Advice you get from your LHBS may not always be the best advice!

I have been giving some great advice as well as terrible advice from my LHBS (Northern Brewer). I was talking to one of the managers and he was trying to tell me how I should not keep a beer in the primary for more than 1-2 weeks. If I learned anything from HBT, it is that leaving a beer in the primary for more than 3+ weeks is COMPLETELY fine, and many people have had great success with this method. This guy was convinced that leaving it longer could potentially ruin a beer... I've left a beer in the primary for 3+ weeks, dry hopped it, bottled it, and it is one of the best beers I've made. I also was given terrible advice about dry hopping an english india pale ale and over dry hopped it. It was my fault for following their advice but it was bad advice regardless. Long story short, take their advice with a grain of salt.

Take everyone's advice with a grain of salt. Including mine right now.

That's what I enjoy about this hobby! There are so many ways to go about brewing beer that there really is no right or wrong and as I always tell people, its what works best for you and your system. If it works well for you stick with it.

I've had the opportunity of speaking with many experienced brewers that produce award winning beers and not one of them goes about it in the same way. Some secondary, some don't. Some dry hop their iPAs and some load up on late additions, some use dry yeast others liquid, etc.

Listen to all you can and absorb the information out there and then apply what you learn to your set up, take notes and do what works best for you

yeah, they want to sell secondary carboys.

It is true, no temp control on the primary at 70ish degrees will cause byproducts after 3ish weeks. yeast will start imploding. or exploding or something like that.

Now if you drop the temp down very low after 2-3 weeks then the yeast will be less active and will live longer... much longer.

Now if you rack to secondary in a week..... Thats going to leave a lot of unwanted byproducts that the yeast would of eaten during the 1-2 more weeks of primary.

This is what I heard from interviews with craft brewers.

If I have learned anything about this hobby it is everyone has an opinion. Does it mean their opinion is right/wrong. Nope.

I work in a fly fishing shop. I am sure some people walk out of the shop thinking I am an idiot because I don't fish the way someone on the internet/other flyshop/friend/some random person on the stream told them works for them. I use the techniques that work for me. Actually I know this has happened because a guy hopped onto a website I frequent and complained about that kid at my shop does not know what he is talking about, I laughed.

I'm a rather new homebrewer and I've been spending a lot of time reading The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing. It constantly reminds the reader to do as you wish and trust your gut. Make beer the way you wish to because the fundamentals of brewing are easy but important; everything else is extra.

That being said, the first beer I brewed was a gallon of Chestnut Brown Ale from a kit by Brooklyn Brewing Company. It said to ferment for two weeks then bottle and age for two weeks before consuming. I was busy working long days at work, so my beer sat for 3 to 4 weeks in the fermenter before I bottled. I think the beer came out just fine.

Believe me its not just brew shops its everywhere! Im a jack of all trades master of none.....well when contractors or "employees "try and give advice...in a minute ya know they full of it!!!!! All i do is smile and walk away and say thanks. Misinformed people spread piss poor info like the plaque!

There's a lot of bad advice passed around about brewing period. There's a lot of dated advice and unquestioned "truth" passed around here, too.

always get a second opinion thats what I always do.

My LHBS is where I buy supplies and ingredients; HBT is where I get advice!

SurlyBrew said:

I have been giving some great advice as well as terrible advice from my LHBS (Northern Brewer). I was talking to one of the managers and he was trying to tell me how I should not keep a beer in the primary for more than 1-2 weeks. If I learned anything from HBT, it is that leaving a beer in the primary for more than 3+ weeks is COMPLETELY fine, and many people have had great success with this method. This guy was convinced that leaving it longer could potentially ruin a beer... I've left a beer in the primary for 3+ weeks, dry hopped it, bottled it, and it is one of the best beers I've made. I also was given terrible advice about dry hopping an english india pale ale and over dry hopped it. It was my fault for following their advice but it was bad advice regardless. Long story short, take their advice with a grain of salt.

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In all honesty, I've never been impressed with the advice offered by employees at either of the NB locations in the Cities, man. Cool stores for sure, but the employees have always struck me as more like those at a Starbuck's rather than a HBS. Combine that with the tiny store fronts and I have to say that NB isn't my first choice in town.
If you're lookin' for advice from a HBS employee that isn't going to lead you wrong, I'd say give Midwest Supplies a try. There's two guys there that'll give you solid advice. Jason (?) is a tall, skinny cat with long hair, he's worked in breweries and is always very helpful. I think he lives at the store, I've never not seen him there. There's also a dude there on weekends named Matt, taller, stocky, short salt and pepper hair. He knows his $h!t too.
There's also a small HBS in on Hwy 65 and 81st Spring Lake Park. Brew & Grow. It's back on the feeder road past Hope's Chinese Buffet. Good store, really nice employees. Kind of a mix of hard headed old schoolers and modern brewers. Decent prices, nice guys, usually good advice (but you should always take it with a grain of salt).


** I am in no way affiliated with any type of homebrew store. Just listing some of my local preferences. **

I can't argue with the convenience factor when northern Brewer is 3 blocks down the street from me. Never had an issue with midwest although I don't go there often. I will have to try brew and grow.

SurlyBrew said:

I can't argue with the convenience factor when northern Brewer is 3 blocks down the street from me. Never had an issue with midwest although I don't go there often. I will have to try brew and grow.

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Midwest's great, aside from the drive. Brew and Grow's a place I go for convenience more than anything, but it's probably as out of the way as Midwest for you.

I don't know that I disagree with the LHBS advice, actually. I mean, no real harm will come to a beer after an extended primary, but I often can tell the difference in a long primary vs a shorter primary due to the amount of yeast character imparted. The thing is, some people prefer that flavor. I do not. I read an experiment done by Basic Brewing Radio (didn't listen to the podcast) that had the same results- a percentage of brewers preferred the longer primary, and a percentage preferred the shorter primary.

Note- even the "shorter primary" was not short- it was like 10 days I believe! I rarely keep a beer in primary more than that, at least not on purpose. Normally 10 days is my time, give or take a few days.

I think that many homebrewing mantras have validity, so I would never dismiss someone else's experiences. I think the key is that the brewer is totally satisfied with their beer. If they are, then they should keep doing what they are doing.

I've had some absolutely terrible beer in competitions, and in beer exchanges here on the forum. TERRIBLE. But the brewers liked them just fine. I call that "UBS"- Ugly Baby Syndrome. You know, those parents that have really hideous babies, but think they are the most beautiful children ever? Well, sometimes the same is true of homebrew. The brewer loves the beer because they made it. But when it scores poorly in competition, they feel hurt and upset because they think it's great. I think if a brewer thinks their beer is awesome, then they should not worry what other people think and keep brewing exactly as they have been.

A few years ago, I did a beerswap with another guy on the forum. The beer was not very good, and in fact was pretty bad. I couldn't really get it down. He asked me what I thought. I simply said, "Well, I like the clarity alot. But it's got a very strong harsh astringency in the finish". And he said, "Oh, yeah. I know. but how did you like it?"

Anyway, I didn't mean to take this off topic! I just wanted to point out that different techniques work for different people. But in defense of the LHBS guys, if they told me to allow the beer to stay in primary for a month, I'd think they were nuts! Sure, people have done it. And the beer turned out. But it's not really "standard" advice. There are some issues that could arise, due to headspace and such. For a chronic bucket-opening, it could lead to some infection risks. They could say, "Well, 10-14 days in the fermenter is probably the path of least risk. But some people go longer, and some go shorter." And that wouldn't have been a very good answer, although it's true.

So sometimes I"m sure they have to give a condensed "best" answer.

Yoop, I think we both agree on the 'typical' time to keep a beer in the primary fermenter, but really, I like how you summed that all up. The OP didn't really get 'bad' advice, just generic advice. IMHO, the best advice when someone asks how long to "primary" a beer, it to tell them when their SG reads the same two or three days apart, they're safe to move to the next step, be it packaging, aging, etc. But that comes with the assumption that the brewer has some understanding of the basics and follows good practice as well as the likely explanation of said practice. Most retail employees don't go out that far to help... luckily at a lot of HBS's, there's heady guys and gals that seem to be more than wiling to.

Jason at Midwest is awesome. I usually try to take the time to schmooze with him when I'm in there picking up ingredients. It's good to walk in there and be greeted as a regular, even though I probably stop in once or twice a month.