long primary less conditioning?

Ok I'll try to explain this as best I can so you don't get confused like my previous question.

I have brewed my second batch, pilsner black rock I think it's called, started the fermentation last night. I currently only have one bucket and one pressure barrel. And as my barrel has a brew conditioning I won't be able to move my second batch to the barrel for possibly a month. So my question is this..

Will doing a brew sitting in the primary bucket longer mean it will required less conditioning? As after the yeast has done it's thing, won't the beer start to clear and mature?

Hope this makes sense enough for you to answer me.

I do a 3 week long primary and I usually test a bottle a week after I bottle it to see how it came out and I haven't noticed many "green" flavors during those tests.

However, I did notice that the carbonation does take a good 3 weeks or so to become all it can be.

There are many different theories on this. Some people skip a secondary entirely and just use a primary. They say that leaving it on the yeast cake gives the yeast time to clean up after themselves. Some people here have left batches in the primaries for 2 months or more. So, yes, you are fine to leave it in your primary for a month. Some people say it tastes better after leaving it in the primary for a while. And we are all trying to help you, you could lose the attitude.

There was no attitude :/

Sorry for double post, not sure how to edit the post as I'm on phone.

Why is it called a yeast cake? Makes me want to eat it.
Thanks for your information.

Because it's a bunch of yeast caked together on the bottom of the primary. And you really don't want to eat it. Yeast has a laxative effect on people. And it really can't taste that good. That's why when you pour a bottle of home brew, you are supposed the leave the last little bit. Avoid getting the yeast in the glass.

Ok thanks.

Wtf? One of the greatest attributes I have seen on hbt is peoples' willingness to help complete strangers with an obsession we all love, or are learning to love. Don't be a dick. He had no attitude.

I think one of the things that people loose sight of is the fact that the beer is going to do it's thing regardless of what container it sits in (primary vs. secondary) Once the the yeast have done their thing and everything that is heavier than the specific gravity of the beer will begin to settle towards the bottom, this is the clarification phase. It doesn't matter what container it is sitting in, bucket, carboy, keg, it just doesn't matter.

The argument over racking the beer to another container is all based on "when does the yeast cake begin to "break down" or in other words give off flavors back into the beer.

I'm in the camp that it takes a very long time for this to occur (+2 months) mostly due to the fact that your beer now has a relatively high amount of alcohol, and very little O2, thus inhibiting any decomposition to the trub.

Will doing a brew sitting in the primary bucket longer mean it will required less conditioning? As after the yeast has done it's thing, won't the beer start to clear and mature?

Click to expand...

The short answer is: no. Some people have stated that they feel their beer tastes better in the bottle sooner if they allow it to bulk condition in their primary. However, bottle conditioning essentially involves a refermentation of your beer. For the same reason that many leave their beer alone for several days (even weeks) after fermentation is complete (e.g. mellowing of any off-flavors created during fermentation), one should leave their beer undisturbed in the bottle after the yeast has consumed the priming sugar.

Another reason why conditioning takes a certain amount of time is for carbonation to occur. Not only does it take time for the yeast to eat sugar and produce CO2, but it also takes time for that CO2 to be absorbed into the beer. You'll notice that if you pop the cap off a bottle conditioned beer at one week, you'll get the familiar hissing sound of CO2 being released, but there will likely be no head on your beer when you pour it. That's because head is created when CO2 rises from within the beer and escapes to the lower pressure environment outside of it. If you have little or no head, that could mean a variety of things, but at that stage it most likely means that CO2 was not fully absorbed into the beer and much of it was still simply hanging out in the headspace.

Generally, it takes around 3 weeks at 70 degrees to get an average gravity ale fully conditioned (meaning both CO2 production and absorption). Whether your beer is aged before that process takes place or afterwards by leaving it in the bottle for an extended time after conditioning, really makes no difference in terms of conditioning your beer for consumption. In any event, the conditioning process takes about 3 weeks for an average gravity ale.

A couple of questions.

The original post was talking about a pilsner, when he says "conditioning" is he talking about lagering?

What is a pressure barrel? Is this a keg?