Oakes
Active Member
This may be a very simple question, but I am a bit unsure. How long should Secondary last? I have had mine in a week after a week of primary and there seems to be no action. How long should I wait to bottle?
Secondary Time
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DiegoBrewer
Member
I brewed a Bourbon Porter a few months back and all the fermentation happened in the first few days. Check you S.G. a couple of times over the next week to verify it's still going down. Time in the secondary is needed to further "age" the wort. I added the bourbon-soaked oak chips about 3-weeks into fermentation and then bottled about one week after that (total of 4-weeks of primary/secondary fermentation). Just cracked a bottle yesterday and it tasted great. I've heard it gets much better with age, so I will try the next one in a few weeks.
You don't really need to secondary your beer. Also, a week in primary may not have been long enough to complete fermentation. The only reason to use a secondary is for dry hopping (although that isn't needed) or adding fruit or wood chips. Check your gravity at 14 days and then again 36 hours later. If the gravity hasn't changed then you are ready to bottle or keg.
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