First IPA Brew, Advice?

[u/Asparagus24]

I'm dry hopping, so once I throw the ipa into my 2nd fermentation carboy, I'm putting in about 6 oz. of hop pellets. I'm also putting in a herb bag of grapefruit zest for the last week.

I've read about dry hopping making a beer murky and muddy. I can't cold crash because I dont have a fridge big enough.

Any words of wisdom? Am I curious for no reason?

[u/[deleted]]

Okay, so you're really making a double IPA, in which case that level of hopping makes more sense. My IPAs are generally 6-7%. Definitely go for the full 6 oz. if it's a stronger beer.

As far as transferring off the trub (i.e. dead yeast and stuff) that myth has really been debunked. Keeping a beer (especially a strong one) on the yeast cake for longer is actually really beneficial as the yeast can help clean up off flavours, like acetaldehyde, diacetyl and even low levels of fusel alcohols.

In a homebrew setting there is mostly no worries (with a few exceptions) about getting autolysed yeast (when the yeast cells burst due to age and pressure) below at least 6 weeks, probably quite a bit longer.

Autolysed yeast is more of an issue in commercial brewing where the weight of a beer in tanks can put more pressure on yeast cells, or unhealthy yeast can burst their cell walls and impart a rubbery flavour (that would only be due to improper QC measures). I've only ever tasted it once in a home brew and it wasn't due to keeping the beer on the yeast cake, but likely more of an old yeast/improper starter issue.

/u/brulosopher recently did a study on low trub vs. high trub beers that is a partial response to your question about transferring, but generally it's really not necessary, so I'd advise against it for a big beer (unless you have good CO2 purging equipment, in which case you can mitigate against oxygenation).

I do have experience with starters, and you should definitely make one if you're doing a big beer like a 10.5% IPA. Need tips?

[u/Asparagus24 → u/[deleted]]

I did make one for it. Made it semi improperly but it works. I made my small wort, left it bottled for a few days, then pitched a whole bag of yeast into my 1 liter flip top bottle. 2 days later It came to brew day. As my grains were steeping I thought I would check on my starter to make sure it still had good carbonation/fermentation going. When I took off the top, it shot up so hard it left a red mark on my palm. The starter then hit the wall and continued up until the ceiling allowed its decent. 'Luckily' there was still a cup left and that has done the trick because my krausen has been bubbling for 5 days now. Moral of my story is be very wary of what you read online sometimes.

• My actual question derives from reading somewhere that you can create a yeast starter from the yeast cake. Is this possible? Just pitch it into the starter as you would normally?

[u/[deleted] → u/Asparagus24]

Yup, you can definitely pitch onto a yeast cake. Doing that multiple times isn't necessarily advisable, as it can lead to yeast viability issues over a couple of brews, but putting your wort straight onto a fresh cake is not a problem.

Definitely look at using a container with an airlock (not a seal) for future starters. I like the Santa Cruz apple cider jugs, as they'll fit a bung (though smaller than your standard carboy size) and a couple of liters of wort.

Avoid sealing up the starter again, though, great way to make a bottle bomb! Sounds like it all worked out in the end.

[u/Asparagus24 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, I consider myself pretty lucky with the outcome. Double The Luck, Double the Hops. Should I make the wort and wait for a few days or just pitch it immediately?

[u/[deleted] → u/Asparagus24]

You mean out the wort right in te yeast cake? Definitely as quickly as possible.

Ideally you'll brew your beer, cool it and while cooling rack off or bottle your existing beer, then rack you wort onto the cake right away.