Move to secondary?

[homestarhanes]

Im Brewing my first beer, which is a porter, and im unclear on when im actually suppose to transfer the brew from my primary to my secondary fermenter. ive heard some people say to transfer it after the yeast stops fermenting in the primary, then put it in the secondary, but my brew book says to do it after 3 to 7 days after i pitch the yeast. just brewed today so i have a few days to figure this out.

 

[BIGREDIOWAN]

I'd say it depends on what clarity you're looking for? You'd be fine leaving it in the primary for awhile longer, I'd say an additional week and then put it in your secondary for a week or so, but this part of the process is just up to the individual brewer from what little I understand. 7 days seems too short to me, I would personally leave it in an additional week and then put in secondary for at least an additional week after that, but I don't know much, just what I've read around here.

 

[BigB]

Many are of the opinion, including myself, that a secondary is not important unless you are adding something to the beer at that stage, dry hopping, or lagering. So, I would leave it alone for 3 weeks then bottle.

 

[Redpiper]

I'm going to agree with BigB here - really no need to move to secondary unless you're going for clarity or dryhopping. Search these forums and you'll find all sorts of discussion on this, but in a nutshell, that's it.

Oh, one other reason for going to secondary might be to free up the fermenter for another batch! If the yeast are done with their job but you still want some clean-up and conditioning to take place, you can move the batch to secondary and get a new batch started.

 

[ChshreCat]

Wait, at least, until the beer finishes fermenting and is at a stable FG. At that point, you can either transfer to secondary or go longer in primary.

 

[trufleshufle13]

If you feel you need to move to a secondary (which you don't, its a matter of opinion but i usually do) either hydrometer once a day until it reads the same for 3-4 days, or if you don't have a hydrometer 2 weeks is usually a safe bet.

 

[RM-MN]

You're brewing a porter and it's never going to be clear, so that reason for putting it into a secondary (to let the beer settle and clear) is out. It's a porter so it needs more time to ferment and mature, so rushing it into a secondary really isn't a great idea. Moving it to secondary to free up the fermenter has some merit but fermenters are relatively cheap and you're going to need a second one pretty soon anyway so you should seize the moment and get one now and leave your porter right where it is until it's ready to bottle, say perhaps in 3 weeks. That's one less opportunity to spill the beer, one less chance of oxidation, and one less movement of the beer too.

 

[Calder]

You're brewing a porter and it's never going to be clear.

I disagree. It will clear. It's a dark beer and can disguise any haze you might have.

Leave it 2 weeks in the Primary before moving it. Leaving it where it is will not hurt it. Moving it can create problems; not finished, and you rack off the yeast slowing down the process, having diecetyl and not allowing the yeast to clean up, another chance for contamination, or spilling wort.