Time Crunch - What Would You Do?

General Homebrew Discussion
1

Hey guys - brewed 10gal of IPA for the festivities portion of my club’s upcoming competition, and unfortunately I’m down to the wire as far as my usual schedule goes, so I want to use some gelatin to clarify it before serving since I won’t have the extra week or two to let it naturally condition and floc out.  Fermentation is done or close to it (8 days in) so now i’m moving on…

But I have to dry hop it too, which leaves me with a dilemma.  Do I:

1). Chill it down in the fermentor, add gelatin, then rack to kegs, warm it back up and dryhop for 10-12 days, then rechill and carb.

OR

2). Dryhop in the primary, pull the dryhops, then chill it down, then add gelatin, rack to kegs, keep cold and carb?

The issues I am grappling with are in number 1 I have to chill, warm and then chill again.  In number 2, I have to add gelatin after dryhopping, which I have never done, but have read some mixed reviews on, mainly that the gelatin “steals” some of the effects of dryhopping.  Guess I could always add a little bit more to the keg if i wanted to offset that.

Thoughts?

2

Paul,

I would dry hop it for a few days shorter, crash cool in primary for 1-2 days then keg and carb and keep cold.

EDIT:  I’m not a fan of gelatin.  I think you can get there without using it and I would trade a little haze not to…

Dave

3

I am for option two. A week of dry hopping in primary then Keg. I only use Irish moss and my beer is clear. (Enough for me anyway!)

4

Serving day is April 20th.

I’m figuring if I start dryhopping this weekend, I could dryhop for 10 days, chill and condition for another 9 days or so all the while carbing and then jump it to clean kegs for serving just before bringing over (to avoid all the sediment.

I’ve used gelatin in the past with good results, just never with a dryhopped beer.

5

Sounds like a plan then!

6

If you are using pellets for dry hop I’d add them in the primary, let it settle, transfer to kegs, crash it, carbonate it, and gelatin in the keg for about 3 days.

If using leaf I would dry hop in the keg in a bag.

Edit: If you have pellets and leaf and want to get a little extra bang.  Some pellets in fermenter now and then some leaf in kegs in a few days.

7

Another vote for #2. I wouldn’t even wait until the weekend. At 8 days the yeast is probably at least starting to flocculate. A 7-day dry hop (no point going longer IMO, unless you’re “double-dosing”) puts you at day 15, then you could crash, keg on day 18, and have a full 14 days to carbonate/clarify in the kegs. I’ve never had good luck with gelatin, but if you can rack it to a second keg for serving you could fine in the first keg. With 14 days for cold conditioning, I would probably skip the finings.

8

So what is the final verdict Paul?  I’m interested in hearing how the gelatin works for you if you go that route.

Dave

9

Go with #2 and save 1/4 of the dry hops for the keg.  Crash cool a day or two before adding the gelatin to make sure the dry hops settle out.

10

thanks guys - I think i am going to go with #2.  I think I will have to use gelatin because I had to use US-05 (my 001 was in use on a brown ale and wasn’t done in time to repitch) - US05 is such a pain to floc for me for some reason - moreso than 001/1056.

We’ll see - maybe I’ll give it a week or so in keg and see how its doing to see if gelatin is necessary.

I’ll take a sample 4-5 days before serving and if it needs it, throw some more hops in the keg as per Narvin.

won’t need to worry about dryhops settling - am trying out this bad boy in the conical:

http://www.stainlessbrewing.com/Dry-Hopper_p_155.html

11

Sounds good.  Good luck Paul!

12

That’s a pretty awesome dry-hopper!

13

In Hieronymous’ new book on hops, he quotes the brewer from Lagunitas regarding how if you keep dry hops at ~65F for 3-4 days, they will mostly have done their thing.  So why not shorten your dryhop time at room temp, maybe adding a tad more hops to compensate for the short time, and then chill cold in the keg to help drop out hop debris and yeast.  I think maturation time in the keg is important.  At least my IPAs lose their rough edges if I get at least a couple weeks maturation time after dryhopping and chilling to 35F.

14

Sounds like a plan - will shorten the contact time a bit

15

so I went with gelatin after dryhopping and a few days prior to kegging.

I was very unhappy with this beer - I have a feeling i am not succeeding with the whirlpool technique for my flame out hops.  The past 3 IPAs I have done all come across ‘green’ in hop character.  not sure if it is from the whirlpool or my new dryhop basket or using pellet hops.

Next IPA i brew will be my tried and true Blatzhaus IPA which has served me well over the years, and I won’t do extended whirlpooling and see if it makes a difference.

Maybe putting a lid on during the whirlpool is problematic?

At least as a consolation, i won a bunch of medals at the comp  ;D

16

Congrats on the medals. I expect no less from ya man!

Otherwise the stepped up completion on this beer went well? What are symptoms of your perceived problem(s)? I’m assuming it’s hop character.

17

“Green” hop character is something I think sometimes has no remedy except the passage of time, depending on the hop varieties and amounts (hence the term “green” or “young”?).  I am drinking an IPA or probably actually an imperial IPA I made, that used an admittedly harsh-at-first hop - calypso, and the hop harshness is dissipating, and fruity flavor/aroma components associated with that hop (apple, pear) are only starting to show up after 2 months in the keg.  So maybe if time is an issue and you want a hoppy beer, compromise and make a pale ale.  I know someone is likely to disagree, and certainly I have made IPAs that drank well a week or two after kegging.  Another suggestion is for a soon-to-drink IPA or APA, minimize or omit a gypsum addition since it can add to the dry and harsh perception of hop bitterness in the beer.

Also, ditto - congrats on your medals!

18

thanks euge and brewsumore.

i can’t describe it any other way than as just green.  i don’t think it was bacterial as no one mentioned that and i would have picked that up.  one taster said ‘raw hop’.  many people actually liked it, but it just lacked the more pleasant aromas from the simcoe, amarillo and centennial and instead just smelled like plain green hop.

I think i need to brew not using an extended whirlpool and see what happens with that since i know how that should turn out.

19

Is it a grassiness, Paul?  I think I know what you’re talking about.  I have a black IPA on tap right now that is usually very dank and tasty, but this time I used a hop bag in the boil and it’s kind of grassy without those nice flavors and aromas from the simcoe.  It could be the hop screen thingy, for you. I’m starting to think that having the hops roam free in the boil really benefits that flavor/aroma quality we like so much.  I have another batch fermenting that I also used a hop bag on, so I’ll be able to confirm my theory with that batch, perhaps. I also did a hopstand on the black IPA for 30 minutes, which would be comparable to your whirlpool.
Congratulations on the medals.

20

i’ve been letting the hops roam free in the boil - not much luck with the spider when recirculating unfortuately.  I used a hop basket ( a different one: http://www.stainlessbrewing.com/Dry-Hopper_p_155.html) to dryhop in the fermentor.  that may be giving me problems.

i can’t imagine its from using pellets to dryhop rather than whole since thousands of brewers use pellets for this step.

am brewing a black ipa with a club member this weekend so we’ll see - hey want to send me your recipe?  i was thinking something along the lines of SSR and am still drawing up the recipe.