First brew (Belgian IPA) questions

[Ninja Bunny]

Howdy all,

I am working on my first home brew, Brewer's Best Belgian IPA, and I have some questions on how to proceed.

It is currently in the primary fermenter, has been for 2 days and fermentation seems to be slowing down a bit. I have 2 different friends giving me different advice on how to proceed from here.

Friend 1: stick to primary fermenter, after 7 days add dry hops (1 oz Chinook) and let sit for 10 days, then bottle. carbonate in bottle for 2 weeks, condition in fridge for 1 month, enjoy.

Friend 2: after 5 days total rack to secondary fermenter, dry hop for 3 weeks, bottle for 2 weeks and condition for another 2 weeks in fridge. Enjoy.

tl/dr version: should I rack to secondary fermenter, online concensus seems to be no. If not, is dry hopping in primary fine? And how long should I dry hop and condition for? Thanks guys, I think I'm already addicted

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

ferment for as long as it takes, 5 to 10 days, wait for all foam to disappear, dry hop in the primary only if its for a short time like 7 days otherwise you want to pull it off the yeast to prevent yeasty off flavors then dry hop in secondary, dry hop for as long as the hops drop to the bottom but after 10 days you might start to get a grassy or dank taste, really depends on the hops

 

[The Brew Mentor]

Welcome Ninja,
Just getting started, you'll end up finding and getting a lot of information(good and bad). The debate on secondary has been going on for years and people all over are divided. Here's what a couple of heavyweights have to say...
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/second ... gh-176837/

I personally move my beer from primary to a keg around day 10 and then finish my beer there( dry-hopping, fining, carbonating,etc,).

I have had beer on dry hops from 3 days through 6 weeks with no problems or grassy flavors. I think oxidation can become a factor when dry-hopping and am very careful with the additions.

Have fun with it and read a lot, you're making Beer!

Good Luck
Brian

 

[Nosybear]

I'd call it a bit ambitious for a first brew.... If I were starting all over and could share one bit of wisdom with my new brewing self, it would be this: Brew something very simple, extract, single hop, two additions (one at 60 mins boil and one at 10), very neutral yeast like American Ale fermented at reasonably controlled conditions (for example, putting the carboy full of wort in a water bath to stabilize temperature). Brew exactly the same beer until I could brew it tastes the same every time. The reason for this is as homebrewers, we rely on stable, consistent processes to make good beer time after time. By doing something simple until you do it right, you ensure that it's your process that's working. If you start with a complex brew and make changes, how do you know it's your recipe and not variations in your process causing the changes, or some complex of both? Still, good luck with the beer and do let us know how it comes out. A second piece of advice, not mine, but one from one of the founding fathers of the Homebrew Movement, Charlie Papazian: Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew (most often abbreviated RDWHAHB).

 

[PZ]

+1 nosybear! I would also suggest using dry yeast so there is no question you are getting a lot of healthy yeast. After you are comfortable, add complexities gradually. My first beer (in the modern homebrewing era) was a simple pale ale using US05 and it came out great. I was so excited and went straight to a strong Scotch ale, which was pretty terrible but better than it should have been. If you ferment at a good temperature for the yeast, use a dry yeast and learn to read a hydrometer (and understand what it means) you will be brewing fantastic beer in no time. That said, brewing is fun -- laugh at your mistakes, enjoy the Belgian IPA, and most of all, be proud of your first effort. Welcome to the obsession of homebrewing!

 

[Ninja Bunny]

Yeah, I have been loving it so far. I am a biology/chemistry teacher and was so excited about the experimentation part I may have jumped in a little over my head, but live and learn! I love all the different aspects that can be tweaked and I am constantly thinking of new questions to ask and things to research. You guys have been awesome so far, I appreciate it! And I will definitely let you know how it turns out!