Would it make a difference?

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CaliBuddha

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If instead of leaving in the primary fermentor for six days (instead of seven) and leaving it in the secondary for eight ( instead of seven)?
 
What kind of beer are you making? Many people on here (myself included) just skip the secondary all together unless there is drop hopping involved.
 
Oatmeal Stout. I was actually wanting to do it for carbonation.

I left my oatmeal stout in the primary for about 14 days, using S04 yeast, and it was nice and clear and ready for packaging then.

I'm not sure what you're saying here, about wanting to do it for carbontion, sorry!
 
If instead of leaving in the primary fermentor for six days (instead of seven) and leaving it in the secondary for eight ( instead of seven)?

It will not matter for a day or two, or week or two. Your hydometer tests will tell you when you can move beer. Take a reading on two different days, when you have the same reading on two days it is ready to move.
 
And carbing the beer should be done at bottling... or kegging, depending on your setup.

I agree with the others here. You can move to secondary when the yeast is all done. Check your gravity readings to determine this.
 
racking does not affect carbonation at all. and shifting your racking by a day isn't going to change anything.
 
Days are not a factor. I don't move it until it reaches the projected FG...;)

Homebrewer_99 is right. I realized this after watching the "Fermenter" at St. Arnolds Brewery do his job. He keeps a clip-board by each fermentation tank and measures gravity and temperature every couple of days to start, then as fermentation nears target gravity, every day.

This reinforced to me that I should be doing something similar and it worked to my benefit. Last month I made an Oatmeal Stout and when I thought it should be done (7 days) and there was no more visible activity, I started taking gravity readings and found out it was not done. Normally, I would have racked it to secondary for clarifying and aging. ;)

The gravity was still around 20 (1.020). I had to drop several more points to hit the target gravity of 1.013. I agitated the yeast and added some "super-ferment" yeast nutrient. I eventually got to 1.014, but I would not have know this if I didn't follow the example I saw at St. Arnolds.

The objective is to make better beer! :mug:
 
Thanks for the advice.

Also, is it not wise to carbonate your beer in the second fermenter? I figured I could get it more evenly spread out that way and not have to worry as much about busting bottles if I get too much in one bottle.
 
Thanks for the advice.

Also, is it not wise to carbonate your beer in the second fermenter? I figured I could get it more evenly spread out that way and not have to worry as much about busting bottles if I get too much in one bottle.

Right. The secondary is a place for clearing and conditioning. You don't carbonate in there. You still use an airlock. I don't use a secondary at all, but some people do.

Carbonation occurs after that, when you get ready to bottle. You add some sugar ( a prescribed amount, so that you don't have bottle bombs) and your beer to the bottles.

Do you have a hydrometer? That's the only way to tell if the beer is done fermenting, and is ready to bottle.
 
I do but I forgot to use it after I brewed... But yea, I guess Ill just leave it for another few days and check the hydrometer and then check it each day after that and see whats up b/c the airlock hasnt done one damn bit of bubbling at all. I would love to know if its even doing anything, lol
 
Also, is it not wise to carbonate your beer in the second fermenter? I figured I could get it more evenly spread out that way and not have to worry as much about busting bottles if I get too much in one bottle.

As YooperBrew says, carbonating in the secondary is not a good idea unless you have the proper vessel for it. A glass carboy won't take much in the way of PSI to break. You can use a Soda Keg (Cornelius) or one of the new [drool] Blichmann Ferminators [/drool] which will allow you to carbonate in the secondary, just like the pros do.

Speaking of that, there are some bottles that I adore for reuse, the primary being the Erdinger 12oz bottles. They are very heavy glass and can take a lot of abuse.

Good Beer! :mug:
 
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