Whether to secondary or not is an endless topic. How necessary is it for an Imperial Stout. I will be brewing my Morebeer extract kit in the next few days, and would like some opinions on the need for a secondary.
I'd want to age a RIS for a while - months - so I would use a secondary. Don't be too quick to push this beer along. I've found bigger, darker beers really benefit from bulk aging. I've had an "Imperial" porter (~10% ABV) aging for about 5 months now and while I don't think the 5 months have been truly necessary, I am pretty sure this is going to be one hell of a good beer. I knew I wanted to age it for at least a couple of months, but then I just kept putting off bottling it because I knew it would be OK and I could attend to other things - like brewing and bottling "regular" beers. A big, dark beer like a RIS 1) can benefit from an extended aging period, and 2) can handle the extended aging without a problem (assuming you keep the air lock filled).
Great advice. I pushed a RIS to quickly out of primary and never hit final gravity. My RIS was in secondary for 4 months before I bottled and will age in bottles until December. About 11 months from brew day to drinking.
11 months from brewing to drinking is something I plan on for at least 1 beer a year (this year's is the aforementioned porter, plus I'm experimenting with a sour beer this year as well). The key, of course, is to have enough other beers brewed and ready during those 11 months!
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