Budzien

Recipes 

I'm currently making one gallon batches of mead. How long should I leave them in the primary before racking to the secondary?

Onihige

Recipes 

Depends on your yeast and fermentation for that batch. When there's no more airlock activity, sediment on the bottom, it's started to clear a little - rack it into secondary.

Budzien

Recipes 

Would a month or two be too long?

Onihige

Recipes 

I usually have a fast fermentation, but no - that should not be too long. Could you share your recipe and some more detail regarding the steps you took? That's always helpful.

Budzien

Recipes 

My first batch, brewed 6-3-2012. 3 lbs of choke cherry honey in 1 gallon jar. Added water. Shook the sh*t out of it for a good 5 minutes. Added D 47, nutrients and energizer. Hit 1.120 OG. It fermented like crazy and has been sitting in the primary since. Will be racking to the secondary this weekend.
Second batch, pretty much the same except used 3lbs of white clover honey and had 1.110 OG.
Next batch- looking for a good blueberry recipe that uses Oregon Blueberry in a can...

TheBrewingMedic

Recipes 

Use a hydrometer, that is the only definitive way to know if fermentation is done and it's ready to be racked into secondary.

Airlocks are just two way valves to let pressure out so your fermenter doesn't blow, it's not a reliable indicator of fermentation. It will give you an idea when to start taking gravity readings.

Once you get get a few readings that are the same with at least a few days inbetween them then you know fermentation is done and that'd be the appropriate time to transfer into secondary.

There are a lot of factors that can effect the speed of fermentation ie: temp control, aeration and nutrients schedule, pitch rate, etc. So it's tough to put an accurate time frame on it.

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Watch and Listen to your Mead....It will tell you when the next step is.