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Primary ferment
Lets rattle the cages a bit.
How long do you primary?
I routinely let my beers go for close to three weeks. I am lazy. I check the gravity as I rack to a keg for conditioning and carbing (done in parallel). But I don't check the gravity for doneness, unless the gravity tells me there is a problem, but after 3 weeks its generally good to go.
For the record, most of the time I am ferment in a plastic bucket. At three weeks I have never noticed oxidation issues either. I only recently started using my glass carboys again because I wanted to take pictures for my website. I also recently started using oxygen and a stone prior to pitch, so I wanted to see that happen and I wanted to see if the ferment was more vigorous than in the past. I'll go back to buckets once I feel my new process is predictable and I don't need to see whats going on in the fermentor.
I don't do secondary often, unless I am adding fruit, or had a "messy" primary and want to clear it up a bit.
90% of the time there is no secondary for me. To be fair though I transfer to kegs and start to chill to serving temp and essentially get the same effect that others get with secondary, only faster because of the low temp.
it depends entirely on how much time I have... if you have the free time, one week to ten days... never really longer than that. I'll usually do secondary if it's something other than a session beer going into a keg, I'll just stick it in a keg and cool like brechez IF I have an available keg...
Still only use buckets for both primary and secondary and have never had an issue with oxidation.
I wait 7-10 days, but still go by the hyrdo reading. I'm sure as I get more experienced, I'll go with a set time based on the recipe and previous experience with it. I also use a bucket, and then a carboy for secondary. I would like to get all Better Bottle equipemnt, but it is fairly expensive for a ported carboy, plus the required attachments for the spigot. I'm sure I could go without it, but I figure if I'm going to spend, I might as well go all the way.....
I've been in Primary for seven days, or as soon after that as I can stick it in secondary, then I try to leave it in there for a couple of weeks before bottling.
-R
I am somewhat lazy, but mostly I am very busy. I generally follow at least 7 days in primary, then transfer to secondary for about 2 weeks, then I bottle.
I'm doing the 6-1/2 gal buckets with a spigot from Kraus. I usually do a 1-2-3, or so. 1 week primary, 2 weeks secondary, three weeks bottle conditioning.
Usually don't get to the 3 week mark. I like going to the secondary. I never have off flavors from the yeast cake. If the primary fermentation isn't complete, racking to the secondary usually gets it going again. Less gunk on the bottom when going to the bottling bucket.
brewchez wrote:
Lets rattle the cages a bit.
I'm more of a sh@t stirrer 
I use a conical....doesn't apply to me....... 
.......7-10 days
I am still new at this, but I have only racked to a secondary when dry hopping or I needed to free up the plastic bucket and my previous batch was not done fermenting just yet. I hope I can become patient enough to let the beer clear up in the secondary a bit more, but I am usually anxious to get it bottled and ready to drink. Then again, I don't know if I care too much about clear beer that I make for myself, I may give it more effort when doing my xmas presents this year.
8dot3 wrote:
I am still new at this, but I have only racked to a secondary when dry hopping or I needed to free up the plastic bucket and my previous batch was not done fermenting just yet. I hope I can become patient enough to let the beer clear up in the secondary a bit more, but I am usually anxious to get it bottled and ready to drink. Then again, I don't know if I care too much about clear beer that I make for myself, I may give it more effort when doing my xmas presents this year.
Regardless of getting clear beer, its important to be sure your beer is finished before bottling. That ensures controllable carbonation and also proper flavor profiles from the yeast. After the main portion of fermentation is complete the yeast still are metabolicalyl active utilizing some of the by products of fermentation for energy. That time cleans up the flavors these by products cause.
I'm with Bill. I primary for 7-10 days and secondary my mid-strength beers. I only have one 5-gallon carboy and I use that for my big beers that secondary for 6-7 months.
Wild
I've experimented with a couple ways and both worked fine. One way is to ferment in primary for 7-10 days and then rack to secondary for an extended period of time (the longest being 3 weeks in the secondary for me). The second way nd easier way I've tried is to just leave everything in the primary for 2-3 weeks without moving the beer (this includes adding hops for dry hopping in the primary). As Charlie Papazian says, the yeast won't begin to autolyse and really make your beer taste bad if you're leaving them in there for up to 4 weeks. If leaving longer than 4 weeks, then it's probably a good idea to transer to another vessel. Also, leaving the beer on the yeast for a longer time ensures that they can fully reabsorbe their own byproducts such as diacetyl, sulfer compounds, aldehydes, etc, most of which you really don't want in your beer at high levels anyway.
I never check the gravity until I think I'm ready to bottle. This way there is minimal chance for contamination or introducing oxygen to my beer. The last beer I made with this second method was a honey stout. It started at 1.070 and finished at 1.010. The bottles were carbonated within 7 days, which I attribute to a slightly higher density of yeast in the bottles. The beer tastes great, although I bet this big beer will age really well.
Good topic! Cheers - 1n1
I may have said it before but I'll say it again here.
I once left an IPA (1065OG) and a chocolate robust porter (1055OG) in primary for 3 months!!!! Both in plastic buckets!!!
After my baby boy came I never got out to the garage to deal with them. I had brewed them in early January and moved them to kegs in mid march. I am sure that at somepoint they may have even frozen.
With the exception of the beers being a bit cloudy, both tasted fine. Actually they tasted great. I served them up with 4 other beers at a cook out (in MAY!!!) and they went the fastest.
I view myself as being pretty open minded and unbiased, but I expected oxidation issues (plastic) and yeast nastiness (autolysis). Neither of these flavors were in the beer. I attribute it to the ultra cold temps in my garage during the primary phase, that's probably what saved these beers. Limiting oxidation and keeping the yeast well below any metabolic levels.
I tell this tale for one big reason: Don't do anything that someone else does, until you try it yourself!!! We can all hand out advice, but as a brewer you owe it to yourself to figure out what works for you.
Now do I leave beers in plastic for 3 months now? Hell, no. But do I worry about oxidation and autolysis if I leave beer in primary for 3 weeks. An even bigger HELL NO. So that's why I routinly leave beer in primary for 3 weeks. By then I know the yeast is really done and the beer is ready for what ever I want to do to it.
In fact, my Tripel has been in primary for two weeks, but its really yeasty in the jug. So I'll probably rack it to glass to clean it up a bit before going to my bright beer keg for fining.
OK that was a long post.
Now how about temp control in primary. The next few nights are supposed to be in the 40s-50s and i am leaving my windows open so I dont have to run the AC during the day. The temperature may fluctuate from low 60s to low 70s thoughout the day and night. Is this horrible? My last few primaries have been at about 72 and they have came out spectacular. Even my low gravity porter that went from carboy to keg in 6 days is great.
if you are expecting a drop in ambient temp then wrap the fermentor in 2 or three towels to insulate a bit. This will help it resist that temp change some. A brew belt would work too.
http://www.beer-wine.com/product_info.a … ectionID=1
I have used one for years and its pretty good.
I built a "hot box" in my garage for the winter. It is basically en enclosed boxed insulated and I have a space heater in there keeping thigs at 70 degrees.
After you ahve been brewing a while and you master boiling, chilling, and yeast starters; temp control becomes the most important thing to getting great beer all the time.
The temp of you beer should always be the same and not fluctuate up or down much at all to get great beer.
I agree with the plastic bucket debate. I used plastic exclusively for both primary and secondary... have done primary for 3 weeks and if I do a secondary, I rarely do it for less than 3-4 weeks... never had any oxidation or off flavors. I think it's one of those things that *CAN* be a problem so most people/texts/etc report it that it happens... even though it's probably somewhat scarce. IMHO.
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