How long in the primary?

[TwoWheeler]

I've always been under the impression that it's a good idea to get the wort off the dead yeast fairly quickly.

As such, I've always racked over to the secondary after about ten days - two weeks.

The recipe I just brewed says "21 days in the primary and seven in the secondary".

Can that be a misprint?

Is it a good idea?

There are raisins and spices in the primary - is the long primary time to extract as much as possible from the raisins?

 

[rico567]

No. I started out with the old-school recipe of 7 primary / 14 secondary. Now, for most beers, I just leave it in the primary for 3 weeks and bottle. The results seem just as good to me, without the rigmarole of going through the secondary.

NB: I do a secondary when 1) called for by the recipe, usually a high-gravity beer like an Imperial Stout or Barleywine, or 2) when I've got some special additions going on that can't be thrown in the primary.

 

[Nurmey]

I won't move my beer until it's at LEAST 30 days in primary. Usually it goes longer than that. Yeast does a lot more than just ferment your beer, it makes it taste better and is clearer if left long enough to finish its job. BTW, the yeast on the bottom of the fermenter isn't dead, it's just sleeping.

 

[Mermaid]

This discussion comes up almost as much as the "to secondary.. nor not...".

Ultimately, your yeast tells you when it's ready, then add a couple weeks for the biological cleanup crew (the yeast) to tidy up after its bretheren.

and feel free to experiment - whatever creates good beer for you is what works. Also, it may change from brew to brew (don't fear experimentation)

My dubbel was in the primary for 3 weeks, then racked to a secondary for about 10 days, then bottled where it's going to have a nice long nap.

My "dead guy ale" clone is going on week 2, in the secondary (after 14 days in primary). I'll bottle it once I get around to getting my Tap-A-Draft system and another bottle of starsan. Not the least bit worried about it.

Bigger beers, in general, need more time to gobble up the sugar and clean up after themselves, but again - your milage may vary.

I'm learning that this homebrewing thing is a LOT like cooking. You could follow a recipe exactly but you may find if you color outside the lines just a little you might get a better result.