How long to ferment and when to dry hop

[kberry]

Hey everyone. My first all grain is fermenting away - an english pale ale. My plan is to ferment in primary for 3 weeks then keg it. My original plan was to rack to secondary after a few days, but from what I've read, doing the whole fermentation in the primary fermentor is perfectly acceptable. Can someone with more experience please comment on this for me? Is 3 weeks a good length of time?

Also, I was intending to dry hop with 1 oz of fuggles. Is this a good hop variety to dry hop with? Is the amount right for a 5 gallon batch? And when should I add these hops to the primary?

Thanks for you help!!

[benwedge]

For something like that pale ale, or any regular old ale, you don't need to use a secondary fermenter. 10 days is probably fine. Use your hydrometer to confirm that the gravity hasn't changed for 2-3 days before bottling. If you don't like sediment, transfer to a secondary fermenter after ~5 days. As for dry hopping, 1oz of Fuggles is great for a 5gal batch. Throw those hops in after about 5 days - when fermentation has ended. If you're going to rack to a secondary, put them in after you do that. Leave them for 5 days after you dry hop, then bottle.

[gm-]

2-3 weeks are good for the whole thing, just confirm with your hydrometer after 2 weeks or so. I like to dry hop for 10-14 days, so I usually add the hops after a week of primary fermentation.

[kberry]

Thanks for the replies. My brew will have been in primary for 1 week tomorrow morning. There are still a fair amount of bubbles going through the airlock (like every 10 mins) should this stop completely before I call it done? Or should I rely more on SG readings?

Also - I've read about 'grassy' flavours imparted by dry hopping for more than 7 days. Any comments on that? Is 3 days not enough?

[benwedge]

If it's still bubbling frequently it's not ready for bottling, but if it's fewer than every ten minutes you can probably move to dry hop now. I've not heard of grassy flavours, but maybe others have. Five days is the norm, in my experience, but I haven't seen any science on it.

[chalmers]

We've done dry hoping in the keg for months and not had grassy flavor, so the 7 days thing is not universal. I'd say the plan you've had suggested is good: toss those hops in now, let it sit for another week or so, then bottle it up.

[kberry]

Thanks for your insight guys. Much appreciated. I'll check the SG tomorrow and no doubt throw in the fuggles and give it another week. Here's to hoping for a successful first batch!

Cheers!

[spuds]

Just something to add. I am not much of a fan of dry hopping but thats just me. You could dry hop this one then make it again without dry hopping, just for a side by side comparison. Also I usually transfer to secondary after 5-7 days. You don't have to but I have found the beer to be clearer. Good luck and congrats on your first attempt, you will not turn back.

[sleepyjamie]

I've had different results when dry hopping. I've had grassiness come from long dry hopping before and other times I haven't. I found i get grassiness from pellets more than leaf. The grassiness does go away after 4-6 weeks. U should be ok with fuggles.

My plan is to start dry hopping max 3 days in the keg using a hop sock. This way I don't need to transfer to secondary which is important as I usually let my beers sit in the primary for 3 weeks. It will also avoid any grassiness or excess dry hopping.

[Jimmy]

I started dry hopping in the primary, after fermentation is complete - likely won't do it any other way from here on out.

[mattvincent24]

I started dry hopping in the primary, after fermentation is complete - likely won't do it any other way from here on out.

I've only done that once and i had a hop volcano. i guess the CO2 in solution all came out of solution when i dumped the pellets in. Has this ever happened to you? Its really the only reason I ever secondary now. I rack on top of the hops to avoid this foamy green mess. If no one else has this issue I my give dry hopping in the primary another try.

[adams81]

I started dry hopping in the primary, after fermentation is complete - likely won't do it any other way from here on out.

I've only done that once and i had a hop volcano. i guess the CO2 in solution all came out of solution when i dumped the pellets in. Has this ever happened to you? Its really the only reason I ever secondary now. I rack on top of the hops to avoid this foamy green mess. If no one else has this issue I my give dry hopping in the primary another try.

I had this happen once after I had transferred to a secondary. I read up on it and I guess pellet hops can provide a lot of surface area for dissolved CO2 to bubble off on. Now when dry hopping I drop the first few pellets slowly, just in case.

Man, what a mess that was. The beer was delicious though!