So recently I brewed the Kern River Brewing "Citra" double IPA clone from The Jamil Show CYBI on The Brewing Network. Im about 9 days in and Im pretty close to the numbers I should be hitting so far. I had an OG of 1.071 and today Im @ 1.012 ... Goal was 1.010, but I won't lose any sleep over that. So I think it's about time to start dry hopping.
Kern River dry hops this beer at fermentation temp, which is 68F
Here is my question:
Since I am fermenting in a 6.5gal carboy, I am going to transfer to a smaller 5gal carboy for dry hopping. My assumption here is that the smaller carboy will help reduce head space, thus less oxidation. Anyway... The dry-hopping schedule for this beer is 4 separate dry-hop additions over a total of 12 days. One new addition (no, not like Bobby Brown. Thats "Edition" with an E.) every 3 days. Since Im in a carboy, and really would NOT like to rack into a new vessel every 3 days (for multiple reasons), do you think i will be ok just adding the hops to that same carboy each time? That means the first dry hops added will be in contact with the beer for 12 days. Im just hoping that at 68F, 12 days wont be too long and start pulling out harsh, green flavors from the hops. What do you guys think???
PS - Ive heard people mention purging the Oxygen out of secondary fermentation carboys using CO2. This may sound dumb to ask... but how exactly is this usually done?
Is using a keg for secondary overall a better idea?