How long in the primary?

[InAthensGa]

Hey all! I just did a beer kit batch of American IPA with malt extract etc. The beer has been in the primary for about 6 days and fermentation was strong for about 4 days. Bubbling has ceased almost completely. How long should I wait in your opinion to rack to the secondary? I want to avoid off flavors, etc by taking the beer off the trub. Should I wait for another week? Five days? Does it matter? I plan to condition the beer in the secondary for at least three weeks and in the bottle for two. Thanks for your help! Cheers!

 

[Kaz]

Hmmm....I leave all my beers in the primary a minimum of 3 weeks and more often, 4 weeks. I don't get off flavors at all, that being said, I would leave it in the primary at least 2 weeks, and if you insist on the secondary, leave it in there another 2 weeks.

 

[ArcaneXor]

It doesn't make much sense to bulk age an IPA in secondary. An IPA is a hop delivery vehicle, but the hop character fades quite quickly. Hence, this is one of the beer styles that benefits from being drunk fairly young (not green, but young).

Therefore, I would suggest doing a 10-14 day primary and bottle thereafter, as long as you are sure you are at FG and the yeast has dropped clear.

 

[InAthensGa]

It doesn't make much sense to bulk age an IPA in secondary. An IPA is a hop delivery vehicle, but the hop character fades quite quickly. Hence, this is one of the beer styles that benefits from being drunk fairly young (not green, but young).

Therefore, I would suggest doing a 10-14 day primary and bottle thereafter, as long as you are sure you are at FG and the yeast has dropped clear.

Interesting - I'm "trying" to follow the recipe the beer kit came with but coming from a chef background I'm using it as a guideline :rockin: and maybe improvise a little. The recipe calls for secondary fermentation and I really wanna try out my shiny new carboy. I'm thinking that I'll just leave it in there for another week and rack it next weekend.

 

[beergolf]

Listen to what everyone here says. Forget the secondary and leave it for 3-4 weeks in the primary. I took that advice after my firat brew and the beer is soooo mucwh better leaving it sit.

I have 2 carboys that I was not using so I just started using them to make smaller 4 gallon batches of beer in. Think of it as a bonus fermenter.

 

[Yooper]

I rarely use a secondary, but if you're going to use one that's fine. I would say that one of the keys of an IPA is to dryhop for the last 7 days before bottling, so if you're using a secondary for a couple of weeks, don't dryhop when you move it. That's sort of a pain, though. Either go ahead and rack the beer because you want to, and then add the dryhops a week later or just rack onto the dryhops for a week and then bottle. Try not to go more than 10 days on the dryhops.

 

[philjohnwilliams]

It doesn't make much sense to bulk age an IPA in secondary. An IPA is a hop delivery vehicle, but the hop character fades quite quickly. Hence, this is one of the beer styles that benefits from being drunk fairly young (not green, but young).

Therefore, I would suggest doing a 10-14 day primary and bottle thereafter, as long as you are sure you are at FG and the yeast has dropped clear.

I thought the whole idea of an IPA was that it was a beer that was designed to survive long ocean voyages. Wouldn't that pretty much guarantee it wasnt supposed to be consumed young? Isn't that the whole point of the high hop and alcohol levels?

-pjw

 

[InAthensGa]

I rarely use a secondary, but if you're going to use one that's fine. I would say that one of the keys of an IPA is to dryhop for the last 7 days before bottling, so if you're using a secondary for a couple of weeks, don't dryhop when you move it. That's sort of a pain, though. Either go ahead and rack the beer because you want to, and then add the dryhops a week later or just rack onto the dryhops for a week and then bottle. Try not to go more than 10 days on the dryhops.

Yes...I have an ounce of whole Chinook hops for dry-hopping I plan to throw in the secondary for the last seven days. After that in the bottle for two weeks.

 

[Yooper]

I thought the whole idea of an IPA was that it was a beer that was designed to survive long ocean voyages. Wouldn't that pretty much guarantee it wasnt supposed to be consumed young? Isn't that the whole point of the high hop and alcohol levels?

-pjw

Well, yes. Initially, that's how IPAs came about. At least for English style IPAs. But over the years, people came to love the flavor of the hops, and liking them fresh.

American style (especially West Coast IPAs) are all about the beer being a hops delivery vehicle, and for the best hops aroma and flavor, the beer is best served young. It'll age into a decent beer, but will lose the in-your-face hoppiness that is so loved by IPA drinkers.

 

[kable]

I thought the whole idea of an IPA was that it was a beer that was designed to survive long ocean voyages.
...
-pjw

I am sure by the time the beer hit India its hop characteristics had faded to what people considered normal bitters. I believe the story I have heard is that there was a ship wreck just off the coast of England and the India destined IPA barrels made their way to shore and more people sampled the highly hopped drinks. I don't know sounds like a good story.

OP: I know you want to use your shiny new carboys. Do it with another batch of beer. Get your pipeline going.