conditioning in the secondary

Hey I've brewed the NB 115th Dream Hopburst IPA, fairly big beer, which calls for sitting in the secondary for 4-6 weeks.

I was reading the Joy of Homebrewing recently, and he references a couple times that there is no need to leave beer sitting.

So . . . what exactly is my beer doing right now, sitting in the secondary for 4+ weeks? Thanks.

peterhdk said:

So . . . what exactly is my beer doing right now, sitting in the secondary for 4+ weeks?

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It's probably sitting there losing it's hop aroma. I'd personally only secondary it long enough to dry hop. I'm not a big fan of leaving IPA's sitting around, even big ones, as long as I had a healthy fermentation and I'm sure they've reached final gravity for a few days. How long was it in the primary? OG and FG?

that's kind of what I was thinking -- that and oxidizing. Though I've got to assume that Northern Brewer lists that on the recipe for a reason; I guess to mellow it out/blend flavors . . . but can't I just do that in the bottles?

(numbers were 1084 and 1018)

Right, if you package after dry hopping you can always age it in bottles if it needs it, but it may be great young.

chickypad said:

It's probably sitting there losing it's hop aroma. I'd personally only secondary it long enough to dry hop. I'm not a big fan of leaving IPA's sitting around, even big ones, as long as I had a healthy fermentation and I'm sure they've reached final gravity for a few days. How long was it in the primary? OG and FG?

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agreed