Dry Hop in Primary or Secondary

[fozzybeer]

Im planning on adding some Citra pellets in a hop sock to my APA.
Its been in the fermenter for 4 days and the airlock is starting to slow down so I'm going to either add the bag to the primary in the next day or two and then leave for a week or so, then remove the bag and rack to secondary....
Or... wait another week or so, rack to secondary and then add the dry hop and remove just before bottling.
My questions are:
Which option is best, any pros and cons of each..?
I'm trying to get a reasonably clean beer. Would adding the hop sock to the secondary cloud the beer a bit?
When removing the sock do I squeeze it or just remove as quickly as possible?
Thanks in advance

 

[Foster82]

I am no means a dry hop expert, as I have never actually done any dry hopping. But from what I know, is that anything gained from dry hopping diminishes with time. So the closer you dry hop to packaging time the better.

 

[MrBIP]

.....anything gained from dry hopping diminishes with time. So the closer you dry hop to packaging time the better.

I've not read anything that recommends dry hopping in primary and then racking and I do know that dry hopping in secondary works.

As far as keeping it clean, have been adding a tablespoon of Biofine after racking and before dropping the dry hops in and get good results from that after it sits a week.

Can't comment on squeezing or not, in carboys it hard enough to get the sack in there and impossible to get it out to any squeezing.

 

[fozzybeer]

Thanks guys, yeah apon further reading, most people do recommend dry hopping in secondary rather than primary so I'll do that.
Thanks for the tip on Biofine MrBIP. I've never used it before, (I do use Irish moss or something similar, 15 mins from the end of the boil) but have never added any finings to the fermenter.
I wonder if adding the Biofine AFTER removing the dry hop bag (I'm using a plastic fermenter with a large lid so getting it out is no issue) and leaving a couple of days before bottling would work better..?

 

[Flatlander]

In my experience, if you are dry hopping in the typical glass carboy, using a sock hop is a major pain in the butt. The sock hop expands like crazy, and is very annoying to get out later. I wouldn't suggest dry hopping in the open fermenter for sanitation and oxidation reasons. Most brewers dry hop in a secondary with an airlock.
Anyway, what I find works very well is to just dump in your hop pellets and dry hop for whatever length of time you like. I typically do 5 days or so, but some will go longer/shorter. At the five day mark, I put the carboy in my temperature controlled freezer and cold crash it at near freezing for 3 or 4 days. This drops the hops right out and clears the beer nicely without the need for any finings. Cheers!

 

[fozzybeer]

Thanks Flatlander
I use a fermenter with an airlock for secondary but do you still think oxidation is a risk?
I dont have any equipment for cold crashing so the hop sock is the only option for me.

 

[MrBIP]

...if you are dry hopping in the typical glass carboy, using a sock hop is a major pain in the butt.

True, the sock doesn't come back out in one piece. But it's not too bad to deal with. I hang it with fishing line weighted down with marbles then come time to syphon to bottling bucket, tape the fishing line down on the outside of the carboy so it hangs up out of the way. To clean the carboy, yank it up as far as it will go, cut it off, then proceed to dig it out. The bigger pain in the butt is salvaging the marbles out of the hop mess.

Always figured if the hops just went in loose, they'd simply float to the top and I wouldn't get the full benefit, so have done it this way since day one and just got used to dealing with it. (Plastic carboy for secondary has a bigger throat and is easier to deal with).