Leave in primary or rack to secondary?

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SoFlaBrewer

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I just brewed an all-grain porter(my 2nd all-grain batch) and need some advice on whether to leave it in the primary or rack to secondary.
Without starting a much debated topic of primary vs secondary, here is the issue. The beer has been in the primary for almost a week already. Initial fermentation was awesome, the most violent I've ever seen. After 4 days I took a gravity reading and got 1.023. I know it still has a way to go. I am going on vacation which means the wort will be on the yeast for about 5 weeks total. Is this too long? The OG was 1.060. This is the biggest beer for me to date and I really don't want to mess this up.

So.... should I just leave it?
 
You could go either way here.

Personally, I'd leave it. Five weeks is fine.
 
As long as you had a nice healthy pitch of yeast I would just leave it in a cool spot while you are gone.
 
Yet another for leaving it. Should be fine. The only disadvantage I find is kicking up sediment if transferring right to a keg or bottling bucket.
 
I haven't graduated to kegging yet so the beer will be racked to a bottling bucket. I've gotten used to the sediment and have gotten pretty good at minimizing the amount drawn.

Alot of votes for leaving it so I'll leave it. I just wanted some reassurances because this beer will be unattended for quite some time.
 
i guess im going to buck convention. wait another week then rack it. as the yeast die they explode and release byproducts into the beer that are harmless but can affect the taste. that thick layer at the bottom of your carboy is dieing yeast and trub.
 
i guess im going to buck convention. wait another week then rack it. as the yeast die they explode and release byproducts into the beer that are harmless but can affect the taste. that thick layer at the bottom of your carboy is dieing yeast and trub.

You may have not heard...but the autlolysis bogeyman has been pretty much disproven....even in Palmer...

How To Brew said:
Leaving an ale beer in the primary fermentor for a total of 2-3 weeks (instead of just the one week most kits recommend), will provide time for the conditioning reactions and improve the beer. This extra time will also let more sediment settle out before bottling, resulting in a clearer beer and easier pouring. And, three weeks in the primary fermentor is usually not enough time for off-flavors to occur.

(and)

....As a final note on this subject, I should mention that by brewing with healthy yeast in a well-prepared wort, many experienced brewers, myself included, have been able to leave a beer in the primary fermenter for several months without any evidence of autolysis.

Hence why many of us advocate skipping secondary or opt for long primaries.
 
~5 days vs. ~5 weeks? I'd leave it the 5 weeks and go straight to the bottle when you return.

My typical ale brewing is 4 week primary, 1 week clarifying in secondary (though this is mainly to appease my wife who thinks this is *the* key to clear beer), then bottle.
 
~5 days vs. ~5 weeks? I'd leave it the 5 weeks and go straight to the bottle when you return.

My typical ale brewing is 4 week primary, 1 week clarifying in secondary (though this is mainly to appease my wife who thinks this is *the* key to clear beer), then bottle.

Carl, if you've gone 4 weeks in primary, you really can skip secondary altogether and go to bottle....my beer has been judged in contests as being jewell like by bjcp judges after primarying for 4 weeks and bottling.

TO the original poster, leave it til you get back..the longest anyone on here has left it in primary was 6th months and it was fine...many have left it 3 months and it has been fine....the longest I have left my beers has been 6 weeks, and they have been fine..

If you search for no-secondary, or long primary (we usually have 1-6 threads like yours a day-so the discussion has been done to death, including citing sources, like the John Palmer info, and anecdotal evidence as well) you will se that your beer will be fine...

We've proven ad nauseum, that no harm will come to your beer by leave it for 5 weeks, quite the contrary...

In fact you may be like many of us, who started that by accident, and realize, like many of us, that are beer is vastly improved in clarity, and flavor by leaving it alone...like I said I have the judging score sheet to back it up.
 
Thanks Revvy. It was the anecdotal experience that I was seeking from this forum and it looks like it came through. I will leave the beer right where it is and report back in August.
 
Carl, if you've gone 4 weeks in primary, you really can skip secondary altogether and go to bottle....my beer has been judged in contests as being jewell like by bjcp judges after primarying for 4 weeks and bottling.

I've already had that discussion with the wife, she insists on the extra week to clarify. In the interest of marital harmony I've decided they are better battles to be fought on the home front, like how many days a week I play golf. :ban:
 
Going to chime in late here, but I agree with the rest of the guys. I only rack to secondary if I plan a brew day and am out of primary fermentors. This happens often though as I only have 2.
 
Another vote for just leave it.I ended up leaving a dunkelweizen 7 weeks in the primary and when I went to bottle it I lost the anti sediment tip on the auto siphon. Well, the yeast/trub cake was so compacted that I barely pulled any sediment even by just shoving the siphon to the bottom of the fermenter. The beer is also the clearest I have ever had, and this is with a hefe yeast.
 

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