Newbie question on recipe format

[winchside]

Hi all - I have been brewing for ages using a Grainfather, and have used a load of different recipes, but have a question about a recipe used here and would appreciate some clarification.

I am doing a White IPA and it's happily glopping away in the primary, but I have a couple of questions about the additions.  The recipe says :

2.00 oz   Cascade [5.5%] - Dry Hop 7 days   
1.50 oz   Centennial [10.0%] - Dry Hop 7 days   
1.50 oz   Citra [12.0%] - Dry Hop 7 days   

It says at 7 days - there seems to be a million opinions on when to transfer to the secondary, but I think it may be before 7 days for mine.  My thought was to rack to the secondary and then dry hop?  or would it be better to dry hop in the primary and then rack it off after a few days?

for additives I have

125.00 g   Lemongrass (Fresh, Thinly Sliced) (Secondary 7 days)   
1.00 g   Sage (dried) (Secondary 7 days)   

presumably this just means I leave the additives in for 7 days then remove?  Would it be easier if I just add the dry hops and the additives to the secondary in a bag, and then whip them out after 7 days?  I want to make sure I get the best of the flavours but want to avoid leaving stuff in too long/not long enough

I am guessing that everyone is going to say something different, but I would appreciate your input :-)

thanks!

[BOB357]

First, why are you transferring to secondary? Unless you're adding fruit or bulk aging there's really no reason to. It is just another opportunity to pick up contamination. As for the 7 days, generally that would mean the last 7 days before packaging. Some may use different methods but, either way, it means 7 days of contact with the beer.

[winchside]

Because using a secondary is what the recipe suggests...!  I will use a mesh bag and add the hops etc, and leave them in for 7 days.

thanks

[BOB357]

A lot of recipes call for secondary, but that doesn't mean it's a wise choice. If you search almost any home brewing forum you'll find that few use secondary anymore. Extra chance for contamination and introducing unwanted oxygen, plus extra work. I actually listened to a podcast from a fair sized brewing supply company and the person who develops their recipes stated that he automatically adds the secondary step to all of the recipes, but never uses secondary himself, even when developing the recipes.


With highly flocculent yeasts, if you move to secondary too soon, as some recipes suggest, you can leave too much yeast behind which can cause a stalled fermentation or extremely long times needed to carbonate if bottle conditioning. Lots of reasons not to secondary and only a couple reasons to use it. If it works for you go with it, but most consider it unnecessary.