Extended Primary w/ Ales- My own 2 cents..

[Jsmith82]

I've been wanting to share this for a while, perhaps you could call it "how I learned that home brewing patience is a virtue through complete laziness."

Getting into 20+ batches now, even though I have a system that I could execute with my eyes closed, I have found myself getting very lazy with bottling causing me to let batches sit for longer than anticipated (I am also not one to use a secondary), for instance an IPA recipe I threw together a couple months ago, I had planned to bottle at 4 weeks, 3 weeks for the yeast to do what they will, 1 week dry hopping (obviously the 3 week time line was subject to change depending on fermentation). Yah, that didn't happen, here comes the 4 week mark.. then 5... nope. I threw an extra ounce of Cascade in there, week 6. yawn. Finally, a couple days after the 6 week mark I kicked myself in the butt and bottled it up, great bottling session btw, the cake was so packed it didn't budge moving from my brew closet into the kitchen.

It's been 2.5 weeks since that day (now at 9 weeks from the brew day), I had one of those beers last night, it's my best IPA yet hands down and perhaps my best beer to date, SWMBO approved and she does not like hoppy beer. As for presentation it's see through clear with a very very slight chill haze, no trub or hop floats, 2 inch thick head that shrinks down but hangs around clinging the glass, the color is a brilliant amber and was just so inviting! The flavor was beautifully balanced, nothing about it was green, no alcohol notes at all, just sweet malt and piney hops.

I cater more to my brewing process now than ever and all the experience is paying off in a very good way, but one factor that can not go ignored, my laziness to bottle hence allowing my ales to sit in primary for 6-7-8 weeks time in oppose to rushing or transferring, etc, has only resulted in a cleaner, better tasting beer.

I expect to hear that this is too long for primary, this is a question that comes up frequently, off flavors are suggested, this that, bad things can happen, no they can't, yes they can, no yes no yes, it's one of those back and forth subjects, if you look up my topic history I believe it was my FIRST post / question on these forums..

My conclusion based off of my own personal experiences, almost 7 months after joining HBT and asking the question myself...

Will an extended primary hurt my beer?

No and it has done nothing but help move my beer closer to perfection.



P.S. I would have posted a picture of the beer but unfortunately by the time I thought about snapping one off, I had finished it. Perhaps tonight if anyone cares to see it.

 

[pauly71]

I wouldn't mind seeing a pic. Glad to hear that the extended primary is working out. I'm trying this method for the first time myself.

 

[BradleyBrew]

I agree! After tasting the difference first hand I let all my ales sit at least 4 weeks before touching them. The timeline depends on the availibility of bottles and do I need e fermenter for something else, etc, but 4 weeks is the minimum for my beer. This practice DOES produce better tasting beers.

 

[mr_bell]

I've the same types of experiences not due to laziness, but due to the fact that life, family, and other obligations seem to get in the way of brewing (which sucks) and bottling for me. The extended primary has not resulted in any ill effects on my beers as far as I can tell. My preference is to bottle around 4 weeks, strictly to get to the finished product sooner! That doesn't always happen though; for me it still seems to work out fine.

BTW, would like to see the photo.

 

[gr8shandini]

I know I'm in the minority here, but most of the supposed advantages of the extended primary (clarity, off-flavor "cleanup", etc.), can easily be acheived through proper technique, cold crashing, and a few cents' worth of fining agents. Typically I do a 10 day primary then cold crash and keg on day 14 with another week to carb up. If it's a bigger beer or something with a lot of roast in it, I'll go longer in cold storage, but typically it's three weeks grain to glass.

That said, I have noticed that head retention increases and the body loses some "roundness" around week 4-6. Must be some kind of protein that changes form or breaks down in that time frame. But we're still well within the two month minimum preached by the extended primary then bottle crowd.

 

[tmurph6]

I'm curious, those that have conicals and subscribe to the extended primary way of brewing, do you drain off your trub? If so, at what point? Is the theory behind extended primary because you sit on the cake longer or fear of oxidation when transferring. FWIW, I tried extended primary and ended up clogging my keg with trub, and had too many floaties. I'm a HUGE fan of secondary, seriously how many people end up oxidizing when transferring to secondary? I know I never have...

and it begins...

 

[BetterSense]

What temperature do you do your extended primary?

I only have room for one bucket in my fermentation chamber, which makes me reluctant to let batches go for 4 weeks.

 

[torque2k]

Well, if we're talking ales, and not lagers, I keep mine in either a bucket or glass carboy at 68F for 4-5 weeks. Sometimes I get fluctuations (mostly in the winter, as I'm in MI), so I put the vessel in a Rubbermaid tote filled with water and float an aquarium heater in it. 68F for pale/IPA with Cal Ale yeasts, 66F for browns with English yeasts. That's over the four weeks. They've been fantastic; I haven't run secondary since my second batch, and I'm in for over 35 now.

 

[Hammy71]

That is why I love this hobby. Don't feel like bottling?....the beer gets better. To lazy to transfer the beer to a secondary and dryhop today?...the beer just gets better. Lagers are even better!!!

 

[Jsmith82]

@ BetterSense - 67-68 degrees is where my fermentation closet sits constantly and consistently and this is the place my beers stay, but I understand your pain. This winter I plan on building a DECENT temp controlled closet in my basement with room to harbor 4 buckets at once, until then I keep everything in a dark room, no light, under a rectangular table against the wall, a cardboard barrier wrapping around 3/4 the table, and a blanket that covers the entire thing. Shifty setup? yes. But it works, it's constant, and it stays cooler in the 60s even through this insane summer we're wrapping up.

Up until recently I haven't had the capability to crash my temps down for a couple days before bottling so anything that could help me clean up I've been trying to utilize. Got my Oktoberfest Ale going in the lager box now, it will be good test run for cooler temps.

In all honesty, I can see peoples ups and downs to a secondary, I have no problems with it and if a secondary is working for somebody else, man rack that !@#$ over! In my eyes it doesn't come down to one being better than the other, but more or less brewers choice and preference. It's about what works for you and for me? Leaving it alone does good things.

Thinking back and tossing a wrench, I've used a secondary 3 times:

1. DFH 120min IIPA Clone - HAD TO! Good lord I've never seen so much !@#$ at the bottom of a bucket. You're not packing down a cake with this beer, you're trying to pack down a buffet.
2. Glacier Oaked IIPA - Again, ton o' trub and I would have just left this one, but I racked because I wanted a fresh bucket for the dry hops and oak.
3 DFH Aprihop Clone - Apricot puree, I racked the beer on top of it to properly mix it.

Nothing happened to those beers, no extra oxygen broke in and infected the batch, fermentation didn't kick back up after disturbing trub, they simply sat on their own afterwards, then went to bottles, then got really delicious, then went to that glorious beer heaven

For record, longest primary I have had I believe was 7 weeks, that was with a single hop pale ale. It looked great, tasted good as well. Too bad I used WAY too much Dextrose in the recipe though to kick the ABV, I wasn't exactly impressed with it. Was a valuable lesson, use DME, NOT dextrose, and learn the balance of the beer elements! lol. Haven't had a problem since. #learning

That is why I love this hobby. Don't feel like bottling?....the beer gets better. To lazy to transfer the beer to a secondary and dryhop today?...the beer just gets better.

 

[BetterSense]

My situation will probably improve in winter time, but in the summer our house gets to 80F easily during the day, and nobody in Texas has a basement or cellar that stays cool. I don't have the WAF to get a full size freezer, so 1-at-a-time fermentation is the limit unless I build another son-of-fermentation chiller.

 

[Jsmith82]

Man I have a buddy that live in San Marcos, he tells me the same thing, it's constant heat all the time, never ends. My lager box is a modified version of the mother of a fermentation chiller. Honestly though, I'm surprised on how short of a time it takes for the ice to melt out. I've been having to swap every 12 hours, I've read other stories where people only have to swap out once every 2 days.

Guess I have to write that one off to my craftsmanship, I'm a newby with DIY projects. I'm trying to figure out what I could use to create a better seal on my edges around the lid and the shelf where you access the ice chambers, I'm positive that's why I'm melting out so fast and I can feel the breeze when I put my hand up to the box...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/mini-mother-fermentation-chiller-264193/

 

[Jsmith82]

Sorry for the bad quality, taken with my phone.. That is my wifes phone a couple inches behind the glass, I was trying to figure put something good to shoot behind for clarity, this is the best I came up with.

Story behind this beer which I call "Friday IPA", I had a really $hitty day at work, bad mood, I left early and threw an ipa recipe together, brewing gets my mind off the everyday grind and in a good mood fast, this took place on a friday hense the name. 2 row and crystal, nugget, cascade, and willamette hops, 1056 liquid, very simple recipe but a very good beer.. I'll post the actual tomorrow.

 

[trevor_b]

I've gone just shy of 2 months in primary, then kegged. A week or two later I have fantastic tasting beer.

 

[Jsmith82]

Last post was from my phone, guess I messed it up b/c I can't see the picture now from my laptop... Here you go:

Friday IPA - 5 gallon batch

8.0lbs US 2-row
1.0lbs Crystal 40
0.5lbs Aromatic

Mash in 12qt water @ 151* F, 60 min

Sparge 3.9gal @ 168* F

60 min boil:
/60/ - 1.00oz Nugget
/15/ - 1.00oz Cascade
/10/ - 1.00oz Williamette
/10/ - 1.00tsp Irish Moss
/07/ - 1.00oz Cascade
/05/ - 1.00oz Willamette
/02/ - 1.00oz Cascade

Wyeast 1056 American Ale

Dryhop 1oz cascade

5-5.5% ABV
9.0 SRM
75 IBU

 

[badhabit]

Jsmith.....man that is pretty! Might even have to try that one.....my kind of recipe (KISS) and if it tastes as good as it looks

 

[KoedBrew]

+1
I try to let all my beers sit, and I think it makes a difference. If you just keep a consistent brewing schedule going and keep your carboys/buckets full and do like every other week brewing, then you can get a nice rotation going.
I have about 28 gallons in primary right now, 2carboys IIPA 5 weeks, 2 fermenting corneys Oktoberfest 6 weeks, and 2 carboys pale ale at 1 week,
I will probably bottle up one of the IIPAs and one of the Oktoberfests this weekend and let the the other 2 wait another week or 2...

Age makes it better...screw the secondary if you are aging less than 3 months. If you are going to age past 2-3 months then I would secondary to get off a majority of the yeast and trub.

 

[pissgarn]

Last post was from my phone, guess I messed it up b/c I can't see the picture now from my laptop... Here you go:

Friday IPA - 5 gallon batch

8.0lbs US 2-row
1.0lbs Crystal 40
0.5lbs Aromatic

Mash in 12qt water @ 151* F, 60 min

Sparge 3.9gal @ 168* F

60 min boil:
/60/ - 1.00oz Nugget
/15/ - 1.00oz Cascade
/10/ - 1.00oz Williamette
/10/ - 1.00tsp Irish Moss
/07/ - 1.00oz Cascade
/05/ - 1.00oz Willamette
/02/ - 1.00oz Cascade

Wyeast 1056 American Ale

Dryhop 1oz cascade

5-5.5% ABV
9.0 SRM
75 IBU

you add that much hops and you gotta wait a month
before it tastes good? Is that suposed to be a surprize?

Ron

 

[Jsmith82]

you add that much hops and you gotta wait a month
before it tastes good? Is that suposed to be a surprize?

Ron

Well it is an IPA

2 months and a week actually, well worth the wait.

Only 1 oz went in early, the rest late additions. It's how I prefer to brew my IPAs. 1 solid bitter addition then blast it at the end with low bitter high aroma additions.