 14 days, taking a grav reading on day 12 and then a second one on day 14 to confirm that fermentation is complete before racking over. Then again I wait til 1 week before my intended bottling time before I add my hops. In the case for example of my barleywine in my sigline below, It's going to be in secondary for at least 6 months before I add my dry hops.

Another think. I'm always hesitant about any instructions that say to do anything to your beer based on a set schedule, that doesn't ALSO say "Confirm that fermentation is complete with GRAVITY READINGS before you move your beer."

If you arbitrarily move your beer, like to follow the silly 1-2-3 rule (or instructions that say move after a week or when bubbles slow down), you will often interrupt fermentation. Because sometimes the yeast won't even begin to ferment your beer until 72 hours after yeast pitch, so if you rush the beer off the yeast on day 7 then you are only allowing the yeast a few days to work. The problem is that yeast don't know how to read so they seldom follow the instructions. They dance to their own tune and its seldom 4 x 4 Time.

This often leads to stuck fermentation because you have removed the beer from the very stuff you need to ferment your beer. The yeast....It can often lead to the same off flavors one gets if they undrpitch their yeast.

Besides, fermenting the beer is just a part of what the yeast do. If you leave the beer alone, they will go back and clean up the byproducts of fermentation that often lead to off flavors. That's why many brewers skip secondary and leave our beers alone in primary for a month. It leaves plenty of time for the yeast to ferment, clean up after themselves and then fall out, leveing our beers crystal clear, with a tight yeast cake.

We have multiple threads about this all over the place, like this one https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ignore-instructions-do-not-bottle-after-5-10-days-78298/

If you leave the beer alone, they will go back and clean up the byproducts of fermentation that often lead to off flavors. That's why many brewers skip secondary and leave our beers alone in primary for a month. It leaves plenty of time for the yeast to ferment, clean up after themselves and then fall out, leveing our beers crystal clear, with a tight yeast cake.

Hope this helps!!!

 

[sudsmcgee]

I say follows Revvy's advice. I've done this a few times now with excellent results. Don't waste your time with secondary. Old habits die hard, which is probably why this guy still uses a secondary.

 

[brewinginct]

One thing I've noticed, people have strong contradictory views about EVERY aspect of brewing.

The guy who gave me the instructions is really intelligent and the awards lining his walls prove he knows his ****. But he is definitely more old school, he strongly believes in doing a secondary and don't even mention that you prefer batch over fly sparing.

Revvy - Three questions for you (or anyone who wants to field them)

1) Is there any benefit to racking your beer onto hops when dry hopping? I'd prefer to do your schedule (less work/opportunity to screw up) but this beer was a significant investment in time/cost and as someone new to all grain I'm naturally being anal about every aspect of the process.

2) What difference would I notice with one week vs. two weeks of dry hopping? Stronger aroma? Marginal difference?

3) is there any difference between hop pellets or whole hops when dry hopping? I already bought two ounces of amarillo pellets to dry hop this black IPA (IDA, cascadian dark ale, whatever you want to call it)...but if whole hops will make a significant difference then I'll spend the money on more hops

4) how do you determine how much hops you use when dry hopping?

Thanks for all the help

 

[Smokeater233]

1. I'd go Revvy's way and not rack onto anything. When dry hopping I wait for fermentation to be pretty far along, but not quite complete so that while I'm dry hopping I'm maintaining a CO2 blanket. I like to slightly rock my fermenter to knock some of the hops that have fallen out to get back into suspension, but I understand this to be a very unorthodox approach and it has the potential for oxidation (although I have yet to experience this) and then dry hop on top of that.

2. Yes, the longer the dry hop the greater the aroma.

3. Pellet hops will release the oils quicker and will give a more robust aroma (so you may want to think carefully about quantity/time) versus cones which release their oils more slowly and offer a more subtle aroma.

4. Personal preference but I like to do a half ounce per gallon for an IPA. Kudos on the Amarillo - it's one of my favorite varieties...