I brewed a bitter last Saturday with an OG of 1.040. Today it is down to 1.012.
I have brewed this same beer before and it finished at 1.010.
I still need to dry hop it the recipe calls for 1 oz. for 7 days.
The beer is to be served on June 28th at the AHA conference.
I have a few options I am considering.
Dry hop it today, in primary let it sit for a week, keg and force carb.
Transfer to secondary, dry hop it, let it sit for a week, keg and force carb.
Keg it today let the last few points of attenuation naturally carb, the keg. Add dry hops 1 week before serving.
Same as #1 but let it ferment out and add priming sugar to carbonate.
Same as #2 but let it ferment out and add priming sugar to carbonate.
My homebrew club has a cask I could use, so I could use one of the above methods or some combination of all of the above, and serve “real ale”.
I am a little leary of this as I haven’t done it before, and I am not sure if the cask would have time to settle before serving and I don’t want to serve up a yeast mess.
Some variation of all of the above.
I do have a fridge I can put this in so cold crashing somewhere in the process is a possibility.
Why not let it sit another 2-3 days to finish off, dry hop for 7, crash for 3, then set on co2 for 2 weeks? That should give you a week to spare before the 28th? If you’re trying to recreate something you’ve done on the past for the AHA conference, I would try to stick to the same routine as you did before.
Let it sit for 2-4 days more in primary, transfer to keg, put a blanket of co2 on it (not carbonating). Dry hop in keg around middle of month for 3-5 days in keg. I do mine with a hop bag suspended in the keg using non-scented dental floss. Take dry hops out, carb as normal, serve beer.
That’s pretty much what my original plan was.
Makes sense sticking to the same routine I did before.
Sometimes I just get carried away thinking up different options.
But that’s why I come here for common sense advice.