the greatness of no secondary

WildGingerBrewing said:

I disagree with this ^^^ the longer i leave my beera in primary, the better they are. I used to leave them 2-3 weeks then bottle. But has improved dramatically after leaving 5-6 weeks. Just my experience.

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Different strokes for different folks!

I just ferment at 62-64 until it approaches final gravity then raise the temp over 3-5 days to 70-75. This manipulation of temperatures has given me the exact same effects as a long primary. I let them do most of the conditioning in the bottle.

I have also found that most of my beers are carbed up within 24-48 hours of bottling as opposed to 3-4 weeks min after a long primary. This just makes my logical mind figure the yeast have next to no efficiency whatsoever after a certain time in the fermentor.

I'm eager to do everything in primary that I can... I'm much more likely to dry hop or add spices to my beer than I am to add chunks of fruit or oak cubes, so adding to primary makes sense for me.

One thing confuses me, however. I've just started using gelatin finings, and I'm pleased with the results I've gotten from adding them in bulk (i.e. to work in the carboy, rather than in 12 oz. bottles). If I want to dry hop or add pumpkin pie spice to my primary fermenter, would you folks reading this recommend that I add those flavor and aroma fermenter additions either BEFORE or AFTER adding my gelatin finings?

My hunch is to do the gelatin first, and dry hop or add spices a couple of days later, after the beer is clarified. Thoughts?

The main reason I secondary is that I have a 5 gallon carboy that seems a little small to use as a primary. I rack to that just to free up my primary fermenter.

Hmmm, maybe I should just spend a few bucks to get another primary. I brewed quite a bit about 6 or 7 years ago (just getting back into it now) and back then everything I heard was that the secondary was the way to go. I guess I should update my equipment a bit.

tonyolympia said:

If I want to dry hop or add pumpkin pie spice to my primary fermenter, would you folks reading this recommend that I add those flavor and aroma fermenter additions either BEFORE or AFTER adding my gelatin finings?

My hunch is to do the gelatin first, and dry hop or add spices a couple of days later, after the beer is clarified. Thoughts?

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Anyone have any help they can offer me?

I have a milk stout in primary right now, I was gonna add cocoa nibs to when I racked to secondary, but now I'm thinking about just tossing em into the primary at around 4 weeks, then bottling two weeks later. Would this yield a nice chocolate flavor still, or am I better off going to secondary? The only beer. I've left a hefe in primary only before, and that worked great, I'd like to do primary only more often.