how long to let dry hop in secondary

[theintern43]

so I brewed a pale ale and dry hopped it with 2 oz after siphoning to my secondary, my question is when should I bottle? the air lock activity has slowed tremendously, I planned on bottling on the 8th and now I'm thinking the 6th, this is my first batch, thanks and cheers to any suggestions


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[Jayhem]

You should only dry hop after the beer is completely fermented out and starting to clear up on it's own. If you dry hop when it's still finish up fermenting it will take much longer to finish fermenting and you will lose a lot of the hop aroma you were trying to add with the dry hop as the hop oils bind to protein particles in suspension and then settle out into the trub.

That said I would let it go 7 days. Take a gravity reading. Let it go 3 more days and if the gravity is still the same, bottle.

 

[theintern43]

really?I don't want any vegative flavors in there and it was close to finished fermenting when I transferred, the gravity reading was only slightly low, i plan on adding a half vile of yeast and priming sugar of course when I go to bottle


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[Jayhem]

really?I don't want any vegative flavors in there and it was close to finished fermenting when I transferred, the gravity reading was only slightly low, i plan on adding a half vile of yeast and priming sugar of course when I go to bottle


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You need at least 5 days with dry hops to fully extract the hop oils and flavors. 7 days is the text book dry hopping period and I've gone 10 days many times with nothing but clean hop aroma imparted. I do dry hopped pale ales or IPA's about every 2nd batch. Love the style.

here's a good read on Dry Hopping: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/questions-dry-hopping-125023/

 

[billl]

Dry hopping aside, you bottle once the gravity has stabilized and the beer tasted good. Take gravity readings 3 days apart to confirm it is safe to bottle. Once you know it is safe, give the beer a taste to see if it is wise to bottle. If it doesn't taste like flat beer (eg has any off flavors or aromas) just leave it alone for a few days and taste again.

Airlock activity is NOT how to determine if the beer is finished.

Most importantly, relax, and don't try to rush it. I know your are excited with your first batch, but nothing good ever comes from rushing a beer. You just need to accept that brewing happens on the yeast's schedule, not yours (and certainly not the timeline of the kit instructions.)

" i plan on adding a half vile of yeast and priming sugar of course when I go to bottle
"

You do not need to add any yeast when you bottle. There is plenty of yeast in suspension to do the job. Adding more is just going to get you more sludge in the bottom of the bottle.