BrewOnBoard
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2008
- Messages
- 204
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I read in a recent thread a great explanation of what the proper use of a secondary fermenter is, and how people misuse the concept. Sorry I can't remember the poster to give him credit, but it was awesome. Armed with that knowledge I now know that that many brewers do not really secondary, but rather age their beer after it's completed fermentation, in a "secondary" fermenter.
For my purposes I never really intended to secondary in the real sense of the word, because beer clarity is low on my list of importance. I do however, want to be able to make the occasional really big beer and for that I may need a "secondary" container.... or not?
My thought is this: To make a really big winter beer it needs lots of time to improve, mellow, and do flavor tango. I know there are some that are in favor of leaving beer on the yeast cake, but I doubt that there are too many that would suggest leaving it there for 2 or 3 months like you might need for an awesome big winter beer. I also don't want to tie up my only fermenter for that long, so I was considering getting a "secondary" contaner for fermenting big beers in.
Now my question. Since space is a big issue for me, do I really need a "secondary" to mellow my big beers in or can I get just as good of results with bottle conditioning the beers for many months?
Bottles may indeed take up more space than a secondary, so either way it's going to take up space, but bottles are more versatile. On the other hand if the magic process of beer improvement works better in a large container where the yeast can "party together" then perhaps that is the way to go.
What say you?
BrewOnBoard
For my purposes I never really intended to secondary in the real sense of the word, because beer clarity is low on my list of importance. I do however, want to be able to make the occasional really big beer and for that I may need a "secondary" container.... or not?
My thought is this: To make a really big winter beer it needs lots of time to improve, mellow, and do flavor tango. I know there are some that are in favor of leaving beer on the yeast cake, but I doubt that there are too many that would suggest leaving it there for 2 or 3 months like you might need for an awesome big winter beer. I also don't want to tie up my only fermenter for that long, so I was considering getting a "secondary" contaner for fermenting big beers in.
Now my question. Since space is a big issue for me, do I really need a "secondary" to mellow my big beers in or can I get just as good of results with bottle conditioning the beers for many months?
Bottles may indeed take up more space than a secondary, so either way it's going to take up space, but bottles are more versatile. On the other hand if the magic process of beer improvement works better in a large container where the yeast can "party together" then perhaps that is the way to go.
What say you?
BrewOnBoard