I’m not convinced I need a secondary and have made 6 extracts without it so far.
BUT…Dead Ringer is the first that does not show a secondary as an option. I would prefer to do it with only the primary.
My question is on the dry-hop timing. It says to add the hop addition to the secondary 1-2 weeks prior to bottling. If I simply add it to the primary at around the 4 week mark and give it two additional weeks, would I risk any off-tastes with the yeast activity?
Any additional comments on amount of time for bottle conditioning this beer?
Thanks all!
Edit: I should add…inside temps between 60-66 for the duration of the fermentation and bottle conditioning.
You should not have any off-flavors from that in and of itself. I have typically dry-hopped directly in my primary at the tail end of fermentation and have gotten great aroma from them.
Also, most of the experts say the only way to know when dry hopping is done is to taste the beer. If you taste it after 4 days and it doesn’t have enough hop flavor, leave it another few days then package. However, I did hear from a pro brewer, that if using pellet hops, once they drop to the bottom of the fermenter, you are not getting any more aroma from them.
Finally, in Stan Hieronymus’ new book ‘Hops’ does seem to point to empirical evidence that racking the beer off the yeast (or dropping the yeast if you are lucky enough to have a conical) actually can help with the intents of dry hopping. Going to do it in the keg in my next beer after clarifying.
Go two weeks in primary, then add the dryhops for another week and check the gravity and hop character at that point, decide to either leave the beer a little longer or bottle. Three weeks total is usually plenty of time for most beers.
I brewed a half batch of this a week ago myself… also planned on not going to secondary… so cheers! This post helps! I plan to wait two weeks from brewing to add the dry hops and then giving it one to two weeks from that point.
Although many people prefer to use a secondary when they will be dry hopping, it isn’t essential. Personally my preferred method of dry hopping is to put them in the keg, and most of my beers go direct from primary to keg. But nothing’s stopping you from dry hopping in the primary.
