Dry Hopping in Primary Fermentation

[markluckhardt]

I am brewing a pale ale and want to dry hop it into an IPA. I've never dry hopped before, but I have heard horror stories of doing it in secondary fermentation because the foam can clog the air lock and pop the top and/or the hops won't work as effectively in the smaller carboy.

I have my 5gal brew in a 6.5gal carboy now. I am wondering if anybody has ever dry hopped in the larger carboy after 2-3 weeks, and then transferred to a smaller 5gal for secondary fermentation after? Seems like this would solve the problem of foaming out of the smaller carboy and not risk clogging the airlock, but also get the benefit of secondary fermentation.

If I did do this, would there be a limit to how long I would want to keep it in the secondary fermenter with an already dry hopped brew?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[Yooper]

I am brewing a pale ale and want to dry hop it into an IPA. I've never dry hopped before, but I have heard horror stories of doing it in secondary fermentation because the foam can clog the air lock and pop the top and/or the hops won't work as effectively in the smaller carboy.

I have my 5gal brew in a 6.5gal carboy now. I am wondering if anybody has ever dry hopped in the larger carboy after 2-3 weeks, and then transferred to a smaller 5gal for secondary fermentation after? Seems like this would solve the problem of foaming out of the smaller carboy and not risk clogging the airlock, but also get the benefit of secondary fermentation.

If I did do this, would there be a limit to how long I would want to keep it in the secondary fermenter with an already dry hopped brew?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Since highly hopped beers should be fresh when drunk, you want to dryhop for the last 5-7 days or so before packaging.

You can certainly dryhop in the fermenter, but then I don't see the point of any "benefit of secondary fermentation". There is no benefit, and you can lose hops aroma and flavor quickly, as that is the first thing that fades.

You can ferment the beer until done, and clear, and then dryhop and then package. It's not necessary to put it through a secondary fermentation, since it would be done weeks before that time.

 

[flars]

Dry hopping should not cause any foaming. Usually when some one has a lid pop, it is during the initial active fermentation when the krausen carries the initial boil hops into the air lock.
I dry hop in the primary using pellets. I wait until fermentation is complete and the beer has begun to clear of yeast and CO2 has mostly off gassed. This is usually near three weeks in the primary. CO2 production during fermentation will scrub some of the dry hop aroma from the beer. Suspended yeast, as it drops into the trub layer, will also take out some of the hop oils with it.
The longest I have dry hopped is seven days.

 

[markluckhardt]

So I guess this begs the question of if I should either bother with secondary fermentation with an IPA?

 

[pcollins]

Why not? I do it all the time. Wait for fermentation to finish, transfer onto the dry hops, wait 5-7 days, package. I would add that after the dry hop period is done I will cold crash and gel before kegging. Helps to keep most hop particles out of the keg.

 

[day_trippr]

So I guess this begs the question of if I should either bother with secondary fermentation with an IPA?

If you can cold-crash your primary fermenter before racking to a bottling bucket or keg, I would always skip using a "secondary" fermenter, and avoid the potential opportunities for oxygenation and infection.

The only "secondary" I do is to rack big stouts onto cocoa nibs that would sink into the trub otherwise...

Cheers!