2nd brew gonna try some hops.....

[Dunno238]

Hi guys laid down my 2nd brew 4 days ago and i was planning on adding hops to it.

Brew is....

Coopers Pale Ale Tin
750g of Coopers Brew Enhancer #2 (had it left over)
500g of Light Dry Malt
Safale US-05 yeast
15g Pride of Ringwood hops (dry hopped)

Now after a bit of reading last week i had decided to throw the hop bag in just before end of fermentation.
My OG was 1042 and it is at 1018 at the moment do you think i should wait a little longer or should i go for it now?

Also i will be cold crashing this beer and want to know if i should leave the hops to do its thing for around a week then cold crash?
Or cold crash as soon as FG is reached?

Opinions?

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

It's a personal preference thing. I dry hop whilst cold crashing, so 24 hours after setting my fridge to it's lowest setting I throw them in. Others do it earlier, others do it later.

Best advice is to choose a method, taste beer, if happy stick with it, if not adjust as necessary

 

[Hoppers]

I add Amarillo, Galaxy and Nelson Savin Hops to a coopers pale....Yum

 

[Alex.Tas]

It's a personal preference thing. I dry hop whilst cold crashing, so 24 hours after setting my fridge to it's lowest setting I throw them in. Others do it earlier, others do it later.

Best advice is to choose a method, taste beer, if happy stick with it, if not adjust as necessary

Sound as a pound advice.
The second line especially. If you decide to stick with a certain method (hop date), you can compare hop varieties easier as you have controlled one of the variables. If you keep the hop variety constant and change the dry hop addition date, you can compare the effect on taste based on hopping date (because you controlled the hop variety variable). experimentation like this can help you dial in the flavour you are trying to achieve.

My preference is to dry hop on day 6 or so, once the initial activity has died down. This date changes depending on your brew. Some finish quickly, some later. I like to add the hops while primary fermentation is still going slightly, so that any O2 introduced when opening the lid of the FV is displaced by the CO2 generated through fermentation. It acts like a sort of barrier against infection. You may loose a little aroma this way, but i don't reckon it would be a great deal depending on how much hops you use, and you time it right.

I usually leave the beer in the FV for about 2 weeks before I drop the temp. allows the yeasties to clean up the mess they have made in your beer. so to answer your question, I leave it a week or so after FG is reached before i cold crash - this is my personal preference based on the above statement that leaving the beer at ferm temp for a week or so lets the yeast clean up some byproducts.

recipe looks good for a aussie style pale ale. If you like this one, maybe in 6 months time with a bit more experience under your belt, have a crack at reconditioning the yeast in the bottle of coopers green. There is plenty of info in the yeast section of this forum on how to do it.

 

[Dunno238]

Thanks for the info guys. I'll check the gravity tomorrow and I'll throw them in just before then end of ferment. Will leave for a while then cold crash.

Thanks again.

 

[Dunno238]

Well I chucked the hops in today the SG was 1.014 will leave it for a week now and then check SG before cold crashing.

Here is a pic.....



This is the first time I have used glad wrap instead of the lid so i can see whats going on and take pictures through the top loving it.....