[flbrewer]

Following an extract kit recipe that calls for a secondary hop addition on day 10 for 4 days.

Secondly, they mention to transfer to secondary (which I'm not doing) for another 1-2 weeks followed by another hop addition 4 days before bottling.

My question is that I really don't want to wait 3 weeks to bottle. I'm going to start taking measurements shortly as the beer fermenting very quickly. Any thoughts on a faster secondary hop schedule?

[dmtaylor]

Just add all the dry hops at once for 4 days and call it done.  There's seriously no advantage to making it any more complicated than that.

[flbrewer]

If you're wrong, will you buy me another kit 

[dmtaylor]

No but I'll design you a recipe of whatever style you like. 

[Stevie]

I think staggered dry hop additions is a solid technique. Typically I add both to primary. I do it this way out of laziness. If I didn't hate cleaning so much, I would rack to a second fermenter for the second addition. I also tend to cut the time in about half, partially out of impatience, but also because I use pellets and find they do their thing fast enough.

[flbrewer]

Just noticed the instructions for this kit mention to add the secondary hops when "fermentation slows or ends". Which is it?

[Stevie]

Just noticed the instructions for this kit mention to add the secondary hops when "fermentation slows or ends". Which is it?

I add when fermentation is visibly done. I don't normally measure the gravity at this point. If I were to transfer, I'd be sure fermentation is finished by measuring.

[flbrewer]

OK, I believe gravity is almost nearing FG. I'm thinking about dumping the first round of dry hop additions today (day 7). Letting this sit for 4 days followed by the second dry hop addition for another 4 days.

Sound kosher?

[Stevie]

Maybe wait another few days. Day 7 is a bit early IMO. Another thing to consider is packaging timing. You want to make sure you will have time to package on the day you intend to. I always time my dry hops so I would package on a Saturday with Sunday being a backup if I get busy.

[a10t2]

Ideally, I would add dry hops at ~0.5°P above FG, so that there's still active yeast ready to scrub out the O2. Missing that window by a day means the beer's at FG, so I end up doing that more often than not.

[flbrewer]

Well I really have no clue what the FG should be. I just keep testing every few days. How would I know?

[morticaixavier]

Well I really have no clue what the FG should be. I just keep testing every few days. How would I know?

mostly it's just something you start to get a feel for. but you can take a small sample of your wort (< 1 liter) and pitch a lot of yeast into it, shake it every couple hours and keep it in the mid 70's and that will ferment out as far as it's possible for that yeast to ferment that wort in a couple days. you can then test the final gravity of that sample and you will have a good idea of the expected final gravity of the full batch. google 'Forced Ferment Test' or 'Fast Ferment Test' for more details

[a10t2]

Well I really have no clue what the FG should be. I just keep testing every few days. How would I know?

If it's a yeast strain you have some experience with, your estimate should be good enough for these purposes. Otherwise, just monitor gravity; it should be obvious when it's starting to level off. You pretty much have to check daily once it starts getting close, though.

[Joe Sr.]

Well I really have no clue what the FG should be. I just keep testing every few days. How would I know?

mostly it's just something you start to get a feel for.

This is true for final gravity, dry hopping, oaking, etc.

[flbrewer]

OK, well you can all be rest assured that the deed is done. The hop pellets are now happily swimming around in my (hopefully) delicious brew. Thanks again for the continued guidance here!