Robust porter aging

I have a robust porter fermenting like crazy right know. I'm planning to transfer to a secondary in 2-3 weeks and let it age a bit before going into bottles. How long would be a good time to let it sit for in the secondary?

I don't know that you need a secondary for this unless you're putting any additional ingredients in at secondary. Depending on your recipe/OG, I'd leave it anywhere from 3-6 weeks in primary then go to bottles. Less transfers, less potential problems IMO.

i've started using a 2 - 4 - 6 week protocol, pretty much by accident

2 primary
4 secondary
6 bottle

each stage is about twice as long as conventional wisdom

i have to say, it's working pretty well so far.

My first brew was a porter and was drinkable after being in bottles for 2 weeks but unbelievably better after 4. I have 24 bottles left and they will not be touched until they've been in bottles 6 weeks.

Lesson learned. Even though I was repeatedly told on this site to leave them at least 4 weeks, I drank half the batch in various states of mediocrity. If I want another porter during the next two weeks, I'll pick up a sixer of Edmund Fitz at the corner store.

EDIT: except #25, which is sitting in the fridge. That one might not survive tonight. It's already in the fridge...it's begging for it.

I just bottled a robust porter that had been in primary a little over six weeks. A previous batch of the same porter I kegged after 3 weeks and it was superb. There is really no reason to age a porter for any extended period unless it has a lot of roast barley in it like a stout. Personally, if I was going to bottle or keg before two months, I would not bother with a secondary.

"it's in the fridge, it's begging for it"

^^^ this

dadshomebrewing said:

"it's in the fridge, it's begging for it"

^^^ this

Click to expand...

And that's exactly why the final 24 aren't seeing the inside of the fridge for another week and a half. I don't want to listen to them begging for it, too.

Ok, thanks for the advice. This is my first dark beer, and for some reason I was under the impression that they needed to be aged longer. I've only done some IPAs and a few reds so far. I'll keep it a month in primary then throw it into a keg for a few weeks. Does this sound reasonable?