Secondary Fermenting, how long do you do it? If at all

[Twotaureanbrewing]

Ok I'm brewing an IPA OG 1.077, with the yeast Im using FG should be about 1.020.

I've got primary down, 5-7 days the bubbling in the blow off is down to a few bubbles a minute, krausen has fallen off, no particles flowing about. This is when I transfer.

I dry hop with whole hops so I transfer to a secondary, bucket, easier to fit a hop sock into than a carboy.

My question is, how long should I condition? I've gone about a week before. However I've read let it sit up to 3 weeks. My concern is that the yeast will totally fall off and I won't get bottle carbonation. I let a 9% DIPA sit that long and it never really carbed much. (co-brewer may have weighed the incorrect amout of corn sugar)

And speaking of yeast falling off, Ive heard of cold crashing. Is this a technique only intended for kegging? Otherwise, no yeast, no bottle carb right?

 

[johngaltsmotor]

For hoppy beers you want them fresh because the hop aroma and flavor naturally fade over time even in bottles, so there's no need for aging. If you want to rack before you dryhop that's fine, but you're basically just opening yourself up to infection a second time and losing a little more good beer left behind in the transfer twice.

(I switched to kegging years ago so I can't speak to if cold crashing drops out enough yeast to slow bottle carbing, but I doubt it)

 

[m00ps]

never, i repeat, NEVER secondary an IPA. It can only hurt it. This is the worst style to try and secondary. Throw the dry hops in the primary and call it done. I usually keg my IPAs after 2 weeks from pitching. For bottling, you might want to give a few more days but they dont really need time to "condition". Ive never cold crashed my beers and they turn out fine in terms of clarity. Ive lagered a few, and there will still be enough eyast in suspension (you cant see it) to bottle carb

 

[Remmy]

There will always be yeast in suspension (enough to carbonate your beer) even if you cold-crash. Don't worry about it. Cold-crashing is done, by choice, by people who bottle and keg. It's not mandatory.

I dry-hop anywhere from 7 to 14 days. It's an IPA, so I don't allow them to sit very long before I bottle or keg.

 

[soccerdad]

not at all

 

[McGarnigle]

And speaking of yeast falling off, Ive heard of cold crashing. Is this a technique only intended for kegging? Otherwise, no yeast, no bottle carb right?

No, cold crashing is used with bottle conditioning as well. It doesn't remove all of the yeast, or anything close to it. Your beer can look quite clear and still have a lot of yeast in it.

 

[Twotaureanbrewing]

Thanks for the feed back guys! Think I'm going to skip the secondary transfer, was hoping to skip that step. Transfer right to my keg!

My fridge is set at about 37degrees, so I guess it will sort of "cold crash" in the keg.

Thanks!