Brewing Times

For bitters what would be the rule of thumb length of time for each process?
Primary fermentation
Secondary
and conditioning in kegs.

a general schedule could be...

a week in primary

a week to ten days in secondary

10 days in keg?

i don't keg, so i'm not sure. but the bitter style in my experience has been good to go after a week or so in the bottle

bitters are quick turn overs and meant to be drunk 'green' with little carbonation.

I usually do 3-5 in primary, 15-20 in secondary, and drink it as soon as it's carbonated in the keg (usually 24-48 hours). I don't like aging in the keg, I can't keep myself from dipping into it anyway.

t1master said:

a general schedule could be...

a week in primary

a week to ten days in secondary

10 days in keg?

i don't keg, so i'm not sure. but the bitter style in my experience has been good to go after a week or so in the bottle

bitters are quick turn overs and meant to be drunk 'green' with little carbonation.

Click to expand...

These sound like good times for each. I like to cold condition my beer in the keg for a week to 10 days. This helps drop any chill haze you may have. However, as everyone has said, bitters are meant to be drunk "young" so as soon as carbonation occurs, you should be good to go.

Bunz

Simon Morris said:

For bitters what would be the rule of thumb length of time for each process?
Primary fermentation
Secondary
and conditioning in kegs.

Click to expand...

my schedule:

3-5 primary
10-15 secondary
chill beer to as close to 32 as possible for a couple days, force carbonate in keg, allow to set for 3-4 days then enjoy!

when i bottled, i let the bottles carbonate for 2-3 weeks.

Simon Morris said:

For bitters what would be the rule of thumb length of time for each process?
Primary fermentation
Secondary
and conditioning in kegs.

Click to expand...

The way I do it is ferment in glass until terminal gravity is reached.. transfer into a keg, carbonate and drink. The beer will change in character as it ages.. usually by the time you get to the bottom of the keg, it's a little more 'mature' tasting, which can be considered an improvement.. but it's still darn good when it's fresh. This is a good reason to brew 10 gallon (or 15 like I do) so that you can experience it at different ages so you can determine what you like best. You may also want to consider 'dry hopping' your bitter by putting an ounce of an aroma type hop in a large tea ball.. put that right in the keg and carbonate.. yum.. have fun..

Ken

3-5 days primary
7 days secondary
force carbonate and drink
if I naturally carbonate, it takes a few days, I like Bitter with a low carbonation, so it doesn't take long.