How long in secondary

“What is the secondary for besides allowing flavors to meld and does this happen as well in the bottle?” I have no scientific studies to back up my assertion, but in my humble opinion conditioning is conditioning. There are some proponents that state bulk conditioning (i.e., conditioning in a secondary) is ‘better’ but I don’t know if there is any scientific reasoning behind that opinion.

One difference between the two methods (extended aging in a secondary vessel and the bottle aging process) is that by bottling earlier you do have a genuine secondary fermentation occurring earlier (you need the secondary fermentation to produce CO2 for carbonation). In my opinion the bottle conditioning for carbonation and then bottle aging (additional conditioning) process is the same as doing an extended secondary.

Cheers!

 

I am the same. When the beer has sat on the yeast for three or four weeks it is time to bottle. I just cracked my newest Barly Wine after three weeks in a bottle. I cant wait for a year to go by.

 

A secondary has its place. I mainly use it for aging beer on fruit. I don't speak for the group, but, empirically speaking, I see more people on this forum that skip the secondary than use it for simple aging. Brewers use secondaries successfully all the time, so to each there own. But kegging or bottling is just as good IMO in this situation, and it eliminates a chance for oxidation.

 

If I were to leave it in the secondary longer than two weeks I would add CO2. Actually I add CO2 anytime I transfer beer to a secondary I am paranoid of oxidation.

 

You could absolutely secondary for dryhopping, but it is really not nessessary. If you need to ferment something else, transfer to secondary and dry hop. But otherwise, you can just dump your hops in the primary and let them settle. The dumping of the hops will cause some CO2 to come out of solution and help push some of what little oxygen got in there.

 

“I'll just use the secondary for dry hopping and adding oak chips for about 10 days …”

It is certainly is your prerogative to conduct a secondary for dry hopping and oak additions. I personally would just add the dry hops and oak to the primary for a timeframe of 10 days. Why transfer to a secondary and risk oxidation for such a short timeframe?

Cheers!

P.S. It appears that scury311 is a faster typer than me.

 

Great minds think alike.

 

Na Zdrowie!

 

Fixed it for ya.

 

Stini yasus

Much abliged.

 

Its a total myth that a beer will magically clear up when transfered to a secondary vessel. Its perfectly fine to let the beer sit in primary for 2-4 weeks and many people go past a month with no ill effects. It will clear just as fast in primary (if your not moving it to a new location every day) and avoid contamination/oxidation. If you have the ability to cool down your primary vessels to 35-40f before transfering to a bottling bucket, more yeast will be encouraged to drop out and will leave your bottles with less sediment as they conditon for a few weeks or months. The stout will benefit from a couple months in the bottle to smooth out the sharp roasty/toasty dark malt characters and should age gracefully with a good clean process.

 

I have always been a fan of moving into a glass carboy for secondary fermentation after about a week or so of active fermentation. I feel that getting it off of the leftover sludge from the initial boil helps to clear it up faster and produces a cleaner flavor. Having less sediment in your vessel when siphoning into the bottling bucket is always good as well. The cleaner the beer is when it hits the bottle the better.

As far as extended aging goes , I usually just let it sit in the bottles.