Schedule for IPAs

My usual schedule:
3 weeks primary
3 weeks keg...which is your secondary
dryhop in keg after 3 week primary, after 1 week in keg, move to refer.

 

My last DIPA: One week to 10 days in primary before 1st dry hop. Another week or so days before 2nd dry hop. Keg after three to four more days with another dry hop in the keg. Drink in 7-14 days.

For IPAs i normally dryhop in primary after 7-10 days, skip the 2nd dry hop, but still add hops to keg after 7-14 days after the dry hop. I will drink in 7-14 days after that.

Never use a secondary.

 

I have two kegs of an IPA (well, an APA that I overshot on, OG 1.061...it was a pretty hoppy APA, so I'm just calling it an IPA) that I'll be serving at a party on Saturday. I brewed it one month ago. 20 days in primary, kegged 10 days ago with dry-hops and put on gas/chilled immediately (dry-hopped cold because I needed to turn it around and didn't brew early enough to dry hop warm, crash, and then carbonate with set-and-forget method). I pulled about a half a glass this afternoon, and it's just starting to get good. Carbonation getting to where it needs to be, flavors coming together, and definitely ready to serve this weekend. One keg had a white oak spiral in it for 8 days after I kegged, pulled the spiral a couple of days ago, and that batch is pretty excellent right now. The dry-hops are definitely muted, so I'm going to toss a bag with another ounce into each keg tomorrow evening...kegs will warm up for about 24 hours while I'm driving out of state to the party and getting them set up, so hopefully the aroma will pop a bit more.

I probably would have let it spend another few days in primary and another few days dry-hopping at ferm temps had I brewed it early enough for this party. Or I could have let it go and then done the 30psi/shake force carb method, but I fucked that up last time and overcarbed my beer. So I opted for a week less in the 60s and a few days longer just sitting at the proper psi.

TL;DR
Normally:
20 days give or take a few in primary
4-5 days dry-hopping at ferm temps in the keg (no secondary)
Crash, gas on for set and forget, leave the hops in the keg
Start sampling in 5-6 days and start drinking with vigor once it's getting good

In a rush:
20 days give or take a few in primary
Get it ready sooner by dry-hopping cold while it's carbing up

 

I believe Vikeman has a little information on the matter.

 

For me,

16-21 days in the primary (including stage 1 dryhop)
7-10 days in the secondary (including stage 2 dryhop, with cold crash & gelatin on the tail end)
17-20 days in the bottle for carbing
4-7 days in the refrigerator to let everything settle

 

Lower Gravity = fewer days ferementation?
(assuming enough yeast, proper temp etc.)

 

Quite often, yes.

 

Yeah, trub will accumulate in the keg, but it largely gets sucked out in the first pint. After that, nice and clear. I guess I see it as trading a yeasty pint for the hassle of moving a fermenter from one location to another an extra time. I've also been using wy-1968 in a lot of brews lately, and it floccs like crazy so that I can rack pretty clearly into the keg to begin with.

 

If not on a tight schedule, I like cold crashing then fining in primary (PVPP and/or Biofine), then racking to a keg in a day or two. The beer is crystal clear going into the keg, and no crap at the bottom. Lately, since crunched for time, I'll cold crash in the keg, fine in the keg and serve, usually losing about a pint to crap/trub (I've had one or two take about four to five pints to clear), but the rest of the keg is clear.

 

Pretty variable person to person (Palette and systems). I found after 2+ months I start to pick up some grassiness, but pretty minimal. For dry hopping in the keg with whole hops, the flavor and aroma doesn't seem to hit its stride until at least 2 weeks in the keg (@ 38 F).

 

I've had good results with the following schedule for hop forward ipa's:
primary 17 days total
add 1st dry hopping to primary on day 4
add 2nd dry hopping to primary on day 9
cold crash primary on day 14
keg and carbonate on day 17
it starts tasting perfect somewhere btw day 24 and 31

 

You can lose some to the yeast cell membranes if you dont wait for the beer to clear. If you dry hop before fermentation is complete you can also lose some of the hop aromatics, but with the caveat that the yeast may biotransform some of the hop compounds in a way that creates less volatile aromatics and potentially more/unique hop flavors. Most breweries that add dry hops at the tail end of primary fermentation do a second dry hop after fermentation is complete, and once the beer has been cleared (cold crashing, fining, etc.).

 

Usually a week or less in the primary then right to the keg +/- keg hops.
Like JebediahScooter I use 1968 most times so it is finished and pretty clear by then.

 

Thats quick. I was thinking 14 days. 7 days then dryhop 7 then bottle.
Using 1056

 

Using 1056 you are probably right.
edit: I dont use 1056 but I have heard it floccs much slower.