To rack or not to rack....

[Wino24]

Hi all...I currently have an oatmeal stout churning away in the primary. Recently I have gotten away from racking to a secondary choosing to leave the beer in the primary for 10 -14 days and going straight to the bottles. I remember reading in "How to Brew" that a beer may benefit from conditioning on top of the yeast cake. So....is there any problem with letting this stout sit for an extra week in the primary or would I be better off racking and letting it condition there for another week or two?....Thoughts?
Thanks

 

[Nurmey]

Your beer will thank you for leaving it longer. As many here do, I leave mine a minimum of 4 weeks in primary.

 

[KayaBrew]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What she said!

 

[Revvy]

WHat they both said!!!!! I leave most of my beers for 1 month then bottle.

 

[ibbones]

I have been leaving mine in the primary for about a month. Sometimes I will rack them to a secondary just for grins (OK, I really just needed the bucket) but they have been turning out a lot better since I started leaving them alone for a longer time.

 

[Wino24]

Would you recommend leaving ALL beers in the primary for longer periods or just certain styles?

 

[khiddy]

Most. Not wheats, they are good young - I do 10 days start to serve with my Minute Wheat recipe.

 

[mrtrav]

Agreed with everyone here. If you like clear beer, sometimes it helps to rack into secondary to let it settle for a bit longer without yeast before you keg/bottle. Of course you could always siphon from above the cake, you always end up getting **** in your keg/bottles.

 

[14thstreet]

I'm in the exact same boat. I have an Oatmeal Stout and a malted cider that is already past 2 weeks in primary. I'll be out of town until the beer is 4 weeks old. The stout looks like it is done as the gravity has not changed in 3 days but the cider is slowly chewing off some points near the end. I've never primaried for 4 weeks but that's about as long as I want to do it before I bottle or keg these. The cider is already drinkable and I would have liked to have bottled it sooner to give out at Thanksgiving but it'll be a week behind now. Oh well!

 

[Revvy]

Agreed with everyone here. If you like clear beer, sometimes it helps to rack into secondary to let it settle for a bit longer without yeast before you keg/bottle. Of course you could always siphon from above the cake, you always end up getting **** in your keg/bottles.

OR you can leave the beer in primary for a month, like many of us do...I had a beer called "Jewel like" by judges in a contest because of it. The yeast will compact quite tight in the month and you will have a lot less trub ending up in the bottling bucket and in the beers.