To Rack, or Not To Rack?

[user 100932]

Hey guys,

So last Saturday my buddy and I decided to give an IPA a shot. Everything went smoothly and we were really happy with how it went.

The recipe we were referencing called for adding more finishing hops after pulling the wort off the 60 min boil, so we decided to add them in loosely (just those finishing hops) and just let them chill in the primary. Fermentation cruised along, and now here we are Thursday with the gravity down to what the recipe says the FG should be. (1.020)

Normally I would leave a beer in the primary for 2 weeks to allow the yeast to clean up a little, but I've read on HBT before that if you leave hops in beer for more than 10-12 days you start to get a vegetable taste to your beer.

Our beer seems to be done fermenting, but do you think it would be safe to leave it in the primary for another week to let the yeast clean up? Or should we go ahead and rack to the secondary, where we plan to dry hop?

And this is probably a dumb question, but will the yeast continue to clean up the IPA in the secondary if it's dry hopped?

I appreciate any and all help with this!

 

[phuff7129]

I have heard you should only dryhop for 7 days to avoid the grassy or veggie flavor/aroma. I had a two hearted ale clone in secondary with 2oz of centennial leaf hopping away and I got called out of town. By the time I got back it had been dryhopping for 30 days and the beer was awesome and had a fantastic aroma. It did start to fade pretty quick after 4 weeks in the bottle but there were only a couple of them left by then.

 

[Piratwolf]

There seems to be a lot of uncertainty about the vegetal issue.

As far as I can tell from reading here and listening to pro brewer interviews, the vegetal flavor comes from either the type of hop (oils, cohumulone, etc.) or the temp at which you secondary. Apparently colder temps retard the decay of hops just like it slows down fermentation and other reactions.

 

[KevinW]

It sounds like you left the "late addition" hops in the primary throughout fermentation?
That is different than dry hopping and I have read differing opinions on the length one should dry hop to avoid "grassy" flavors, 7 days seems to be the norm for dry hopping.

I had two of the same beers one I dry hopped after fermentation completed and the other I added the same amount of hops when I pitched the yeast. In the second beer the fermentation basically removed all hops flavor and it had no grassy flavors, even after 3 weeks in the primary.

You should be fine, maybe a little light on the hoppiness you intended!

I would not transfer to dry hop, just add the hops to your primary if you can do that easily. After racking to a secondary, depending on how soon you rack, there may not be enough yeast left to "clean up" the beer.

 

[user 100932]

Yea we just left the late additions in the primary, which I know isn't dry hopping. We wanted to dry hop in a secondary mostly because we've never done it before and an IPA seemed the appropriate choice. My biggest concern is if leaving the hops on there another week will give the beer some off flavors.

And thanks for the answer on the yeast in the secondary question!

 

[BamaRooster]

IMHO Your going to be ok leaving the hops in there. As stated what you did was a late hop addition and the fermentation process will act on the hops the same as they would for any other late addition. The process will reduce some of the fresh hoppie goodness dry hoping gives us.

 

[user 100932]

That makes sense. We were considering dry hopping in addition to the late addition hops, which is where the secondary comes in to play. What do you think about doing that?

 

[BamaRooster]

sure, that should work out good. For a very floral, citrus flavor I dry hop with 2 oz of citra or crystal hops for 7-10 days. The dry hop flavor fades after 4-5 weeks but mine don't last that long.