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When to dry hop barley wine?
I've got a batch of barley wine sitting in a glass carboy secondary. It's been there about 2 weeks now (after 1 week in primary). I'm wondering when to add the hops for dry hopping. Now or later? I was planning on bottling after about 4 or 5 weeks in the secondary.
Also, I have pellets for the dry hopping. Do I just throw them in? Or do I need to put them in a bag? I'm new to the dry hopping process.
I would do some now (2-3 weeks to go) and some a week before you plan to keg or bottle. I've found it's better to do several small additions than one big one (less grassy flavors). Throw them in without a hopsack. Pellets are nice to dry hop with because they sink nicely into the trub over time. I would also cold crash a few days before you transfer and it will help the beer clear.
The amount of time also depends on which hop you use. I've had some sit for quite a while with no problem and others after a week they began to taste off. What hop are you using?
Thanks for the advice. I'm using a mix of Centennial, Cascade and Chinook. I bought them 3 weeks ago (when I bought the other supplies) and they've been in the fridge since.
By the way, what do you mean by cold crash? That's new to me (a relative newbie to brewing).
greatkindness wrote:
By the way, what do you mean by cold crash? That's new to me (a relative newbie to brewing).
When fermentation is complete you chill your fermenter. It doesn't have to be freezing but the cooler the better. This causes most, but not all of the yeast to settle to the bottom and the beer will clear up. The same would happen if you keg or bottle and put in your fridge, but this way you have less sediment to deal with later. You can either put the fermenter in the fridge or use a "swamp cooler". A swamp cooler is a Rubbermaid tub filled half with cold water and then you rotate frozen water bottles from the freezer to the swamp cooler. One thing to watch is your airlock might create a vacuum and try to draw liquid back in to the fermenter. Some people use vodka in the airlock so it isn't a worry if a vacuum occurs.
Nice hop choice.
Did you check the gravity of your barleywine after one week? Just wondering how much fermentation there was after one week and I'd be curious to see how much better it does now without as much yeast present.
brewchez wrote:
Did you check the gravity of your barleywine after one week? Just wondering how much fermentation there was after one week and I'd be curious to see how much better it does now without as much yeast present.
+1 to this. I let my barleywines sit for 3-4 weeks.
After fermentation is complete I rack to a secondary for bulk aging for about 6 months. I'll then add my dry hops a couple of weeks before I plan on bottling.
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