Dry Hopping Related Question

[Zainyolprospector]

I am making an ipa with mostly citra and Amarillo. I let the primary go for one week and then transferred it to the secondary. I used Safeale-04 and it was extremely active within the first 24 hours but then sputtered out within 4 days. I figured it must have done the job because I had heard it was a very fast yeast.

So I transferred to secondary after one week. After 3 days it had settled out and wasn't fermented much at all. I added 4 ounces of dry hops right into the wort with no bag and gave it a swirl. Within a couple days, the brew is back to a steady bubble. It is know going on a week of secondary and its going strong. The brew is continuously swirly with sediments sinking and rising constantly. I'm worried it won't settle out in time. (I read that you shouldn't leave dry hops in for more than 5 days.) and I need to bottle some time this weekend if I'm to stay on schedule.

I though this was strange though, considering that I heard that dry hopping usually stops the yeast from fermenting further.

Can anybody explain why my yeast has started up so vigorously again? Thanks

 

[benco]

Did you take a hydrometer reading? When you swirled it, you got the yeast going again. As far as leaving the hops longer than 5 days I think is fine. If its settled take a reading to see your fg. My father in law moved a carboy once and it started fermenting again. I don't know what happened, but his turned out pretty much undrinkable.

 

[Yooper]

I though this was strange though, considering that I heard that dry hopping usually stops the yeast from fermenting further.

Hops wouldn't stop a fermentation. If you heard that somewhere, you heard wrong sorry to say!

If it was done, you could have released some "nucleation points", by adding something to a carboy full of beer with c02 in it that would cause a ton of bubbling. However, it should have stopped within a few hours if that was the cause of the bubbling.

S04 settles out well, so when it's finished up the beer tends to be very clear. If you dryhopped once the beer was clear, it was probably done.

Of course, without any hydrometer readings we have no idea if your beer is done or not. If the hydrometer reading is the same over the course of at least three days, then it's safe to bottle. That's the only way to know for sure.

 

[Zainyolprospector]

When I switched to secondary my fg was 1.016 and my og was 1.05.

I calculated 44% ABV

I want to take another hydrometer reading but its so full of particulate that it would skew the reading wouldn't it?

 

[CHUM_]

I just went trough this.

Got 2 consecutive FG readings of 1.014....so I plopped in 4oz (Simcoe and Amarillo) pellets just to have the airlock get all going crazy again....

I was like "that's cool...just gotta be the beer playing with the hops" - and it was, the airlock stopped after a day or so.

BUT, the damn hops kept floating up and down....up and down....up and down - and would not stop. If I slightly touched the carboy it was like mini eruption of hops blowing out of the trub..

So after 7 days it was time (actually my only opportunity) to bottle, but all those hops were being rambunctious - urgh.

I did not want all that in my beer so I went to the store and picked up some knee high pantyhose. Sanitized those, along with my siphon/racking stuff and attached to end of hose with sanitized rubber band.

Racked off the carboy into bottling bucket keeping the hose under the beer and low-and-behold - the dang pantyhose caught A LOT of those acrobatic hops.

In a couple week I get to see how my IPA turned out

 

[jonnyp1980]

Pellets in my experiencing with dry hopping don't settle for me.I had to cold crash them or put them in a bag. I only use whole leave now.

 

[Zainyolprospector]

Thank you very much for the help!! Ill make sure to filter with some panty hose or cheese cloth. And probly try leaves next time

 

[jonnyp1980]

Remember to boil the bag in some water before you put it in your fermenter. Put a stainless steel ball in the bag to sink it. Good luck.

 

[unionrdr]

With an OG of 1.05X,I can get that down to 1.010 fairly regularly. And in my experiences,when all the mad bubbling slows down or stops,it only means initial fermentation is done. It'll then slowly,uneventfully creep down to a stable FG from there. I prefer to let the beer settle out clear or slightly misty before dry hopping,which you seem to have done.
But I keep thinking it was US-04 that folks said can flocculate at the drop of a hat. A 1.016 FG seems to bare that out.