Long Primary Fermentation on Trub

I poured my entire brew pot into my primary bucket, hops, hot/cold break and all. I was planning on leaving my Ferocious IPA in the primary for 21 days. I'm wondering if now I should cut it down to 14 days, mainly because of all of the hot break currently in the primary. I don't want any off flavors created. Is three weeks too long for the beer to sit on trub? I know everyone is now saying longer in the primary is better...is this true in my case?

I am also using a secondary to dry hop. I was planning on leaving it in there for 7 days.

Thanks for the advice.

I pour everything into my primary bucket and let things go for 4-5 weeks. Never had a problem. The extra time will help for hop material to fall out of suspension and accumulate in the trub. Your beer should be just fine for 3 weeks and then transfer to a secondary if you choose.

MSA's right. No issues.

Thanks. So 21 days in the primary, 7 in secondary (dry hop), and 14 in bottle. Do you guys think this timing will work for my IPA?

dgoldb1 said:

Thanks. So 21 days in the primary, 7 in secondary (dry hop), and 14 in bottle. Do you guys think this timing will work for my IPA?

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If you are already doing three weeks in primary, there is no reason to rack to a secondary, just dryhop in there for another week.

The 14 days in the bottle? You can't control WHEN a beer is carbed, nor can you really control how long it takes for a beer to actually ferment.

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer.

Stouts and porters have taken me between 6 and 8 weeks to carb up..I have a 1.090 Belgian strong that took three months to carb up.

I explain this and more, in my blog, here Revvy's Blog, Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning.

Dry hop in the primary? That's a new one to me. Is that to reduce oxidation and prevent possible infections?

If you dry hop in primary it's effectively the same as dry hopping in secondary--your beer is hanging out with hops in it. Yes, not moving it to secondary results in less oxidation and less possibility of infection (although the possibilities of each are low and you'd probably be fine moving to secondary and dry-hopping there).