I have a question for the group. I wanted to know how long to leave the yeast in the primary? Is there a too short time or a too long time? I have a conical fermenter and I usually empty the 1st time after 7 days and some beers hit the FG number and others don't. Thx in advance for reply
What do you mean by "empty the first time?" Do you mean rack to secondary? If so, I'd suggest asking yourself why you're doing a secondary. They are usually not necessary. Personally, I only do them if I'm dry hopping (and even that can be done in primary) or using a special ingredient, e.g. fruit. But if you do a secondary, you want to make sure the beer is at terminal gravity, or very close to it, before racking. I you're talking about going from primary to packaging, make sure the beer is at terminal gravity (confirmed by two identical hydrometer readings 2-3- days apart) and that there are no off-flavors, like acetaldehyde (green apple) or diacetyl (buttery). If gravity has not stabilized or if there are off flavors, you need more time on the yeast. There's no set number of days for this. It will depend on a lot of factors.
When I say empty I mean the jar at the bottom which is all yeast, then sanitize and replace. After 5 more days I empty jar again until I see mostly beer. I dry hop after 2 weeks and keg after 3 weeks.
@PeteKap this recent thread might have some helpful info regarding pulling yeast from a conical at 7 days: https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/question-about-primary-fermentation.626545/ Oh, and welcome to BA edited to add: OP posted as I was composing, so I revised.
The partially helpful/unhelpful answer is until it's done. You want to make sure it's fermented and then cleaned up any byproducts, and then there isn't usually a terrible rush required after that. I've never hit the too long end on my batches, but the longest I will let them sit before wanting to do something with them is probably in the 6-8 week range. I had one go well beyond that but I can't remember how long.There are others that will report longer time frames without issue. There are likely a number of factors that affect this, such as temperature and excessive handling. So too long probably isn't one size fits all. Typically I have beers in and out of primary in about 2-3 weeks, and only secondary/bulk age if there is a good reason to do so. Just usually need the fermenter for the another batch.
It can be a complex answer. This is a long read but covers what you are asking in detail: https://www.morebeer.com/articles/conditioning
