Fermenting

[rponcejr]

Do I read not to transfer to secondary a lot of brewers don't risk it. So do you ferment brews longer. Example it says 2 weeks primary then 2 in secondary. Just do a month in primary then keg. Or just do 2 weeks in primary and keg.

 

[kh54s10]

To me it depends on the recipe (and my laziness at the time). A heavy dark beer I will leave for about 3 weeks. If my pipeline is low and it is a lighter beer I might keg at about 2 weeks. When I get lazy the beer might stay in primary for a month or so.....

If you want to secondary there is no reason not to. There is also no reason you need to. The only real advantage to secondary is that you might get a beer that is more clear.

I do my dry hopping in primary. I will package when the beer has reached final gravity, or when I get around to it.

 

[Atlmustang]

Ive never put a time on it. I dont rack to secondary. I let it sit in primary until the airlock goes quiet. Then i take hydrometer samples over 2-3 days to ensure i get the same gravity reading. Then i let it sit for another 5-7 days for yeast clean up. Then bottle. 2.5-3 weeks total in fermentation.

I keg my first batch this Saturday. Then Ill be grain to glass in 4 weeks.

 

[Revvy]

We need to clarify something for you...Your beer doesn't ferment for x number of weeks. Beer only ferments for as long as the yeast takes to eat the sugars and prodcue the alcohol, which is usually about a week to 10 days or so. And you determine that with 2 consecutive hydro readings.

The rest of the time a beer is left alone is for conditioning whether in extended primary OR a secondary.

You don't CHOOSE how long a beer ferments for.....you let the yeast do it's job...you want a beer to finish fermenting. You can however choose how to condition a beer. Big beers you want to give it a few weeks or months, and for a long time you may consider racking to a primary. For "normal beers" I find that 2-3 weeks is usually sufficient. And for me, if it's going to only be around a month, I don't bother racking, I just leave it in primary for that time.

I suggest you read THIS thread, it's become the "uber discussion" on this topic thread.

To Secondary or Not? John Palmer and Jamil Zainasheff Weigh In .

Many of us leave our beers in primary for a minimum of 1 month to let it CONDITION in contact with the yeast AFTER fermentation has ceased, it gives the time for the yeasts to go back and eat the byproducts of fermentation that they may have produced.

We believe it makes for clearer, better beer.

 

[kombat]

If you want to secondary there is no reason not to.

Infection? Oxidation?

There is also no reason you need to.

Yeast autolysis when aging a big beer for a long period? Need the primary fermenter for the next batch? Dry hopping and don't want the hops to sink into the yeast cake? Planning to re-use the yeast and don't want to contaminate it with dry hops/fruit/wood chips?

 

[kh54s10]

To me it depends on the recipe (and my laziness at the time). A heavy dark beer I will leave for about 3 weeks. If my pipeline is low and it is a lighter beer I might keg at about 2 weeks. When I get lazy the beer might stay in primary for a month or so.....

If you want to secondary there is no reason not to. There is also no reason you need to. The only real advantage to secondary is that you might get a beer that is more clear.

I do my dry hopping in primary. I will package when the beer has reached final gravity, or when I get around to it.

adding what the reply quoted:

If you want to secondary there is no reason not to.

Infection? Oxidation?
I would hope that the use of secondary would also prompt the care taken to do it properly.


There is also no reason you need to.



Yeast autolysis when aging a big beer for a long period? Need the primary fermenter for the next batch? Dry hopping and don't want the hops to sink into the yeast cake? Planning to re-use the yeast and don't want to contaminate it with dry hops/fruit/wood chips?

Autolysis is something the average homebrewer is not going to encounter, mostly because it is more advanced to do a big beer that would be left on the yeast long enough to create a problem.

I do dry hopping in primary, I use bags to contain the debris.
Needing the fermenter for the next batch and re-using the yeast comes under the heading of you can do a secondary if you want to......