Hey guys, i’ve used the search but cannot seem to find many opinions on this. I’ve had the extract Chinook IPA kit in primary for going on its 11th day. Active fermentation has ceased about 4-5 days ago. The kit calls for 2-4 weeks in secondary, but with this beer starting at 1.053 or so is it entirely needed to secondary longer than 1-2 weeks (considering you dry hop for a week or so)?
I could see a longer secondary for a much bigger beer, but perhaps the secondary recommended for this helps to soothe some of the biting chinook flavor??
[quote=“dsidab81”]perhaps the secondary recommended for this helps to soothe some of the biting chinook flavor??[/quote]Why would you want to do that?!?
I guess i’ve heard very mixed reviews on chinook as bittering. This is the first brew i’ve done with chinook, and all the commercials i’ve tried I believe used them for aroma or flavor.
I’m only thinking of moving to secondary to free up my primary for an amber…the ole’ lady has officially requested something that she’d prefer to drink!!!
If you need the primary, then I could see moving it to secondary. Or, Just go get yourself a bucket, then you don’t have to move it AND you have another fermenter
[quote=“dsidab81”]I guess i’ve heard very mixed reviews on chinook as bittering. This is the first brew i’ve done with chinook, and all the commercials i’ve tried I believe used them for aroma or flavor.[/quote]Try a Stone Arrogant Bastard for an all-Chinook beer - it’s one of the few commercial beers I buy.
Well dangit you got me there, sir! I love me some Arrogant Bastard, and I had no clue it was chinook based. I still haven’t developed my palette enough to discern too many hop varieties. It seems williamette and centennial are the easiest for me to pick so far.
That recipe is awesome, and it turned Chinook into one of my favorite hops. I made a session ipa (4.4 abv (56 ibu) using only dme, chinook, and wyeast 1056---- turned out to be one of the best beers I’ve ever made. It’s such a great hop that doesn’t get the play Amarillo and simcoe do, which usually keeps it available.
I have really gotten away from it as well. But will have to do it out of necessity on two here real quick. every primary I have is fulled and I want to brew. so finally going to rack a few to secondary, so I can open a couple primaries up.
I love chinook as a bittering hop. I don’t care for it past the 20 minute addition because it seems to get really grapefruity. Just my experience though.
OG 1.046
F.G 1.011ish - you want this beer dry
IBU 56
4.25lbs golden dme - use 1/3rd extract for boil, then dump rest of it in at 10 min. Boil the full volume if you can, if not boil as much as your pot will allow.
.75oz Chinook for 38-40 ibu @ 60
1 oz Chinook for 18 ibu @ 10
.75oz Chinook @ 0 min **** see note at bottom
Dry hop - 1.5oz Chinook
Wyeast 1056, us-05 wlp001 etc. at 62-64
This beer is not balanced, not one bit… Which means it ain’t malty… You malty lovin’ ipa folk can go brew an amber… Kidding … Sort of… Anyway this one is super pungent with piney grapefruit and if dry hopped in the keg, takes on a fruity skittles like aroma somehow when left on the dry hop for awhile. It’s an awesome beer that can be ready quite fast if you keg, and you can drink tons of it. This beer is also IMO made by the hop steep noted below.
**** flameout aroma and flavor addition goes like this - kill flame, whirpool wort for ± 1 min to knock down the boil but keep the wort hot, THEN toss in flameout hops and let sit for 15-20 min prior to chilling.
So, dsidab81, what did you end up doing? Were you happy with the results?
My Chinook was in primary for 2 weeks, and this weekend will make a week of dry hopping in secondary. Based on what I’ve read around the Web, it sounds like a week of dry hopping is ideal for retaining hop freshness. I have a busy weekend, but if aging it more will potentially detract from its character, I might try to bottle it.
I ended up moving it to secondary after 14 days in primary. Dry hopped for around 8 days. Its actually been in the bottle 2 weeks as of today…so maybe I should crack one open this evening. I was going to secondary for the 2 weeks the recipe asked for, but I got impatient about 1-2 days into secondary and popped em in!!
Then i read that hopping for too long produced grassy flavors…i bottled a week early.
I always dry hop for at least 10 days, I don’t think you risk anything going longer (than 7 days), it’s just for aroma.
I make lots of IPAs and 10 days seems about perfect.
