Question about high ABV brew

[cveez11]

I am brewing a chimay grand reserve clone next week. It is about 9% ABV. I was planning on going about 2 to 3 weeks in primary and then about 1 to 2 months in secondary before bottling and let them age for a couple of more months. From what i have been reading on here, many people say don't secondary unless dry hopping etc. So, i guess my question is, should i secondary, or is 3 weeks in primary ok? Please let me know what you guys think.

 

[DocBrown]

A secondary won't hurt at all so long as you're careful in your sanitation. As to whether or not it's beneficial, I think you'll get a number of different responses. Personally, when I've wanted to leave a beer in a fermenter longer than ~6 weeks (and I usually do for the big beers - as I understand it, bulk aging is a good idea) I'll usually transfer to a secondary. I actually have a 5 gallon glass carboy that is perfect for aging since the beer fills it up to the neck, so there's almost no exposure to air. Also, that frees up your primaries for other brews!

I think you'll be fine however you do it. Make sure to use a yeast starter and you'll be golden.

 

[ericsabbat]

Everyone has their own preference when it comes to secondaries. I personally always use them but its just because its what I've always done and I have more of them then I have primaries. Just clean/sanitize it as you would your primary fermenter and there isn't any harm in using one that I've run across yet