How Long in Primary after FG Reached?

Hi all,

I'm new to HBT - nice to meet everyone. I know that a lot of people here don't transfer to a secondary and keep their beer in the primary for some time after FG is reached for maximum clarity. My question - for people who don't transfer to a secondary, how long do you leave your beer in the primary after FG has been reached?

By way of background, I just got started in homebrewing with a Northern Brewer extract kit. The kit recommends a 1-2 week primary fermentation followed by bottling. I don't have a hydrometer yet, and based on advice I've read in other threads, I'm going to give it a total of 3 weeks in the primary. For my next beer (a NB British bitter extract kit), I plan to buy a hydrometer and would like to be a little more scientific.

How far a long are you? If you're only in the first week you have plenty of time to order a hydrometer. It's good to get into the routine of of not guessing and hoping for some magic number of days to bottle your brew. As far as being done 3 weeks is probably ample time but like i said get a hydrometer and get some practice doing it without guessing.

Generally fermentation will be done after 2 weeks. But without a hydrometer, give it the 3rd week and you should be okay.

But, for your direct question, once FG has been hit (by taking hydrometer readings on consecutive days to make sure there is no change), then off to the bottles/keg it goes!

Which kit did you get?

meridianomrebel said:

Which kit did you get?

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I bought the Northern Brewer "Brew Share Enjoy" kit that comes with 1 primary bucket and their Block Party Amber Ale extract kit.

I got interested in home brewing after a trip to England this spring. My goal is to recreate some of the English bitters I had over there (from the likes of Timothy Taylor's, Wells, Young's, and Theakston) that are hard or impossible to find in the U.S.

If there is a LHBS nearby, I would highly recommend picking up a hydrometer and wine thief for taking your gravity readings. You'll find it really helpful in making sure your fermentation has completed fully, as well as for troubleshooting later on.

Congrats on your purchase, and welcome to your new hobby/obsession!

Let us know how it turns out. Cheers!

Once final gravity has been reached it goes to a keg. Why would you want to keep it sitting on the yeast once you've reached FG... nothing good is going to come of that!

I do 3 weeks for all my brews. The only FG hydrometer reading I take is as I'm bottling.

Roadie said:

Once final gravity has been reached it goes to a keg. Why would you want to keep it sitting on the yeast once you've reached FG... nothing good is going to come of that!

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In other threads, people say that they leave their beer in the primary for 3-4 weeks to give the yeast time to "clean up" the beer. I'm trying to figure out if this is a common/accepted practice, or limited to just a few people.

A lot of how long it stays in the primary depends on the strength of the brew. A 10 % beer will normally take longer than a 4 % beer to ferment. The rest is time you have available. THe hydrometer while it is fragile it is your friend. most beers that are around 5 to 5.5 or less are done in 2 weeks, but sometimes the yeast are slower and don't convert the sugars as fast , that can happen for several reasons. 3 weeks will be safe with out a hydrometer 99 % of the time. The yeast do clean up after they are done eating the sugars but I have read this only takes a day or 2. In general the eat their own waste products.

ok just curious, it seems as though all the replies are related directly to yeast activity, FG, flocculation and clean up times, but.... what about hop and malt flavors? Does more time in the primary give these flavors time to become more complex, or mellow, or become more "sound" etc??

Roadie said:

Once final gravity has been reached it goes to a keg. Why would you want to keep it sitting on the yeast once you've reached FG... nothing good is going to come of that!

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Maybe you should be kegging the beer when the krausen drops since nothing good comes from letting beer sit.

Actually lots of good comes from letting beer sit on the yeast. For one, yeast do a cleanup of intermediate products. If your ferment is done perfectly this won't take long but it may takes a few days. As time goes on, more dormant yeast settles out too so it doesn't go into your keg and the beer begins to mature. If you only do light color beers it doesn't take long to mature but the darker and higher alcohol beers do take some time.

I usually let my beers stay in the fermenter for 3 weeks. Sometimes I get busy and they stay for 4 or more weeks. I really liked the beer that set for 9 weeks, one of the best tasting.

I still stand by my when the yeast have done their job rack the beer post. For me dropping those last couple of gravity points is when I consider the yeast to be "cleaning up". Once my terminal gravity is reached the yeast are done with that process and I rack from primary. Yes, bigger beers take longer to reach that point; I leave my Kate the Great on the yeast for around 4 weeks or so before the first racking. Hey leave it on the yeast for 9 weeks or 9 months if that's what works for you, more power to you.

Roadie said:

I still stand by my when the yeast have done their job rack the beer post. For me dropping those last couple of gravity points is when I consider the yeast to be "cleaning up". Once my terminal gravity is reached the yeast are done with that process and I rack from primary. Yes, bigger beers take longer to reach that point; I leave my Kate the Great on the yeast for around 4 weeks or so before the first racking. Hey leave it on the yeast for 9 weeks or 9 months if that's what works for you, more power to you.

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I agree. Those "clean up" activities are over within 24 hours of the beer reaching FG.

One reason to keep the beer on the trub longer is because many people like the flavor that yeast character imparts. I don't, but I do like to have clearer beer when I rack to the keg, so I generally keg on about day 10 for most regular beers.

Finish gravity? Whats that? ha ha ha..Just kidding!

For me it depends on the beer and the vessel I am fermenting in. I am fermenting in a bucket or a sanke keg I give the beer 3 week minimum and then transfer to keg and start to carbonate. If I am in my conical I do the first trub dump after a week and then wait another 2 weeks or so to final dump then transfer to keg. But all in all about 3 weeks for most of my beers is sufficient. Unless they are HUGE beers.

Cheers
Jay

PittsburghBrewer said:

In other threads, people say that they leave their beer in the primary for 3-4 weeks to give the yeast time to "clean up" the beer. I'm trying to figure out if this is a common/accepted practice, or limited to just a few people.

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When I started a little over 5 years ago the use of secondary was declining and the 3-4 weeks was a common thread. Most recipes those days called for a week or two in primary and a week or two in secondary. Maybe it was just adding the two in the longer time frame.

Now it is a lot more common to advise FG and a few days.

I never really know when I reach FG. I wait 2 weeks, I take a gravity reading to decide whether it is done so I can keg or bottle. If the gravity is where I expect it to be I go ahead and package it. I know that I am slightly at risk when bottling but I have not had a problem.

I have had a couple where the gravity was still high. I swirled up the yeast and waited another week.

So, I say a couple of days after hitting FG. Longer if unsure, longer if not clear, longer if aging. And for me it is usually longer through procrastination about packaging.

kh54s10 said:

And for me it is usually longer through procrastination about packaging.

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I hear ya there!

Cheers
Jay

Now you've seen plenty on each side - longer vs shorter time in primary. I'll just emphasize keeping safety in mind. You really don't want bottle bombs. As long as you're bottling, find a way that you can be confident fermentation is finished before bottling. I check gravity 2 - 3 days apart to be sure it's stable. Some just give it enough time that they feel it's ok. It's your call.

Yooper said:

One reason to keep the beer on the trub longer is because many people like the flavor that yeast character imparts.

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Interesting. I've been working on British bitters, and some people claim that leaving the beer on the yeast too long can "clean up" the fruity ester flavors that can be desirable in a bitter. (For example, British Yeasts, Fermentation Temps and Profiles, CYBI, Other Thoughts...).

I left Beer #2 - a British Bitter extract kit from The Homebrew Store that Shall Not Be Named - on the yeast for 3 weeks. It turned out great. I bottled Beer #3 - the Timothy Taylor Landlord extract clone from the same store - on Sunday, after 15 days on the yeast. The hydrometer sample tasted good, so I have high hopes.

I've come to appreciate how crucial fermentation temperature control is. Beer #1 was on the yeast for 3 weeks, and the result was poor because my temperature control was poor.