Fermentation/Cold Crash After Dry Hopping for IPA

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Hi All

I was looking at brewing the AHA Jai Alai clone but had a question about the fermentation instructions. After 7 days, it says to dry hop 2 oz. Simcoe and drop the temp 2 degrees a day for 2 weeks until you hit 34 F. I admittedly haven't brewed a ton of IPAs but haven't seen this instruction before (outside of the normal cold crash before hitting the keg with CO2). I don't have precise temp control that would allow me to drop the temp so incrementally - what's the point of the temp drop and how badly will it change the flavor profile if I skip it?

Thanks!
 
The temp drop has more to do with a cold crash than the dry hop.

Conventional methods assume better aroma extraction from the dry hops during warmer temperature ranges. The slow incremental drop would provide more time in warmer beer during the cold crash process.

But I've recently seen talk of shorter dry hop intervals during cold crash temps. Cant speak to that personally.

I typically add my dry hops just before or at the end of fermentation. I'll then raise the temp by ~5 degrees for a few days similar to a D-Rest. Then I'll crash to near freezing over a few days.

Just what I do. YMMV...
 
I assume they want you to cool the beer to help encourage the hops to drop to the bottom. I have never seen a kit have you do it two degrees a day over two weeks, though maybe they're trying to avoid oxygen ingress by crashing slowly.

Just crash it quickly or don't crash it at all. A slow vs. fast crash won't have much, if any, impact on flavor.
 
I can only assume that there is a reason why that's in the instructions. However, if you do not have the means then I would wait until a couple days before you are ready to keg and dry hop for 2 or 3 days and cold crash as you normally would.
 
This is the article I read recently that talks about a short and cold dry hop interval.

In summary, I dont think you need to worry about what that recipe says related to this step. If you could actually do that controlled decrease in temp then why not if thats your goal from a repeatable process perspective. But I dont think thats really going to affect the end result significantly one way or another.
Another case for RDWHAHB!

https://beerandbrewing.com/rethinking-dry-hops-quicker-colder-and-better/
 
Funny, I literally just kegged my Cigar City Jai Alai clone about ten minutes ago. Never used WLP023/Burton Ale yeast before, but it was a beast, glad I had a blowoff tube. It was done day 4, did my usual soft crash to 50 (on day 6), dry hopped, then let the temp creep back up to 58 (one day), then cold crashed to 36 for two days and transferred on day 10. The sample was delicious!

So, I don't think that slow cold crash is necessary...Cheers!
 
Thanks all. These were all super helpful replies. I’m going to try it the way I normally brew (considering I have no other option) and hope for the best. Worst case scenario, it’s still beer! Thanks again!
 
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