Observations on Primary/Secondary Fermentation for Beginners

So I've been brewing for quite a while now and am currently doing all-grain. I read these forums often and it seems like many beginning homebrewers have questions about primary and secondary fermentation. I remember when I first started I was in a constant panic about how long is too long to leave my beer in primary, if secondary was necessary...basically I just constantly wondered if I was "doing it wrong", so I decided to post my observations here for new brewers that may hopefully find useful.

First off, I'd like to preface this post with an explanation of why I think my experiences are worth mentioniong:

1. I have bottled before primary fermentation was over. How do I know this? Well, the better question is, how do my neighbors know this? Easy. Because when my bottles exploded half the neighborhood heard it. No, I am not joking. It sounded like a shotgun went off in my room. The whole family flew out of bed and the neighbors asked the next morning what happened.

2. I have also had a beer sit in primary for what I think most people would consider an excessive amount of time (3+ months). I brewed a Belgian Tripel about a year ago. Between school, work and other things that life had to throw at me I just simply forgot about the beer. I know that this seems ridiculous (particularly because of how much the ingredients cost), but trust me it happened. After I finally had a little time I had a decision to make: throw it out or bottle and see what happened. You see, before this I had been under the impression that a long primary fermentation with my beer sitting on all that nasty gunk would mean my beer would completely suck. At that point my process was about 14 days in primary and then 14 or more days in secondary. I bottled this stuff, let it sit for about another two weeks and finally stood over the sink (incase I had to spit it out), popped the bottle, poured some out and WOW! this was stuff looked and smelled amazing! I took a sip and almost fainted. I COULDN't BELIEVE IT. There was no way this beer could have turned out so good. I left it in primary for over 3 months, never bothered with a secondary and it was one of the best beers I ever made!

So my point is this...never get antsy and bottle your beer before you know it is done fermenting. This isn't a matter of patience reaping a better product, rather, there is a good chance you will have bottle bombs that give you a heart attack and a heck of a mess! Be patient! And don't be too concerned with secondary fermentation, I used to do it all the time but have since stopped in favor of a 3-4 week primary ONLY. No secondary for me. Aside from the pain and hassle of cleaning and santizing and risk of contamination, the secondary may not make as big of a difference as you think it will!

I hope someone finds this helpful.

Great advice, as my first batch is sitting for its 6th day in the primary and I was already looking at when I'll be moving it. I'm shooting for day 17 to get into the secondary, just because thats the only day I'll be able to do it, so I hope thats ok.

How about dry hopping right in the primary? I know if it is still fermenting a lot of the aroma may be blown off through the bubbler but if the blowoff has slowed enough are there any other negatives to just doing it in the primary?

17 days, under good conditions, should be fine to move it. But honestly, to know for sure, get out your hydrometer and take a gravity reading!

You absolutely CAN dry hop in your primary! It would be no different than dry hopping in your secondary, in fact. Do not dry hop while your beer is still fermenting. You'd basically do it the same way you would in your secondary, except you do it in your primary fermentation vessel without moving it. So say for instance, on day 17 you were going to move it and dry hop it, instead of moving, just dry hop it in the primary vessel. The most important thing is to make sure fermentation is complete before you rack to your secondary and before you dry hop. Does that make sense?

-Wait until fermentation is done before you do either a secondary or dry hopping
-You can skip secondary and still dry hop (because when you would normally transfer to a secondary the fermentation is done, dry hopping in the primary vessel at this point will not be a problem because the fermentation is done!)

This is good info for beginners. The bottom line is RDWHAHB!

However I would like to mention that FERMENTATION TEMPS are something that are worth worrying about. Whether or not to use a secondary, etc. is small pickles compared to that and SANITATION.

I've done secondary, and primary only, and dryhopping in both and TBH the beer is fine either way. I like not having to move the beer and do extra stuff. My beer has been at least as good by fermenting in the primary and even dry hopping in the primary as far as I can tell.

That was my thought. I was headed for 3 and half weeks in the primary, with the last 10 days being a dry hop then bottling. I fermented a little warm for nottingham (70degF) and was hopinh the extra time on the cake would clear any off odors up.