Ready for the secondary??

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

dubicus360

Active Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2008
Messages
36
Reaction score
0
Location
Savannah Ga
Through some research and my previous batches I let my primary go 7-10 days. I also check my gravity to make sure I'm almost finished according to the recipes. My current batch, an imperial porter, has now been in for 12 days. I took a gravity reading on day 8. According to my recipe I was there. Recipe 1.022, mine 1.020. It's still bubbling. I don't want to let it go too much longer. Some of my first batches I kept in the primary close to 2 weeks. They all had a penny like taste. I know the beer will be fine, but I'd like to get some feedback from all of you on the pros and cons of longer primaries. As well as too early secondaries. Thanks.
 
Most people here do a minimum of 3 weeks in primary, and no secondary. Long primaries reduce risk of oxidation/infection, and also allow the yeast to clean up after themselves.
 
Don't go by the bubbling. Wait a couple days and check the gravity again. If it stays the same then primary fermentation is done.

Whether to move to secondary or not is a personal choice that has worn out many keyboards on here. I have been in the habit of using a secondary for years. I recently thought I would stop and only use secondary for those batches where I want to do something special with the beer, like dry-hopping or adding oak. However, I find that two things have happened. I have upped the amount I brew so am short on primary size carboys and the brews I am doing are mostly high gravity so to cut off use of secondary I would be going more than a month between batches. This leaves me no choice but to put my brews into secondary to bulk age and clear. Secondary size carboys are also cheaper so it is a bit easier to justify buying another five gallon carboy to expand. Besides, I have done it so long it just doesn't seem right to not use a secondary.

As for when to rack into secondary. I have moved beers that were not quite done and they still dropped a couple gravity points in secondary, without any bad effects on the beer that I noticed. The shortest I have had a beer in secondary was three days, because it was a dark stout that wasn't going to get any clearer than it did in primary. For that batch racking to secondary was useless for the beer but allowed me to dump some apple juice onto the cake to make cider.
 
You need to let the yeast finish fermenting--if you bottle before fermentation is complete you're likely to end up with overcarbonated beer or bottle bombs. If you're consistently reaching lower terminal gravities than are planned, there's something wrong somewhere--are you doing all-grain or extract brewing? A good rule of thumb is to let your beer sit in the primary until the gravity stays constant for at least three days--I usually let mine sit in for 2-3 weeks, although for a big beer like an imperial porter I would guess that it could use even longer than that. I don't think the flavor you're describing (metallic?) is being caused by sitting in primary too long, but I don't have any input on where it is coming from. Maybe the beer is too green, if you've been racking or bottling your beer too soon?
 
Try letting your beer sir in the primary for three to dour weeks. You will be surprised by how much better it turns out.
 
I have always gone to the secondary in all my brews. I feel it does clear up a lot more with some more time. With this one I am throwing some brandy soaked vanilla beans in the carboy. I'll give it probably 2 weeks in the secondary.
 
I'm generally a primary only guy. The way I see it.... Why use a secondary if I can use it as another primary and make more beer. I also think the yeast is gonna fall out the same in the primary as it does in the secondary. It's not like they know their in a secondary so its time to flocculate. Though I think the 3 week minimum making your beer better is sort of a misconception. I think the beer being older by the time they drink it is what makes the difference. Its the extra time, on the cake or in the bottle, that makes the beer more mature and taste better. Not the fact it was sitting on yeast.

As for the OP.... Let your beer flocc out and sit a couple days then movie it over if you want. Your metallic taste could be coming from your water or a number of other reasons. The wiki has more info on that.
 
Back
Top