Danger in primary

Well its been 12 days since I pitched yeast and left beer to ferment. Bubbling slowed down drastically so I took a gravity reading for 2 days. It's reached FG. I'm brewing an American Hef so I was wondering if I should move to a secondary or just bottle? What are some pros and cons to each? Also if I decide to bottle how long can the beer stay in primary without a negative impact. Thanks, all feedback would be really appreciated!

It depends. Just because it hit the fg doesn't mean it's done. The yeast need to clean up or you'll have diceatyl. If it were me I'd rack to secondary to get it off the yeast cake and to allow all proteins to settle. Give it bout a week to make sure you have no butterscotch flavors then bottle. Many will disagree bout moving to a secondary but I always do.

tipharet said:

it depends. Just because it hit the fg doesn't mean it's done. The yeast need to clean up or you'll have diceatyl. If it were me i'd rack to secondary to get it off the yeast cake and to allow all proteins to settle. Give it bout a week to make sure you have no butterscotch flavors then bottle. Many will disagree bout moving to a secondary but i always do.

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+1

if you have a fridge that can accommodate your fermentor i suggest just throwing the primary in there for a day or 2 this will help settle out your yeast better than a secondary will. Some people like secondaries but I find they don't do much. But this being a hefe clarity isn't exactly a huge issue depending on how it looks you can probably just bottle it.

The beer can stay in the primary for a decent amount of time, ~3ish weeks though i wouldn't suggest more than 2, depending on the health of the yeast. The reason you get it off of the yeast is so the yeast doesn't start dying and making your beer taste like soy sauce in a nutshell.

There are a million threads on this issue on this web site and all over the internet. I am in the camp that believes for most beers, there is zero reason to rack to secondary unless you plan to bulk age it for months or are adding fruit or something like that. Leaving it in primary for a few weeks or even a month or two is not going to harm your beer in any way and it will clear just as much during the extra time in the primary as it would in secondary. The strains of yeast used in homebrewing today do not die and produce off-flavors (via autolysis) in a few weeks in a 5, 10, or 15 gallon batch. Personally, I would leave it for another week to let the yeast clean up and then bottle or keg. Others will disagree, so you just need to make up your own mind and do what works for you.

DirtyOldDuck said:

There are a million threads on this issue on this web site and all over the internet.

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Really good info, gave me some things to consider. Thanks! I'm starting to realize that this is more than one way to do things when it comes to home brewing. Gotta find your own style!