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kontrol

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I have a brew in my primary fermenter that's been here for 6 days. I wanted to know how long can i leave it in the primary before I move it to the secondary?

I first intended to let it sit for 1 week in the primary then rack it in the secondary for 3 weeks but I lack time this week to do it this week.

So Could I leave it in the primary for 10 days without problem and then rack if for 2.5 week/3 week?
 
You could leave it in there for months... In fact you should probably continue to wait another week before you rack it. What's the style/abv? Are you dry-hopping?
 
You can leave it even longer than that. I leave mine in 3 to 4 weeks. Most people here don't do a secondary either, I don't.
 
It's an english brown ale (very strong brown color lol). ABV should be 4.2%

I don't intend to dry hop, but I would still like to rack it for various reasons. One being trying racking because I've never done that.

So I could leave it in the primary 1 more week and then move in the secondary without problem?
 
Technically you can rack to secondary after primary fermentation. To see if primary fermentation is complete take a hydrometer reading on three seperate days. If the gravity is consistent rack to secondary. You can leave it in secondary for a couple weeks or longer before bottling.
 
Technically you can rack to secondary after primary fermentation. To see if primary fermentation is complete take a hydrometer reading on three seperate days. If the gravity is consistent rack to secondary. You can leave it in secondary for a couple weeks or longer before bottling.

I'm so eager to drink it :) It's my first brew ever. But I'll let it in the secondary for at least 3 week so it condition just fine. :)
 
My advice- brew gain soon so at least in a month or so you'll be able to rdwhahb while you wait for the next one!
 
My advice- brew gain soon so at least in a month or so you'll be able to rdwhahb while you wait for the next one!

That's what I'd do if I was a little bit more experienced. But I'll have to wait to see how this one turns out! That was my own recipe (You can call me crazy) so I'd like to taste it to see how it taste to adjust some of the thing I made. I added hops at 10 and 5 minutes and I'd like to see how the hop taste will be like so I will have a good idea for my next recipe to when add the hops depending on the style.
 
Whether you secondary or not,the beer should be at FG before you do any racking. I leave it in primary till it hits FG,then give it another 3-7 days to clean up & settle out clear or slightly misty. Then rack to bottling bucket & prime. You can't cut corners & get good beer. The yeast have their own time table that often doesn't fit yours. Try to speed things up,& it can stall or not have time to clean up by products of fermentation. Patience is the best thing in brewing to learn.
 
Whether you secondary or not,the beer should be at FG before you do any racking. I leave it in primary till it hits FG,then give it another 3-7 days to clean up & settle out clear or slightly misty. Then rack to bottling bucket & prime. You can't cut corners & get good beer. The yeast have their own time table that often doesn't fit yours. Try to speed things up,& it can stall or not have time to clean up by products of fermentation. Patience is the best thing in brewing to learn.

You mean should be at FG before bottling? If I'm not mistaken you can rack to a secondary even if the FG wasn't reach?
 
Never rack before FG is reached. You want to be sure the beer is finished fermenting first. Otherwise,it could stall,much less have enough yeast to clean up by products of fermentation first.
 
Never rack before FG is reached. You want to be sure the beer is finished fermenting first. Otherwise,it could stall,much less have enough yeast to clean up by products of fermentation first.

Oh really? I though I've seen places where people measure that their gravity before racking is higher than when bottling.

So even before I rack I should check my gravity to make sure it either match the gravity I was supose to reach or it didn't move for a few days.

Just to make sure, when you say rack, it mean move to secondary right?
 
Racking is the act of moving the beer from one vessel to another. Regardless of secondary,bottling bucket,keg,whatever. Some are just impatient to get the process moving to the completed stage. You can't hurry beer to be done so you can drink it. It just won't happen.
Besides,the old school thinking was getting it off the yeast before autolysis happened. We don't have to worry about that these days with better quality ingredients,etc. Just leaving it in primary till it cleans up & setles out clear or slightly misty is getting to be the norm. I've done it since the begining. It comes from my wine making days.
 
When you rack to secondary, there is still yeast in the beer so would it be possible that the gravity still change in the secondary?
 
If it doesn't stall first. Happens frequently when folks rack too soon. That's why it isn't done. Besides the risk of oxidizing it in the act of racking. Or sanitation.
 
If it doesn't stall first. Happens frequently when folks rack too soon. That's why it isn't done. Besides the risk of oxidizing it in the act of racking. Or sanitation.

What is stalling exactly? I know it can happen when beer is exposed to direct sunlight to much or oxygen.
 
stalling is when the yeast go dormant from being shocked somehow. Usually from a drop in temps. They settle to the bottom & stop fermenting. This also happens when racked to secondary too soon. There isn't enough yeast left to finish the job,& they shock & settle.
Skunking is what happens when beer with hops is exposed to UV.
Oxygen after fermentation starts,or during racking,etc causes the beer to taste like wet cardboard.
 
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