When to Add Dry Hops? Recipe Question

[Rubix]

I brewed the Rebel Grapefruit IPA Clone yesterday. For the Dry Hops time the recipe says "5 days." Based on a thread I found in this forum, it appears that means I need to wait for the fermentation process to begin and should add the dry hops in 5 days before I plan to keg it. But I just want to confirm.

Out of curiosity, is it OK to add them in the primary about 2 weeks into the fermentation process and leave them in the primary for 5 days before I keg it? OR should I use a secondary fermenter for this?

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/640016/rebel-grapefruit-ipa-clone

Thanks!

-Ryan

 

[Yooper]

I often add mine to the primary about 3-5 days before kegging. Just be very careful to minimize oxygen exposure when adding them. Oxygen is the death of hoppy beers!

 

[Rubix]

Thanks. How do you minimize exposure to oxygen? Are you saying to barely crack the lid on the bucket open and gently place the hops in? Or to basically minimize splashing when throwing hops in and it doesn’t really matter if the lid is completely open for a couple minutes?

Thanks for the info!

 

[Yooper]

Thanks. How do you minimize exposure to oxygen? Are you saying to barely crack the lid on the bucket open and gently place the hops in? Or to basically minimize splashing when throwing hops in and it doesn’t really matter if the lid is completely open for a couple minutes?

Thanks for the info!

If you're using a bucket, it would be ideal to purge with c02, but if you can't, yes, crack open the bucket and add the hops without splashing and allow as little air ingress as possible.