Slow Fermentation / Cool Temp Question

[stewart194]

I'm fermenting 10 gallons of IPA and using WLP 007 yeast. This yeast likes higher temperatures. I was shooting for 68 degrees, but I have a funky room in my house that stays around 61 to 63 degrees in the winter. I use the swamp cooler method, so while I can lower the temp with ice bottles, I can't do anything to raise the temp.

This beer has been fermenting for 12 days, and I hoped to keg it today, but one carboy has a gravity of 1.018 and the other is still at 1.024. Both are still bubbling every 15 seconds.

The problem is that I dry hopped it 5 days ago. I've gone 7 days before with great results, but I've heard that if you dry hop longer than 7 days the beer can taste "grassy".

Anyway, I moved the beer into another room, a small bedroom that can get up to 75 degrees with the door shut. Moving them probably stirred the yeast up a little bit also.

Will doing this help fermentation pick up? If the gravity is still too high in a few days, should I keg it any way or let it go until the gravity is where it should be, and risk getting a "grassy" beer? The target FG is 1.015.

Thanks!

 

[khawk95]

Warming it up will help it finish. Did you use a starter? That may have been the reason for a slower ferment.

As far as the grassy taste, I've never had the issue, even at over 14 days dry hopping. Maybe I can't detect it, but either way I would RDWHAHB.


Roed Haus Brewery

 

[Calder]

I dry hop 14 days regularly, and have never had grassy flavors. Maybe my taste threshold is too high to taste that. .... I'm happy with that, since the longer you dry hop (to about 14 days), the more hop flavors you extract.

 

[brettg20]

The problem with dry hopping before fermentation has finished is the co2 will push out some of the aroma you are trying to introduce.

 

[IslandLizard]

You need to warm it up so the yeast can finish it faster, as well as clean up some byproducts. You can go as high as 78 on that yeast for "end stage/second stage" fermentation. A warmer room would be good and/or an aquarium heater in your swamp cooler with a large box or sleeping bag over the whole contraption to keep the heat in.

Some hops are more prone to grassy-ness, but I wouldn't worry about it. 14 days or even longer is very acceptable.
Some English ales are dryhopped in the cask, and not stored very cold. They can age for months that way.

 

[stewart194]

Warming it up will help it finish. Did you use a starter? That may have been the reason for a slower ferment.

As far as the grassy taste, I've never had the issue, even at over 14 days dry hopping. Maybe I can't detect it, but either way I would RDWHAHB.


Roed Haus Brewery

Thanks for the reply! Yes I did use a 1500ml starter for each carboy. This yeast is a beast and it always takes off like a rocket. It was bubbling twice per second for the first 3 days...even at 63 degrees.

Glad to know you've gone 14 days without problems.

 

[stewart194]

I dry hop 14 days regularly, and have never had grassy flavors. Maybe my taste threshold is too high to taste that. .... I'm happy with that, since the longer you dry hop (to about 14 days), the more hop flavors you extract.

Thanks! Great to know.

 

[stewart194]

The problem with dry hopping before fermentation has finished is the co2 will push out some of the aroma you are trying to introduce.

Thanks for the reply. This is a Modus Hoperandi clone, and the guys from Ska said they ferment for a week and then dry hop for 5 days. They said that they add the hops when fermentation is almost complete, but not quite yet done. I think they said it does something with the yeast, but I can't remember.

Some guys from the Brewing Network mentioned doing the same thing. But what you are saying makes sense also. I'll have to look into this some more. Also, Jamil rarely ever transfers to a secondary. Once I heard that about a year ago I stopped doing secondaries and have had great results doing that. But I remember him saying that if he's doing a big hoppy beer like Pliny, he will transfer to a secondary and then dry hop it. I might have to try that sometime and test both methods for myself.

 

[stewart194]

You need to warm it up so the yeast can finish it faster, as well as clean up some byproducts. You can go as high as 78 on that yeast for "end stage/second stage" fermentation. A warmer room would be good and/or an aquarium heater in your swamp cooler with a large box or sleeping bag over the whole contraption to keep the heat in.

Some hops are more prone to grassy-ness, but I wouldn't worry about it. 14 days or even longer is very acceptable.
Some English ales are dryhopped in the cask, and not stored very cold. They can age for months that way.

Thanks! I will look into the aquarium heater! Would throwing a box or sleeping bag over the entire thing cause a fire hazard though? What I really need to do is build a real temp controlled fermentation chamber. But I just don't have the space in my garage for one right now.