AABassMaster

Recipes 

I'm just looking for opinions from people here, and I know there are no absolutes in homebrewing. I'm a noob brewing my first beer, and I chose a stout. It has been 5 days fermenting strongly so far at 66F. How long should I wait to rack it? The instructions say 2 weeks, but they were general beer brewing instructions, not specifically for a stout.

I have been reading about yeast and I'm leaning towards letting the primary go on for up to 4 weeks, then racking it for 2 days in a secondary to settle it, then bottling for 2 weeks. I haven't taken a hydrometer reading since the beginning, but the fermentation has been going strong so I'm not too worried about that.

chode720

Recipes 

3-4 weeks primary, no secondary, then to bottling bucket. After 3-4 weeks, it will be settled out well and just siphon above the trub. A secondary does help clear, but if you do 3-4 weeks in a primary, you wont get much, if any, settling in a secondary after that.

Personally, i started out using secondaries, and now only use them to dry hop, add fruit, or if I need a primary free.

Its all a matter of preference, but I am a big believer now in leaving it in primary for 3-4 weeks. The yeast will do it work cleaning up all the byproducts, making a cleaner, better tasting brew

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Primary1: Pumpkin Ale
Primary2: Christmas Ale
Pimary3: Apfelwein
Secondary: Sour Brown
Drinking: Warrior Pale Ale, Wit, American Rye

AABassMaster

Recipes 

Thanks Chode. Exactly what I was looking for!

Chudz

Recipes 

Yah, I wouldn't worry about clarity if it's a stout. Pretty tough to see since it's so dark to begin with.

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Chudz,

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