best times for primary and secondary?

[ekjohns]

new to brewing and was wondering what the optimal times are for

A. primary only

B. primary then secondary

What is the longest you can leave it in primary, what is the longest time you can do primary then secondary? Is there a risk of leaving it in the primary too long? Final question is i read it is good if you are kegging to do a secondary with gelatin and then keg with gelatin to prevent lots of turb carry over to keg?

 

[Yooper]

I don't really know how long you can leave it in primary before it turns "bad", but I usually go 3 weeks or so for ales.

I don't use gelatin, so I don't know about that. I just keg the beer after about three weeks, age them a bit, then put them in the kegerator and they are perfectly clear. I use whirlfloc in the boil kettle, though, so the wort is pretty clear to start with.

If I'm dryhopping, or adding something to the beer after primary, I'll do a secondary. Otherwise, I don't usually bother.

 

[Rick500]

You'll likely get a lot of different answers to those questions.

I (and many others) don't use a secondary at all unless there's a specific reason to do so. I only use a secondary if I'm dry hopping and want to wash and reuse the yeast for other batches, to keep all the hops sediment out of the yeast.

I like to keep the beer on the yeast in the primary for a few weeks, to allow the yeast time to clean up some of their fermentation byproducts. Then I keg directly from the primary.

You can leave the beer in the primary for several weeks, even a couple of months, with no issues.

Can't comment on gelatin; never used it. I use either irish moss or Whirlfloc in the last few minutes of the boil, and that's always been sufficient to keep my beer clear.

I do get a bit of trub in the fermenter, but it always settles out well enough before I rack to the keg.

[Edit: I was typing while you were, Yooper. Sounds like you and I do things pretty much alike. You must make some darn good beer. ]

 

[DKershner]

Depends on the beer, you should let your beer tell you when it's ready.

In general for me, for a standard gravity ale, I would do 7 days longer than when the hydrometer stops moving, though I have left it in there for up to 3 months for some heavier, darker varieties. I wouldn't worry about leaving it in there too long unless you start getting to the half-year mark.

 

[rocketman768]

You can do the gelatin trick without needing a secondary. I just rehydrate and heat my gelatin/water mixture and dump it in the primary a couple of days before bottling or kegging.

 

[Revvy]

For me...

1) Primary only - 4 weeks
2)Primary and Secondary- 2/2
3) Lagering- 4 weeks primary, 4 weeks minimum lagering in a secondary.

 

[ekjohns]

i would like to transfer to a keg this weekend but i cant pick up my co2 tank for a couple of weeks can i keg it without purging with co2? should i add a bit of sugar to prime and then let it naturally card and purge once a day for a couple of days? or should i just wait and keg when i get co2. Would it be fine to seal it in the keg with oxygen in the head space?

 

[Homercidal]

You can prime with sugar if you like. It will create a bit more sediment than just using CO2, but people do carb naturally in a keg.

Even with fantastic clarification methods (Short of using a filter), you will get some amount of sediment in your beer. How much depends on a few factors:

How long the beer sits in the keg before drinking,
How much movement it experiences,
Which yeast strain you use,
Other ingredients,
Etc.

Usually you will pour off a pint or two of cloudy beer before the dip tube sucks out the sediment right below it. Some people even shorten their dip tubes in order to avoid even that little bit of sediment, although that means they are also likely not going to be able to suck the last pint or two at the end.

It won't kill you to have a little bit of headspace. Of course purging is a godo idea if you can, but plenty of people don't and don't have a problem. Oxidation is something that generally doesn't show up much until some time has passed. Usually a few months IIRC. Of course this will be expediated by sloshing and churning, which will introduce much more O2 to your beer than gently filling.

 

[DKershner]

i would like to transfer to a keg this weekend but i cant pick up my co2 tank for a couple of weeks can i keg it without purging with co2? should i add a bit of sugar to prime and then let it naturally card and purge once a day for a couple of days? or should i just wait and keg when i get co2. Would it be fine to seal it in the keg with oxygen in the head space?

I would not seal it in with oxygen, you want a CO2 blanket of some sort.

Either waiting or priming sugar carbonating works great, though the CO2 tank method is easier and you will have less sediment.

 

[ekjohns]

i will probably wait by the time i get the co2 we are looking at 2-3 months in primary which it seems like will be fine and not give me any off flavors plus i would like to limit the amount of junk the most as possible