My first stout- should I do a secondary?

HoosierDaddy · Apr 27, 2008

I'm making my first stout and am wondering if I need to rack it to a secondary or just leave it in the primary and then bottle when ready? I've only made ales up to this point so am not sure if stouts or porters benefit from racking to a secondary.

ChrisKennedy · Apr 27, 2008

Regardless of historical differences in terminology, stouts and porters are considered ales, and are treated as such throughout all parts of the process.

kaptain_karma · Apr 27, 2008

Clarity isn't really an issue in stouts, so I would just leave it in primary until you are ready to bottle. If you're goinog to age the stout a longer than a month in the fermenter, you might want to rack it to secondary to get it off the trub.

homebrewer_99 · Apr 27, 2008

True, clarity is not an issue for a brew you can't see through, but another reason for a secondary other than to allow time for it to clear is to allow the flavors to meld and some aging to take place.

If you do a secondary less yeast will make it to the bottle.

quickerNu · Apr 27, 2008

I like to age my stouts, and don't like to leave beer on a yeast cake for more than a few weeks. So I rack to secondary after 2 weeks. I like to age stouts at least a month before I bottle.

HoosierDaddy · Apr 27, 2008

Thanks guys. I'll rack it to a secondary for sure!

conpewter · Apr 28, 2008

I've been thinking of going back to using a secondary, I found that it took several pints from my last keg before I was getting beer without crap floating around in it. I figure I'll secondary even my stouts to have them go in the keg clearer/cleaner so I don't have that issue... or cut 1/4" off the dip tube, dunno.

My first stout- should I do a secondary?

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

HoosierDaddy

Well-Known Member

ChrisKennedy

Well-Known Member

kaptain_karma

Well-Known Member

homebrewer_99

Well-Known Member

quickerNu

Supporting Member

HoosierDaddy

Well-Known Member

conpewter

Well-Known Member

Similar threads

Latest posts

My first stout- should I do a secondary?

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Supporting Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Similar threads

Join the conversation!

Join today and get all the highlights of this community direct to your inbox. It's FREE!