jimmythefoot
Well-Known Member
so i see a lot of people don't even use a secondary. so how long is to long in the primary? how often do you take gravity readings? based upon those readings do then decide to keg/bottle or let it sit longer?
It depends on how busy I am, what kind of beer it is and how badly I need the carboy/bucket.
For me, it is a minimum of 3 weeks in primary before bottling. I take a starting OG hydrometer reading and an FG reading as I am bottling. I don't do the "3 day rule" (same gravity for 3 days in a row) since I use a yeast starter, I can tell when my primary fermentation has finished and I am in no hurry to get the beer bottled. I will leave bigger beers in the primary for a longer time since I know they will need more time to become really good and lose the "green, new beer" taste. I try to plan the beers/meads so that I have a 2 - 3 week window in case I am not able to get to bottling it after 3 - 4 weeks...
I am not sure what the answer is to "how long is too long" in the primary. I had a stout and a porter that were in primary for over a year before I was able to bottle them. I used an additional yeast to bottle and both beers came out tasting great. I would try it with a pale ale if I was trying to save the beer but I wouldn't recommend it. I have heard of people leaving beers in primary for months with no adverse problems, your mileage may vary...
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