[beerstache]

Hello Forum,
I'm brewing my first Imperial IPA, O.G. of 1082 and have some questions about the fermentation and when to dry hop.
Today is the 7th day of ferm, and there is about one bubble every five minutes and the yeast appears to have settled.
I made an appropiate starter and the ferm. was really active.  I'm following the instructions from "Brewing Classic Styles" and have the temp. set at 70 degrees.

1. Is it time to rack to secondary and dry hop or should it sit longer on the yeast to insure primary ferm. is complete?

2. In the Jan/Feb. 2010 issue of Zymurgy, the recipe for Ben Miller's  Columbarillo IPA does'nt require racking to a secondary,
   so my question is:  Is racking to a secondary even necessary?

3.  When I do dry hop, should I add all the hops at once, or add half initially and the other half the last five days as instructed in the Pliny the Elder recipe in Zymurgy?  Is 7 to10 days of dry hopping enough?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.  I really love this forum and is certainly worth the cost of membership.
thanks
Tom Lieb
 

[riverrat]

The best way to determine if it is done fermenting is to check the gravity.  If it's down near where you think it should finish, go ahead and rack to secondary and dry hop.  7-10 days is good for dry hopping.  More than that and you start losing the aromas (and that's the point of dry hopping!).  I have never tried the multiple additions.  If you want to, try it.  If not, add them all right away.

[bspisak]

http://destroy.net/brewing/IIPA.pdf
http://beerdujour.com/Recipes/1Pliny%20the%20Elder%20clone%20PDF.pdf
http://books.google.com/books?id=yQKJyf5FLqQC&lpg=PP1&dq=extreme%20brewing&client=firefox-a&pg=PA22#v=onepage&q=cilruzo&f=false
http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/555

The Pliny recipe is always evolving. Vinnie has played with all kinds of dry hopping schedules. You may want to rack to a secondary to get the beer off the trub as you may have an extended conditioning time.  Personally, I wouldn't dry hop until after the beer has conditioned in the secondary for another couple of weeks, then dry hop.  This gives all those big hop compounds time to blend. It's like making a good soup.

[beerstache]

Thanks guys for responding.  I checked my Gravity and it is at 1.010, so I went ahead and racked to the secondary today and added 3/4 of the hops and will add the rest with five days left to go.  I read somewhere on this forum about aging/conditioning Imp. IPA's and most said you shouldnt age any longer then necessary or you will lose the hop taste.  I'll go 7 to 10 days dry hopping than bottle condition and taste test every few days to see how it's going.
Thanks
Tom