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For my second brewing attempt, I'm doing a Pale Ale, with this 20L Fresh Wort Kit and US-05 yeast.

I put it in the fermenter 7 days ago, and it has remained fairly stable at 19° Celsius (66°F).

Today I plan on dry hopping with 30g Galaxy Hops Pellets.

I would just like to confirm all that is remaining to do:

  • Check the specific gravity each day for the next 2 or 3 days
  • Take the hops out and bottle once it is stable
  • Keep bottles at 19 degrees for minimum 3-4 weeks before tasting

Just want to make sure I'm doing this right!

Thanks in advance for any suggestions

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You don't have to wait that long before tasting, I typically crack open one of my brews after only a week. They're carbed enough to enjoy, and it's fun to taste the way they change as they age. –  TMN Jun 3 '13 at 15:52
+1 For a question with three answers surely deserves an up vote. –  iWeasel Jun 6 '13 at 12:42

3 Answers 3

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Chances are, after 7 days, you're likely done fermenting, but I would check to make sure you hit your final gravity range before considering doing any dry hopping. You don't want to dry hop during an active fermentation as a lot of the potential aroma you would otherwise get drops out due to the yeast actively working to ferment the wort.

What I'll typically do when dry hopping, especially if it's a hop combination I enjoy a lot of, I'll double up on my dry-hopping schedule. I'll get twice the amount of hops, split them in half, then dry hop the first batch for seven days. After seven days, I'll take out the hops, and put the second half in for another 7 days. After that, rack it off into bottles or kegs. This may not be ideal for all use cases, but I love an intense hop aroma, and cycling through two dry hop rotations really does amplify the aroma.

As it's been said above, 2-3 days is too short, and 14+ days with the same hops is too much.

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With dry hopping, I'd recommend leaving them for at least a week and possibly two. There's no real rush to bottle, and I usually leave the brew in primary for up to three weeks with no problems. Everything else sounds fine.

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I agree, you probably won't get much from just 2-3 days of dry hopping, but be aware there is such a thing as too much dry hopping. My "Goldilocks zone" is usually around 10 days. Somewhere around/after 14 days, things start getting grassy/vegetal. –  ASTX813 May 28 '13 at 14:41
Also agree; don't go over two weeks. –  Joe M May 28 '13 at 15:05

It really depends on what flavor profile you are going for. I like to dry hop for 3-5 days. IMO You really do pick up a lot of flavors from the hops in that time frame. I typically don't want very intense aroma's however so if you are looking for that intense hoppyness you should go at least a week.

Leave the hops in the fermenter too long and you will most likely end up with a vegetal character present in your beers.

Experiment and find your sweet spot.

With dry hopping (depending on your method) you don't necessarily have to "take the hops out." I dry hop with hops directly in the liquid with no bag or anything. I let everything settle and then I rack. Some light shaking each day will help the hops settle to the bottom and let you transfer like normal

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