IPA issue? not an issue?

[LittleHoudini]

so like 3 days ago i brewed an american IPA but i dry hopped right after i chilled the wort because i didnt plan on racking this brew into secondary at any point(after reading many posts on here about how leaving a beer in primary rather than racking into secondary can be very beneficial to the finished product) but now im seeing people say that they dont dry hop until 7-10 days before kegging. i planned on leaving this one in primary until early february. am i going to get grassy flavors? will the flavors mellow out so much over those 2-3 months that it will be as though i never dry hopped at all? should i just dry hop again 7-10 days before i bottle?

i was real excited about this one. what do you folks think?

 

[DrinkinSurfer]

Still be excited, but maybe bottle or keg after it finishes fermenting. Unless you by chance put the hops in a bag and can fish them out... I am not an authority on the subject though, the longest I dry hop for is about two weeks. And that isn't long enough to get the grassy flavors we read about. Someone with experience with grassy flavors should be able to chime in on whether it mellows or not. But I think the rule of thumb with dry hopped brews is supposed to be not to hop longer then 2 weeks and to consume as quickly as you can stand it to get the most out of your dry hopping.

 

[wonderbread23]

You're not dry hopping if there is active fermentation happening. The co2 from the ferment will scrub away the dry hop aroma. I'd leave it as planned and the do a real dryhop 1-2 weeks before packaging.

 

[elpenoso]

Why would you leave an IPA in primary for 3-4 months? Why would you d hop for 3-4 months? So many questions might want to rethink your whole game plan here.
3 weeks max for 90% of IPA's is all you need and want. D hop 1 week max.

 

[smizak]

Another big problem with this is the risk of infection. Hops are still crawling with some nasties, we only add them after fermentation when the alcohol and ph inhibit the growth of bacteria.

I'm not saying you'll get an infection, there is a chance from adding hops to cold, unfermented wort.

 

[LittleHoudini]

Why would you leave an IPA in primary for 3-4 months? Why would you d hop for 3-4 months? So many questions might want to rethink your whole game plan here.
3 weeks max for 90% of IPA's is all you need and want. D hop 1 week max.

not sure if things are different for IPA's but ive read a lot of posts on here about how leaving brews in primary, on the yeast cake, for a few months is very beneficial for the end product. as far as dry hopping for 3-4 months, i didnt really know anything about dry hopping other than that it was adding hops after the boil. i only bothered learning about the subject after i was panicking about it for a few days lol

 

[dcp27]

Leaving on the yeast cake for that long is unnecessary for an IPA. IPA's are meant to be had young and are not complex enough that a long aging would help. 3-4 weeks should be plenty

 

[elpenoso]

It should be transferred to a secondary fermenter if you plan to age it. Save your hops and just make an amber because thats what an aged ipa tastes like.

 

[mc_eric]

FWIW you can add dry hops to the primary fermenter as long as you use a bag or something to contain them. That's what I did on my last IPA - 4 weeks in primary, dry hopped with 1 oz for the last 9 or 10 days, then straight into the keg. It came out awesome.