Dry hopping \ cold crashing in primary?

Hi there,

So my friend and I are half way through making our fourth American ale.it has been bubbling away nicely in the chest freezer for a week.we now need to decide our next step.
Last time we transferred to a secondary after a week then I dry hopped in a Muslim bag for the last five days. I have however heard transfer risks oxidisation so hesitant about doing it again.

This time I was thinking to dry hop in the primary after 9 days (and then leave them for 5 days). At this point I was hoping to cold crash in the primary before moving to a bottling bucket (adding sugar then) and bottling from then.

How does this sound? My two main questions are:
1. how long and at what temp shall we cold crash?
2. Although not using a secondary will stop oxidisation will leaving the beer in the primary for two weeks (plus cold crashing time) lead to off flavours?


Thanks so much for your help!

Richard

You to do what I do and never had any issues.
I usually drop to 3c 2-3 days

Leon103 said:

You to do what I do and never had any issues.
I usually drop to 3c 2-3 days

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Thanks for the advice Leon. Just to clarify my timeline:

1. Fermentation for 10 days.
2. Dry hop for 5 days.
3. Cold crash for 3 days.
4. Move to bottling bucket with Syphon, add sugar and bottle (all on same day)

That would give it a total of 18 days in the primary.

Does that sound ok?

rich1985 said:

Thanks for the advice Leon. Just to clarify my timeline:

1. Fermentation for 10 days.
2. Dry hop for 5 days.
3. Cold crash for 3 days.
4. Move to bottling bucket with Syphon, add sugar and bottle (all on same day)

That would give it a total of 18 days in the primary.

Does that sound ok?

Click to expand...

What I would do based on your timescales
-11 days in the FV
- rack off
- add hops
- 4/5 days in the warm
-2/3 days crash cooling
- day 18 package

Don't worry about 'oxidation'. If you are carefully not to splash your beer about it won't happen.
And its a MUSLIN bag not a person who follows Islam :thumb:

terrym said:

What I would do based on your timescales
-11 days in the FV
- rack off
- add hops
- 4/5 days in the warm
-2/3 days crash cooling
- day 18 package

Don't worry about 'oxidation'. If you are carefully not to splash your beer about it won't happen.
And its a MUSLIN bag not a person who follows Islam :thumb:

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. When I transfer would you add the hole in loose or put in a muslin bag (overuled autotype this time!)? Just worried about the hole getting in to the bottles. We have a primary but our secondary is the one we bottle from as it has a tap at the bottom that we attach the racking cane to.

Along read but well worth it if you want to learn about hop utilisation and dry hopping.
http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/34093/Wolfe_thesis.pdf

Confused dot.com what hole?

If auto type don't get you on one word it'll get you on another:lol:

rich1985 said:

Thanks for the advice. When I transfer would you add the hole in loose or put in a muslin bag (overuled autotype this time!)? Just worried about the hole getting in to the bottles. We have a primary but our secondary is the one we bottle from as it has a tap at the bottom that we attach the racking cane to.

Click to expand...

I use a siphon tube since my FVs don't have bottom taps. In the past I have used a muslin bag but now used a nylon sock over the end of the siphon cane and chuck the hops in as they are. Both methods will stop hops going forward at packaging.
My suggestion is, if you have a bottom tap, that you use a large muslin bag weighed down with four sanitised SS dessert spoons or similar.
You might also find this useful
A Newbies Guide to Dry Hopping Your Beer - The HomeBrew Forum

rich1985 said:

.......... I dry hopped in a Muslim bag for the last five days. ..........

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I sincerely hope that you dry hopped in a MUSLIN bag! :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

I'm having a mare here today! Instead of hole I meant hops! I've done the muslin bag before to dry hop but I've been told that can make them less effective.

I've got a bottle with a sediment trap on it. In your opinion would this stop the dissolved hops? This is the bottling bucket I have . Thanks again!

http://www.home-brew-online.com/starter-kits-c47/beer-lager-c50/home-brew-online-hbo-basic-starter-equipment-pack-p1731

rich1985 said:

I'm having a mare here today! Instead of hole I meant hops! I've done the muslin bag before to dry hop but I've been told that can make them less effective.

I've got a bottle with a sediment trap on it. In your opinion would this stop the dissolved hops? This is the bottling bucket I have . Thanks again!

http://www.home-brew-online.com/sta...online-hbo-basic-starter-equipment-pack-p1731

Click to expand...

If you use a large weighted muslin hop bag you will probably not notice the difference between that and chucking them in as they are. I have to say I didn't really notice much difference, it's just that I prefer the nylon sock method. You will find along the way that there are as many opinions about how to brew your own beer as there are homebrewers, and imo a lot of stuff is regurgitated by folks without any real personal evidence just what they have heard, so in the end you have to decide for yourself based on your own experience.

terrym said:

If you use a large weighted muslin hop bag you will probably not notice the difference between that and chucking them in as they are. I have to say I didn't really notice much difference, it's just that I prefer the nylon sock method. You will find along the way that there are as many opinions about how to brew your own beer as there are homebrewers, and imo a lot of stuff is regurgitated by folks without any real personal evidence just what they have heard, so in the end you have to decide for yourself based on your own experience.

Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more. :thumb:

Although, I prefer to chuck hops in loose now after much initial reluctance.

It really is a can of worms, the only way you are going to learn about hop utilisation both in the kettle and in the fermenter is read what the experts have to say, take it all on board and make your own decision. To throw it open for discussion on a forum will achieve nothing.