UPDATE: American IPA (HB#3) is now dry hopping in secondary

Hop layer now covering the wort

After the first day of riding at Keystone this year, I came home today and racked the American IPA to a secondary fermenter. Secondary is only really necessary for adding fruits, hops and/or other adjuncts to the fermenter or if you want to improve the clarity of the beer. In the case of the American IPA, I am racking to secondary in order to dry hop for two weeks. Dry hopping is simply the process of adding hops to the fermenting wort in order to create an intensely hoppy smell and maintain oils that are usually lost during the boil on brew day.

Wort being added to hops

I started the process by dumping 1 ounce of Centennial hops into an empty carboy. The wart was then siphoned out of the primary fermenter into the secondary fermenter. As the wort started filling the secondary, the hops became more and more saturated and eventually turned into something that resembles green pond scum (only not as gross). For the next two weeks I will agitate the secondary fermenter once a day to try and get the hops to sink from the top of the wort. However, I have to somehow agitate without aerating the water even the slightest bit in order to not effect the yeast's process.

If you have read the brew day post of Homebrew #3: American IPA, than you are aware of the the boil-overs and subsequent low gravity reading (the target gravity was 1.064 and I got a 1.060). I took a sample before transferring the wort into the secondary and the gravity was at 1.014 (it is supposed to be within 2-8 points of the target final gravity), which just so happens to be the target final gravity. Obviously my numbers were off to start with, so all the measurements will be a little skewed.  On an upside, I tried a little bit of the sample and am extremely happy with how the flavors are developing. The sample was super bitter and hoppy before being dry hopped, so the additional hops in the fermenter should push the hoppy aromas over the top. It is going to be tough to wait on this one.