Extract brewing for the first time

The need for secondary "fermentation" (conditioning) is highly debated, and tends to come down to personal preference. There is no certainly no harm in leaving a beer to sit in primary for 2, 3 or maybe even 4 weeks without racking to a secondary, especially for what I am assuming is a normal strength IPA kit.

On the other hand, I would be weary of leaving town immediately after brewing a beer due to the possibility of a clogged airlock. The krausen will rise during fermentation, and if there's not enough headspace in the fermenter then the foam will clog the airlock. I'd hate to come home after two weeks to a fermenter with the lid blown off and beer on the ceiling/floor/walls. Instead of an airlock, you should look into getting a blow-off tube setup. Or, time the next brew day so that you're in town for another 3 days or so until the most active fermentation is complete to allow monitoring and cleaning the airlock.

 

^
Pretty much exactly what I was going to say.

 

Or just leave lots of head-space and let the fermentation clear it out with CO2. Plan on doubling the amount of time brewing for first batch. Despite reading/preparing, something will always go wrong or will just take longer than expected.

 

You could also solve the airlock thing by arranging for the first two-three days of fermentation to occur when you're home. Primary should be done by then. Leaving it for two weeks after that... perfect.

You should make sure of what temperature you're fermenting at too. Wild fluctuations ain't good, neither is warm temperatures. What have you done on this front?

 

Yeah, there's no *need* to use a secondary at all. Not to say it doesn't have its place, but it is not required to make good beer.

Good luck and let us know how it goes

 

I would just leave it in the primary for 4 weeks every thing should be settled to the bottom by then and you'll have a nice yeast cake. Just be careful not to stir any of it up when raking it.

You should really only need to use a secondary if you are adding dry hops or some other ingredient, but before transferring the fermentation process should be finished in your primary (take a hydrometer reading 3 days in a row and make sure it's the same).