Does it matter how long i leave it the secondary if i dont care about clarity?

My buddy and i went splits on this batch and we really wanna drink it soon, so does it matter how long it stays in the secondary if we dont care about aesthetics. Or can i bottle in a couple days and wait for it to carbonate.

How long was your primary, and long long has it been in secondary?

There is more going on in the secondary than just getting the beer to clear. Conditioning is the final phase of fermentation. It is a function of the yeast still in suspension in the beer. Basically, the yeast are cleaning up after themselves, converting any remaining fermentable sugars, they also are dealing with some of the undesirable compounds they produce during the primary. I would give it at least 2 weeks in the secondary before bottling.

A lot of people don't secondary at all, but most of them make up for it by having an extended primary (2-3 weeks).

John

johnsma22 said:

A lot of people don't secondary at all, but most of them make up for it by having an extended primary (2-3 weeks).

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I'm glad you added that in there. Some people believe that taking the beer off the primary yeast cake too soon is actually detrimental to the final quality of the beer, and don't rack to secondary at all. In my last few brews I've been going 2 weeks in primary then into a bright tank for 1 week and then keg. I skipped the bright tank all-together on the last one and kegged it straight away. It's good a week after kegging. (It was a smallish standard bitter though and they mature rather quickly.)

CanadaBrews said:

My buddy and i went splits on this batch and we really wanna drink it soon, so does it matter how long it stays in the secondary if we dont care about aesthetics. Or can i bottle in a couple days and wait for it to carbonate.

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So why are you bothering with a secondary?

johnsma22 said:

A lot of people don't secondary at all, but most of them make up for it by having an extended primary (2-3 weeks).

John

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kind of where I was going with this too. If it was only a 1 week primary, then you would need to ride it out.

Chairman Cheyco said:

In my last few brews I've been going 2 weeks in primary then into a bright tank for 1 week and then keg.

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This is my technique, too. I find that it works well. Just my 2 cents.

monk

Ditto for me, at least for my "house beer." Two weeks primary then right to bottle. They are drinkable but far from mature a week later. They don't really completely hit their stride usually until I am down to three or four bottles.

Green beer is green beer. You can bottle out of the primary and drink it flat, but it will be green. It takes 6 weeks from pitch to pour, minimum. Nothing you do will cut the time down.