Benefits of longer primary

I found out tonight what people have been saying about longer primary time. I bottled a 1.090 IIPA tonight that I had in primary 4 weeks and dry hopped for 10 days. It is clear as water and the taste is awesome. I really think it is because of the increase in primary time. I was racking to secondary after 7-10 days before. Really makes a difference. No doubt this is my best brew yet. Now to get the 2 oz of leaf hop out of my carboys.

I have been seriously considering trying this for my next pale ale. I too was brought up on the racking school of thought.

I'm wondering what other folks have to say about this? I always thought without racking you would get a more cloudy beer, and a LOT more yeast in the bottom of the bottle. This approach certainly saves time and effort and if the results are equal or better, then forget racking all together...

PROST!

There are some good threads on this subject that would be worth searching for. I would avoid the other one in this forum, trolls and regulars battling it out. Personally, I have started skipping the secondary and I tend to leave it on the cake 3 - 4 weeks... or until I get to it. I tend to think it improves the beer, but my palate is no scientist.

I don't bottle much any longer, but I just don't put my racking cane to the bottom of the carboy (I use the 6.5 or 7 gal carboys and 5.5 gallons of wort goes into them) so I can leave behind 2" of junk and beer on bottom when I fill a cornie keg.

My kegs get a 3+ week cold conditioning at 31F as well, and the beers that go through this are quite clear. I ended up with a f*(king clear hefeweizen that way as well, which was annoying, but...

I used to rack to a secondary until I couldn't get to a beer in primary for 5 weeks....the best beer ever made in my kitchen!
So now all primaries are at least 5 weeks long(except hefe's) then straight to keg for another week.

i usually let it sit on the cake 2 to 3 weeks. i did just bottle a irish red that sat 4 or 5 weeks. i think it depends on the size of the beer, like your IIPA was a big beer, and that gives the yest plenty of time to do their thing, where something like BM Cent. Blonde, may not gain much by sitting on the cake for 4 weeks?!?

humm.....I'm making an extremely hoppy ale right now. I'll still rack since it needs dry hopping. But I have some time before kegging, so I might give 4 weeks in primary a whirl. To get to some points that were raised in the previous "troll" thread.....I liken brewing to cooking. There is not just one "right" way.....just as whatever methods you use that makes great beer should never be considered "wrong". Hopefully everyone here views comments as suggestions and opinions: nothing is ever set in stone. Look at cooking techniques: there's always changing views, and old techniques are usually resurrected.

I am kind of curious to see what clears better: letting the yeasties keep clearing, or flocculation in another container. I've primarily done 1-2-3 (though I'm kegging), and I notice that I immediately get sediment in my second stage. I would think that you get plenty of flocculation just letting the beer sit. To see how flavors might differ, I'm up for trying this myself

For me it was more of a "poor mans" d-rest. I don't have the equipment to slowly raise the temp of my primary, so I give those little buggers more time to clean up after themselves.

i used to rack at 10 days (give or take). for some reason i always rushed into the secondary. i brewed an oatmeal stout (OG .070) and i just transfered it over to the secondary a few days ago (total of 4+weeks in primary) and when i was AMAZED as to how good it tasted. not to mention how firm the yeast cake becomes making it near impossible to suck anything up. i am now a firm believer in leaving the beer on the yeast to clean up their leftovers!

i will now leave my beers in the primary for a min. of 3 weeks (pending OG) and transfer to the secondary for a couple days to no more than a week (only to allow for some more sediment to drop out) before bottling ( and hopefully kegging soon) i can not wait to see how much better my brew comes out!

Without beating a dead horse from another thread, Papazian and Palmer do lean towards yeast autolysis worries and quicker racking off the primary cake. If it's of any value, the current swinging dick in the homebrew community, Jamil, primaries 95% of his beers for 3-4 weeks. The 2008 homebrewer of the year in my club does 4-week primaries period. Gaining that title with 46 members present means winning at least 2 medals in every regional/national comp. While it's not an end all be all of beer quality, winning that much certainly doesn't indicate a poor process.

Make some apfelwein in that secondary carboy instead of racking to it

I'm not sure about the thread everyone keeps referring to.....
For those of you doing this with hoppy beers, I think I recently stumbled on something awesome! Add an ounce of cascade or centennial into your primary in that last week...then crash cool it (don't worry if you can't). Then rack to your keg or secondary, dry hopping in the usual fashion with around 2 ounces in a bag or herb ball.

I'm telling ya....I tasted this double dry-hopped version of Celebration ale, and it's gonna be a regular around my house. I've been experimenting by having a pint of it each day for the last week to see how the dry hopped flavor develops....Stone says 7-10 days is the peak. I think I agree. Try it out, I think you'll be surprised.

But what about the autolysis?!? I am worried about the autolysis. I just read four articles from the '80's that say it is a reality. JK ( )

I'm doing a lot of Belgians these days. My Dark Strong primaried for 6 weeks and secondaried for about the same.

My Golden has been in primary for 4 right now.