Cold Crashing, Dry Hopping, Primary/Secondary?

RAtkison

RAtkison

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So I brewed my first all grain batch on 1/8/17, it is a Centennial Pale Ale and OG was 1.042. Checked it 4 days ago and fermentation wasn't quite done, checked again today and FG is 1.012 so I'm calling it good. The recipe calls for dry hopping 4 days which I am planning on doing tomorrow but I have a couple questions about how to go about doing this.

First: Cold Crashing. Is this necessary? If so, is it done in primary or secondary? My primary is a 6.5 gallon bucket, I also have a 5 gallon glass carboy I can do secondary in.

Second: Dry hopping. Do I dry hop in primary or secondary? Does this depend on if I cold crash or not? Do I cold crash in the primary, rack to secondary, rest for a week or so, then dry hop?

Thanks for all the feedback in advance!
 
I'd worry about cold crashing when you go to package the beer, so not during dryhopping. It's not super necessary, you can use finings, gelatin, or just wait a little while for the beer to clear.

Personally, i dry hop in secondary. Getting it off the yeast cake now will also help to decrease the particles that need to settle when you go to package
 
RAtkison said:
So I brewed my first all grain batch on 1/8/17, it is a Centennial Pale Ale and OG was 1.042. Checked it 4 days ago and fermentation wasn't quite done, checked again today and FG is 1.012 so I'm calling it good. The recipe calls for dry hopping 4 days which I am planning on doing tomorrow but I have a couple questions about how to go about doing this.

First: Cold Crashing. Is this necessary? If so, is it done in primary or secondary? My primary is a 6.5 gallon bucket, I also have a 5 gallon glass carboy I can do secondary in.

Second: Dry hopping. Do I dry hop in primary or secondary? Does this depend on if I cold crash or not? Do I cold crash in the primary, rack to secondary, rest for a week or so, then dry hop?

Thanks for all the feedback in advance!
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First, cold crashing is absolutely not necessary. It's strictly an aesthetic thing: Beer stored cold for a while is brighter (clearer) because the particles that cause haze clump together and preciptate out Dry hopping is best done in primary while the beer is still fermenting but starting to slow down, usually about three to four days in. Any more than three days' contact with the beer and you're risking haze and harshness, besides, it doesn't do anything to help the beer.
 
Like Nosybear, I usually dry hop just before fermentation ends, but for 5 days. Then cold crash to drop out all the crud. Never use a secondary these days, I'll put that down to personal preference.
Don't worry too much about cold crashing, gelatin etc at this stage in your brewing journey, just concentrate on making good tasting beer! The more steps / processes you add the more chance of mistakes / issues.

And congrats on the first brew!
 
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how long to dry hop also depends on which variety you are using to dry hop with , some can lead to very grassy flavours if left for too long .
i only use a single FV per brew , i transfer only to bottle ( no secondary )
i let my ferment run out with a temp bump to ensure it's finished , dry hop free range for 2-3 days then cold crash for a few more bottle and enjoy within a few weeks
depends on the style you are brewing and what you want from that brew .
an APA/IPA you will drink fresh is a different story to a lager you are putting in CC for 4-8 weeks
 
Thanks for all the replies. I decided to move to secondary and dry hop last Saturday, today is day 5. The beer is hazy, some solids have formed on the bottom but there is still a ring of dry hops on the top. I am considering dry hopping it for a couple days and bottling Saturday or Sunday. I've read if you cold crash it may be necessary to pitch yeast in the beer before bottling? Does anyone know if this is necessary? Also, IF I cold crash, is it good practice to remove beer from refrigerator and allow to reach room temperature prior to bottling? (I plan on doing this in an outdoor fridge, is that even a good idea)?
 
out of curiosity, did you just throw the hops in? it sounds like they're floating on the top of the beer. have you heard of using some sanitized marbles in a mesh bag as a way to weight down the hops so they stay fully submerged?

there will still be yeast in suspension after you cold crash, so you probably shouldn't need to add any

couldn't really tell you what's best as far as your last question. at the very least, i'd imagine you'd have to let it settle for a little bit after you move it from the fridge, so it'd warm up at least a little
 
I actually didn't think or hear about dry hopping the way you mention until after I dropped the hops in. And yes, like you said, I just dropped them straight into the beer. Doesn't sound like that was the right way to do it (haha)? At this point would you recommend cold crashing, not sure it sound I have any other choice but to in order to get the solids out of the beer, right?
 
the hops are still in contact with the beer, so it's still working. using the bag is bit extra to fuss with, but i think it uses the hops to their fullest that way

you could cold crash it to get some more particles to drop, but i dont think it's necessary. the couple of days to cold crash would also mean that the dry hop aromas and flavors would be dissipating during that time too. so you might not get the full impact of all your effort
 
i would. but if you can't do it till the weekend, that's no big deal either
 
I dry hop "free range " regularly , unless you want hop matter making its way into bottles then a few days at near freezing is a good idea .
For myself the cold crash doubles as a good time to add polyclar for brilliant clarity .
They still carb up just fine in the bottles even with CC and polyclar
 
We were just having a discussion about dry hopping on another forum and apparently some literature sugests the dry hop is best done while the beer is still fermenting. I usually do it when it slows down but some are advocating at high kraussen or even when pitching yeast. Some members are trying it now and I think I may give it a go myself.
 
The dry hop vs biotransformation argument ?
I've been following a similar discussion
Now I have a huge supply of hops I may throw a heap in halfway through active to see any difference for myself , up till now I've been more concerned with grassy after tastes .
Have intentionally left a brew on the cake in primary for 32 days now , dry hops for 14 of them (temps have been at just above freezing for 10 days ) and samples are displaying none of the off flavours I had thought they would
 
Brew Cat said:
some literature suggests the dry hop is best done while the beer is still fermenting.
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one of the key reasons to dry hop before fermentation is done isn't for flavor but because positive pressure from co2 is still forcing oxygen out, dry hopping and oxygen are a bad combination,

you never want to open your fermenter after the yeast has dropped and add anything then close it up for a week or 2 , what that does besides the possibility of adding oxidation to the beer is mildew the krausen ring, that can cause a foul taste in your beer

or a dry hop bag floating half submerged
 
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Been reading this same exbeerment there seems to be a correlation between dry hopping at high krausen and haze. This didn't reach statistical significance they couldn't taste the difference between a dry hopped beer at high krausen and a dry hoped beer after fermentation has settled down.
 
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