fermentation time

[alex510]

just wondering /I am in day 2 of primary fermentation and bubbling away quite nicely.
My question is how long should I let the ferm go before adding the first round off pellet hops? What should be the total length of the ferm? before bottling

 

[VikeMan]

What do you mean by "first round" of hop pellets? Is this a "double dry hop" recipe? If so, what does the recipe have to say about it?

The earlier you dry hop (i.e. during active fermentation), the more "biotransformation" you're likely to get, given suitable hops. Is that a goal for this beer?

 

[Pkrd]

I usually wait until airlock activity has slowed but not stopped (usually around 4-6 days in). Hopefully the yeast is still active enough to consume any oxygen introduced during the dry hopping.

 

[VikeMan]

Hopefully the yeast is still active enough to consume any oxygen introduced during the dry hopping.

I would not count on that. The main thing yeast do with O2 is build sterols, which is not really the mode they're in after the lag phase. The best way to protect beer from oxygen is to keep oxygen out. This is why more and more commercial and home brewers are devising purgeable hop dropping devices for their fermenters, or at least gently flowing CO2 through the headspace while dry hopping, in an attempt to use that "wind" to keep O2 out.