Primary Fermentation: How many days after krausen falls to finish?

[Miltonboro]

Just getting back to brewing after almost a decade off. Most of it's coming back to me but a bit rusty here and there. Started four beers so far. Some will go on to secondary, some bottled after primary. Remind me how to judge how long to primary for?

Krausen is gone on two, Hefe w/Munich Classic's krausen lasted 5 days, while my Pale Ale w/S-04 just over 24hrs(though more active).

How much time after the krausen falls to consider properly finished?

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

Well a couple things, first, newer practices are no secondary, ferment completely in your primary. Next, depending on your yeast and temperature I'd say let it ride for 2 weeks, but you should still take a hydrometer reading a day or so apart to make sure there is no change in gravity. This verifies fermentation is complete. Then move to bottling.

 

[fluketamer]

before i had a hydrometer i used to let my beer go for 2 weeks on primary then taste it if its sweet it needs another week. if its dry package it.
like above no secondary is needed,

 

[RM-MN]

You always leave the beer in the primary until the fermentation is done and much of the suspended particles have settled. If you secondary before that happens, yeast that has begun to flocculate will be mixed in again and may never completely settle out so you are defeating the purpose by secondarying; I try to leave my beer for at least 2 weeks (if I am in a hurry because the pipeline is nearly empty) or 3 weeks. Sometimes I let it go longer yet and am rewarded with better beer.

 

[Rish]

Welcome back! I leave mine in the primary for 4-6 weeks, check SG a few days apart, then bottle if there is no change. My beer is better now than when I was bottling as soon as the sg stabilized. Good luck!

 

[Miltonboro]

Ok, so secondary is entirely not needed, happy to skip that then. Two weeks probly fine for my beers. Think I do have a hydrometer somewhere, got it and never used it, but maybe I should be...

 

[No Joy Brews]

I guess I'd like to know how yall handle bottling from primary if there's so much trub at the bottom that it settles above the spigot? I've had a few brews where that alone made secondary (or at least racking to a bottling bucket, resulting in oxidation risk anyway) worth risking. Using Northern Brewer 6.5gal plastic fermentation buckets btw.

 

[Miltonboro]

I guess I'd like to know how yall handle bottling from primary if there's so much trub at the bottom that it settles above the spigot? I've had a few brews where that alone made secondary (or at least racking to a bottling bucket, resulting in oxidation risk anyway) worth risking. Using Northern Brewer 6.5gal plastic fermentation buckets btw.

One could install a second spigot higher on the bucket to have the option for such occasions.

 

[worlddivides]

I guess I'd like to know how yall handle bottling from primary if there's so much trub at the bottom that it settles above the spigot? I've had a few brews where that alone made secondary (or at least racking to a bottling bucket, resulting in oxidation risk anyway) worth risking. Using Northern Brewer 6.5gal plastic fermentation buckets btw.

I've never considered a bottling bucket to be "secondary." For the first 4 or so years that I brewed, bottling from the fermenter wasn't really an option since I used carboys, but even after I got a Speidel with a spigot on the front, I still transferred to the bottling bucket before bottling. It allowed me to reduce as much trub as possible and I also wondered how I would mix the priming sugar in the fermenter without stirring up the trub. Plus, I think that pouring a priming sugar solution into a fermenter would introduce more oxygen than racking the beer from the fermenter into the priming sugar solution. That way it's a slow gradual mixing with no splashing.

 

[No Joy Brews]

Plus, I think that pouring a priming sugar solution into a fermenter would introduce more oxygen than racking the beer from the fermenter into the priming sugar solution. That way it's a slow gradual mixing with no splashing

Fizz drops my friend. Popped em right into the bottles my first few brews. Moved onto secondaries and liquid solution for a few high gravity beers, became habit to do it that way for a while, now I'm in the know about nixxing the secondary and was just curious. Thought maybe primary to the drops wouldn't be such a bad idea compared to racking to bottling bucket and letting all that air in. Trying to go low oxygen on a plastic bucket fermentation budget. We are a frugal bunch, homebrewers.

 

[worlddivides]

Fizz drops my friend. Popped em right into the bottles my first few brews. Moved onto secondaries and liquid solution for a few high gravity beers, became habit to do it that way for a while, now I'm in the know about nixxing the secondary and was just curious. Thought maybe primary to the drops wouldn't be such a bad idea compared to racking to bottling bucket and letting all that air in. Trying to go low oxygen on a plastic bucket fermentation budget. We are a frugal bunch, homebrewers.

One of the disadvantage of the drops is that they're a one-size-fits-all solution. They don't really let you adjust how much carbonation you want, so you can't reduce the carbonation for stouts, for example, or increase the carbonation for lagers, for example. They definitely get rid of the need for a bottling bucket, though, assuming you have a spigot. Just cold crash your fermenter, attach a bottling wand to the spigot, and you're reducing the oxygen exposure by quite a bit. I keg now, but just as an example, I might use 7 PSI for an English brown ale and 14 PSI for a Berliner Weisse.

 

[Rish]

I guess I'd like to know how yall handle bottling from primary if there's so much trub at the bottom that it settles above the spigot? I've had a few brews where that alone made secondary (or at least racking to a bottling bucket, resulting in oxidation risk anyway) worth risking. Using Northern Brewer 6.5gal plastic fermentation buckets btw.

Rest the fv on a 2x4 under the spigot so the trub settles thinner (away from) under the spigot. Drain some of the beer, maybe several ounces, to clear the spigot before starting to bottle. This works well for me. Good luck!

 

[No Joy Brews]

Rest the fv on a 2x4 under the spigot so the trub settles thinner (away from) under the spigot. Drain some of the beer, maybe several ounces, to clear the spigot before starting to bottle. This works well for me. Good luck!

Dude that's so freaking obvious now that you mention it. Thank you! Really good idea.

 

[Bobby_M]

Fizz drops my friend. ... We are a frugal bunch, homebrewers.

That's really the rub. Carbonation tablets/drops, etc are quite a bit more expensive than bulk corn sugar.

 

[Bobby_M]

I guess I'd like to know how yall handle bottling from primary if there's so much trub at the bottom that it settles above the spigot? I've had a few brews where that alone made secondary (or at least racking to a bottling bucket, resulting in oxidation risk anyway) worth risking. Using Northern Brewer 6.5gal plastic fermentation buckets btw.

People who rack (or used to rack) to secondary would do a week or two in primary, then a week or more in secondary and THEN STILL rack to a bottling bucket for bulk priming. When we argue for skipping the secondary, it's just leaving the beer in the primary for 3 weeks and then carry on with the bottling bucket part.