Our first "Saison", Q for after fermentation -->?

[vitALEity]

Just did our first Saison style beer. Is there a need for a secondary? If not, how long should I leave it in bottles until I drink? I know there is no exact anser, but will 2 weeks be enough or will I want to wait a few months with a Saison?

Here is what we did:

Partial Mash
WLP Saison Ale Yeast
6.5lbs light LME
1lb Belgian 2 Row
1lb flaked wheat
1/2lb vienna
1/2lb munich
Hallertau (2oz at 60min)
Saaz(2oz at 20min)
a small handfull of Fresh lemon peel, orange peel, black pepper, indian long pepper, licorice, fennel and star anise for last 10 min of boil

 

[tmurph6]

You're going to get 100 answers.

You can do 1 week primary, 2 week secondary, 3 weeks in the bottles if you want, you can do 2 or 3 weeks in the primary, heck you can do a 10 day primary if you want then bottle. All a matter of what you want to do. Only thing keeping you from bottling is to make sure that it has finished fermenting. To do that, simply take a reading for 3 days straight, if the gravity goes unchanged, bottle it.

For a beer like this, I would just do 2 weeks in the primary then toss it in the bottle, no need to secondary really.

It takes 3 weeks minimum for a beer to be properly bottle conditioned. You could drink it after 2 weeks though if you want, no harm.

 

[Pandaren]

Ya, I wouldn't worry too much about a long secondary, if you want to secondary at all. However, I would let it age a bit before I popped one open. Somethin closer to 4-6 weeks. Only gonna get better by that time.

 

[JFryauff]

FWIW...
We just finished one up, and it sat in the primary for 4 weeks, then bottle conditioned for 4 weeks. Turned out nice.
I'd be more concerned about fermentation temps, and hitting final gravity.