Young's IPA kit dry hopping

The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Howard Taylor

Active Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2018
Messages
37
Reaction score
4
Hi all, I am brewing my favourite IPA kit again, having done it several times before. I added the dry hops on Monday, simply sprinkling them onto the top of the brew as usual. Now I am thinking of siphoning off into another fermentation vessel to reduce some of the sediment in the brew before I bottle it. I usually do this and leave the brew to settle for another day or so before I add the priming sugar and bottle the brew. However, when checking the SG today I see that the surface of the brew has a "crust" of the dissolved hops on top. I thought these usually sank to the bottom of the fermenting vessel in my previous brews. Perhaps it's something to do with the TV still sitting on my powered-up heating pad? Can't remember if I usually switch that off once I add the hops in my other successful brews. Am I worrying over nothing here?

Another point is that in my last brew the bottles seemed to have a little more gas than normal, meaning the head on the poured beer was large, making it difficult to pour the full bottle. All my previous brews were fine. Maybe I should use a little less of the supplied priming sugar this time? What are your thoughts?
 
I suspect you're correct about the heating pad, I would switch it off and spend a few days gently agitating the FV to persuade those hops to sink. A nylon hop bag would be a very useful investment for future brews.

In terms of your over-active last brew, I wonder if you bottled it a day or two before the yeast had actually stopped, as the supplied priming sugar should be a fairly accurate quantity. Having said that, my last AIPA had too little carbonation even though I brewed it exactly the same as the previous two excellent brews.

I have noticed a significant variation in OG and carbonation across a number of my favourite kits, but then I guess thats to be expected with natural variations in the ingredients.
 
Hi Ridge, thanks for your response. This morning I've turned off the heater mat, as you suggest I will leave it for a couple of days and see if the dissolved hope sink to the bottom.

I think maybe I did bottle the last brew a day or two too early. I'll use all the priming sugar as usual this time and see what happens.

How do you find the Young's APA kit, if it's a good as the IPA one then perhaps I try one next!
 
I haven't tried the Youngs Pale Ale as yet, just their AIPA (3 times), which is just about my favourite of all beer kits so far.
Sadly its far less pleasing without the carbonation as I found :-(

Clint is quite right, final gravity is quite low for this range, 1.008 for the Pale Ale and 1.007 for their IPA. My brews have taken between 10 days and 14 days to get down that far.

I also have a Youngs Saison waiting, but it'll have to wait until after an experimental ginger beer brew.

Good luck, I'm sure you will enjoy drinking it.
 
Clint, thanks for responding. Yes I have measured the SG at 1.007 before adding the hope. Fermentation seemed to have stopped at that point, about 14 or 15 days since starting the brew.

Didge, I have seen others use the nylon hop bag, maybe I'll order one to try for my next brew.
 
Back
Top