Dry hopping

[m_rawdin]

I'm sure this has probably been answered on here before but do people generally dry hop in secondary? If you only primary ferment for around 4 days before putting into secondary then it would make more sense to dry hop in secondary to ensure all the aroma and flavours are extracted from the hops as secondary will be longer wouldn't it?

[Rookie]

I'm sure this has probably been answered on here before but do people generally dry hop in secondary? If you only primary ferment for around 4 days before putting into secondary then it would make more sense to dry hop in secondary to ensure all the aroma and flavours are extracted from the hops as secondary will be longer wouldn't it?

It would, but four days in primary is way too short.

[Kev888]

There are those who like to dry hop a little before FG is reached, usually because they worry about oxygen being introduced by the hops and want the more vigorously active yeast to help. There are others who prefer to wait until FG has been reached, usually on the basis that CO2 being given off will carry away hop aroma. Then some prefer to wait further, until the yeast have settled out, as these can act as nuclei to capture desirable dry-hop compounds and drag them out of the beer when settling. Beyond that people dry-hop the keg or cask, and others use dry hops in a randall when dispensing.

So in a way take your pick. FWIW, personally I prefer to wait until at least FG - IMO it does seem to preserve more aroma, and I haven't had any oxidation issues from doing this (nor have I yet bought into the LODO approach to brewing). I've only tried it twice in the FV after clearing (as it ties up the FV for longer) so can't really offer a balanced picture on that, though there was no great improvement in those two instances. Dry hopping the keg is fine, especially if in a bag or cage so they can be removed after a while, but I find it more awkward to do - though it can be very useful indeed for topping up aroma that has faded in storage. The randall can also be useful for that, but i found the results very variable according to how long beer sat in it between pouring pints or dispensing sessions.

At ale-like fermentation temperatures a few days is usually enough to extract pretty much all that the dry hops will give. There was a time I left it for a week, but I now realise that was unnecessarily long. It will take much longer at cold temperatures and IMO give a lightly less rounded result but that latter is very marginal. The primary/secondary fermenter decision is (to me) less relevant than what stage the fermentation has reached. Given how short a time you leave it in primary I'd strongly suggest the secondary myself; I wouldn't rack to secondary as soon as you do, but even if I waited longer I'd probably still choose the secondary FV - its closer to being sealed up in keg or bottle and so less time for aroma to wander out of airlocks etc.

[m_rawdin]

I'm sure this has probably been answered on here before but do people generally dry hop in secondary? If you only primary ferment for around 4 days before putting into secondary then it would make more sense to dry hop in secondary to ensure all the aroma and flavours are extracted from the hops as secondary will be longer wouldn't it?

It would, but four days in primary is way too short.

Sorry yeah, I was misreading some of the recipes on Beersmith. I usually leave it in primary for up to 2 weeks depending on how long g fermentation takes. How long do people leave beer in secondary?