Primary only proponents: high gravity beer conditioning question

Brewer's Friend 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

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

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
T

tincob

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2009
Messages
170
Reaction score
5
Location
Darien, CT
So like a lot of people, I only use a primary bucket (no secondary). I'm going to try cold crashing a UK red ale in the primary this week and I plan on dry hopping in the primary with my IIPA.

The question I have for you is what do you do for high gravity beers that call for long conditioning - like 2, 3, 6+ months? I'm talking about IIPAs, Wee-Heavys, Apfelwein, Holiday ales, etc.

I've heard that long term bulk conditioning has a lot of advantages over long term bottle conditioning as far as blending and smoothing out the flavors.

Do you keep them in your primary plastic bucket for that long? I know it's possible (there are plenty of people who've done it for even longer). The question is whether you actually condition them in your bucket for that long as your normal practice based on good results?

It seems like a glass carboy (as much as there are concerns about breakage) would be the perfect vehicle for long term bulk conditioning.

I'm trying to figure out what would be the best solution for high gravity beers...
 
I try and do as much as I can in the primary (like dry hopping), but for long term bulk aging, I use a secondary. My old ale was about 6 months in a glass carboy.
 
BioBeing said:
I try and do as much as I can in the primary (like dry hopping), but for long term bulk aging, I use a secondary. My old ale was about 6 months in a glass carboy.
Click to expand...

I do the same but I usually secondary in a keg as opposed to a carboy unless I'm dryhopping or putting in other adjuncts.

I primary for 1 month for all beers except low gravity session beers.
 
I don't think there's anyone out there advocating primary only for all situations. Bulk aging is one of those exceptions, a glass secondary or a keg is the way to go.
 
For bulk aging, just like lagering you you should rack it to secondary, after a month or two.....Once you've let the yeast do it's think in primary; i.e "clean up after itself," then you don't really need it to sit on the yeast cake any longer.
 
Even if you do not have a kegging setup, cornies are a great way to age beer. No light, no break, and compact. When you want to bottle, you can siphon it to a bucket.
 
I'm a primary only proponent, but for extended bulk aging for barleywines, lambics and the like, a secondary is obviously required. I've got a couple 3 gal Better Bottles for this duty.
 
so if you use a corny for secondary conditioning in these instances, do you just then carb and serve out of that same keg? Or do you syphon into a different corny when you're ready to start drinking? reason I ask is, wouldn't there be some sedimentation fallout from the long secondary? Even if the bulk of it occurred in the primary? Or is it so little that it doesn't matter?
 
bdaddy said:
so if you use a corny for secondary conditioning in these instances, do you just then carb and serve out of that same keg? Or do you syphon into a different corny when you're ready to start drinking? reason I ask is, wouldn't there be some sedimentation fallout from the long secondary? Even if the bulk of it occurred in the primary? Or is it so little that it doesn't matter?
Click to expand...

I carb and serve out of the keg I secondary in. There will be some sediment at the bottom of the keg but you'll get most of it out when you draw your first pint.
 
Thank you for all your responses.

The comments above helped to clear up a lot questions about primary fermentation. Hope it helped other beginners as well.

Now, what's a typical conditioning time for an IIPA (OG 1.070)? 4 weeks good enough, longer?
 
I do primary only, but would never age beer in the primary. I age in kegs all the time. You will have sediment. Just throw it in the kegerator and chill for a few days. The first pint you pull will be yeasty. After that, you should be fine.
 
david_42 said:
Even if you do not have a kegging setup, cornies are a great way to age beer. No light, no break, and compact. When you want to bottle, you can siphon it to a bucket.
Click to expand...

That sounds interesting since I'm still bottling. A used ball lock corny is not much more than a Better Bottle. However, do you need a CO2 tank to pressurize?

How would you seal the corny while it's bulk conditioning?

I'm very interested in the answer. This could be a great way to stealth (w.r.t. SWMBO) into a keezer set up...
 
FWIW, I recently did a Doppelbock (well it isn't really a doppelbock, but I won't go into that here....) but I left that in the primary for almost 3 months. I had a taste of it after about 3 weeks in the bottle and I was really happy with it.
 

Similar threads

Gadjobrinus
Current wisdom - just leave it in the primary bucket, rack into bottling bucket?
Replies
31
Views
1K
BrewnWKopperKat
BrewnWKopperKat
Ali01
Bottle conditioning a big beer?
Replies
4
Views
748
MaxStout
MaxStout
K
Question About Keg Secondary
Replies
9
Views
739
Broken Crow
Broken Crow
iandanielursino
De-carbonating for bottle conditioning
2
Replies
40
Views
2K
iandanielursino
iandanielursino
SipalayBrew
Coopers DIY Beer Stout: Need your help, guys!
Replies
7
Views
921
BreweyMcHops
B
BrewSwag 300

Latest posts

Back
Top