how long to secondary ferment

[ire2661]

I brewed an imperial stout kit last week and wanted transfer it to a secondary and add some vanilla beans, but I've never done it before and wanted to know time frames. I've read reviews of the kit and people said they let it ferment for 6-8 months. Does that mean they transferred it to a secondary after about 14 days and then let it sit in the secondary for 6-8 months? Should I put the vanilla beans into the secondary and rack the beer and let it sit for 6-8 months?

 

[flars]

I have never used vanilla beans. Her is a link to get you started. Forget the comments about never needing to sanitize.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/boil-secondary-whole-vanilla-beans-341028/

 

[ire2661]

I am familiar with the process of splitting the beans and soaking them in vodka, but my question more or less revolves around if I am going to leave it for 6 months, should I do it when I transfer to the secondary next week or should I wait until a few weeks before I'm going to bottle?

 

[flars]

Seems like the beer is on the vanilla beans for one to two weeks. Number of beans vary.
One poster implied the best method was to do a taste test every two days after the first week on the beans to find the right level flavor.

Waiting a few weeks before you bottle may work the best.

http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=99366

Can't do long posts. IE11 can't display page at any moment.

 

[ire2661]

Thanks!

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[kombat]

I'm not sure the OP's question has actually been answered yet. If you're planning on aging it for 6-8 months, then I would rack it to secondary after 14-21 days to get it off the yeast. Normally, sitting on the yeast is not an issue, but for such a long timeframe, I would actually recommend it.

I would then age the beer in secondary for the 6-8 months, then add the vanilla beans in the last 2 weeks prior to bottling.

 

[cjgenever]

I usually give my imperials three weeks on the cake. I had an iipa on it for over five and it was really clean with gentle esters. Give it three weeks on the cake. Rack it into a secondary, then add the bean.

I've used vanilla a few times now. The first time I split it and racked onto it. The flavors were hampered by flocculating yeast. The been doesn't float as does dry hops. now I infuse a bit of clean (expensive) vodka. Dump that in and put the bean in a paint bag to keep it suspended in the FV.

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