Life without a secondary

[JBmadtown]

I have read many posts regarding the need or lack there of for a secondary conditioning vessel. At this point, I have decided that I am going to go without a secondary vessel.

My question is for those that bottle condition. Is there any change in technique that you use for "big" beers (OG 1.070 and higher)? Or can I primary for 3-4 weeks, bottle, and then put them in a corner and forget about them for 6 months? I was interested in doing a barley wine.

 

[Yooper]

I have read many posts regarding the need or lack there of for a secondary conditioning vessel. At this point, I have decided that I am going to go without a secondary vessel.

My question is for those that bottle condition. Is there any change in technique that you use for "big" beers (OG 1.070 and higher)? Or can I primary for 3-4 weeks, bottle, and then put them in a corner and forget about them for 6 months? I was interested in doing a barley wine.

Yes, that would work. I don't do anything different for bigger beers, as long as they are fairly clear at bottling.

 

[AnOldUR]

. . . as long as they are fairly clear at bottling.

I'd suggest cold crashing the primary for a few days before bottling to help with the clearing.

 

[Revvy]

If it's a big beer that I want to bulk age then after a month in primary, I WILL rack it to a secondary. I have an old ale I brewed on New Years eve that has been in secondary since Feb. I guess it's time to bottle it.

 

[AnOldUR]

If it's a big beer that I want to bulk age then after a month in primary, I WILL rack it to a secondary. I have an old ale I brewed on New Years eve that has been in secondary since Feb. I guess it's time to bottle it.

Yeah, it depends on how big "big" is. For me anything much over 1.080 will probably go to a secondary.






Small world. I have a 1.090 RIS in a secondary (now tucked in the back of the beer fridge) since Feb also. Keep thinking I should do something with it, but resisting the temptation.

 

[Revvy]

Small world. I have a 1.090 RIS in a secondary (now tucked in the back of the beer fridge) since Feb also. Keep thinking I should do something with it, but resisting the temptation.

Actually I think mine is technically in tertiary.....IIrc when I racked it to seondary, I oaked it for a week...then I THINK I racked it again. I really hoped I racked it after a week. If not that means it's been sitting with oak since the second week of feb. *GULP*

No I'm pretty sure I racked again....I hope.

 

[AnOldUR]

Double "small world." Oak here also, but I know mine's still in there. I'm hoping that moving it to fridge temps will mellow the oak effect but still let it condition. What do you think?




edit:
Sorry for the hijack, but sort of in line with the OP. :cross:

 

[dotnetdotcom]

I'd suggest cold crashing the primary for a few days before bottling to help with the clearing.

I doesn't even have to be all that cold to help. I skipped the secondary on my last 2 batches and they are the clearest batches I've made so far. I did 2 smaller batches simultaneously, so I used my carboy as one of the primaries. I'm using a cardboard box lined with insulation as a fermentation chiller. I put in a frozen 2 liter soda bottle to keep the temperatures in the 62° to 67° range. A couple of days before bottling, I put in 2 frozen 2 liter bottles. That lowered the temps to the lower 50° range. I was surprised how clear the beer became and how dense the trub became. When I racked to the bottling bucket, I tipped the fermentation bucket some to get that last bit of beer and the trub didn't move. I guess you'd call that a cool crash.

 

[Revvy]

Double "small world." Oak here also, but I know mine's still in there. I'm hoping that moving it to fridge temps will mellow the oak effect but still let it condition. What do you think?




edit:
Sorry for the hijack, but sort of in line with the OP. :cross:

EEK.....I've oaked for three weeks and it took a couple of months in the bottle to mellow it out. Maybe you should pull a sample and taste it. My tongue just dried out at the thought of that. You might want to rack to a tertiary and bulk age it off the oak for a while. I don't know if the cold will help, but if it's as hard oaky as I'm afraid it might be, I'm thinking anything might help.

I did a dipa where I oaked AND dryhopped in secondary for I think 10 days. That actually didn't need much mellowing time. It came out great. I wonder if adding some hops to yours would help if it's too oakey.

This may appear off topic, but you're right it is still in line with the topic, because it does show even for a die-hard long primary guy like me, that there are instances where I still advocate and use secondaries and even tertiaries.

 

[JBmadtown]

OK, so back to topic a little...

Is there an OG that people would DEFINITELY secondary? Or would it be based more on secondary additions (oak, dry hopping, spices, etc)?

 

[AnOldUR]

OK, so back to topic a little...

For me the rule is any gravity much into the 80's or any secondary additions go to a secondary vessel.

But rules are made to be broken. :cross:

 

[Tlylebrew]

For me its not about the gravity, I pretty much secondary all my beers, but this is just because I find if I don't I get lots of yeast in my kegs, and I don't like having the first three or four glasses full of yeast. I believe if I would cold crash them this wouldn't be a problem, but my beer fridge is full of kegs so I don't have room to put my bucket in there.

Typically I only do it for a week or so. But I have an Imperial Stout Yeti Clone that I am going to let sit in secondary til September. Its already been there for a month.