Beer Forum

After listening to a few radio shows, including 12-27-10 Brew Strong and spending countless hours reading through past posts, it seems that racking to a secondary is a waste of time. I'm making my second batch of WC IPA and was wondering how best to dry hop in the primary. Presently it's been in the primary for two weeks at 68 degF, letting it rise to 70 degF the past couple days. This is the time I would normally rack to secondary and dry hop for another week. So, should I drop the temp now to 64 degF as Nathan states in his post then dry hop? If I swirl every couple days, wouldn't this stir up the yeast and pull down the flavor/aroma when it drops again? Does anyone ever dry hop in the keg?

Let your beer ferment normally for 6-7 days and as the fermentation starts to slow, add your dry hops, then give your fermenter a good swirl. Let those hops sit for another 7 days giving your fermenter a swirl every other day for the first few days. As you near the end of the 7 days, don't swirl the last 2 days or so, to let your hops settle out. If you can cold crash your beer in the primary fermenter to further drop out any extra hop debris/yeast, then rack carefully into your keg. Works like a charm, and I typically get a fairly clear pour on my first or second pint.

brewinhard wrote:Let your beer ferment normally for 6-7 days and as the fermentation starts to slow, add your dry hops, then give your fermenter a good swirl. Let those hops sit for another 7 days giving your fermenter a swirl every other day for the first
few days. As you near the end of the 7 days, don't swirl the last 2 days or so, to let your hops settle out. If you can cold crash your beer in the primary fermenter to further drop out any extra hop debris/yeast, then rack carefully into your keg. Works like a charm, and I typically get a fairly clear pour on my first or second pint.

Would the 45 F in my basement be cold enough? Otherwise I could carefully get it in and out of the keezer. I feel that it may get agitated moving it around.

45 deg would be OK, but colder is better and will make a noticeable difference in the clarity of your beer. If it were me, I would try it in the keezer and just be super careful lifting it in and out. After chilling and removing, don't be afraid to give the beer some extra time to settle from all the jostling before packaging.

You'll be surprised how fast it'll re-settle in the carboy after being cold for a time and jostled.