I was just curious what you guys consider a good amount of time for a beer to be in the secondary. I usually do 2-3 weeks? Also is there benefits or negative effects for going over this period? Thanks
I've never seen any value in a secondary other than perhaps a big beer that you don't want sitting on the yeast for six months. I keg my beers, so I rely on gravity to clear those in which I don't care about clarity and gelatin in the few that I do.
I rarely secondary a beer much longer than a week unless I'm too busy to bottle (big beers are the exception). I typically secondary because I find it reduces sediment in the bottle.
Thanks this is a Belgian IPA and I was thinking of giving it a 3 week secondary to clean it up. It was unusually cloudy when I did the switch. I was thinking a longer period might clear it up some.
Do you have the ability to cold crash? That can help drop the yeast out of suspension. Three weeks sounds like a bit too long if you want the fresh hop flavor to stick around in your IPA.
I agree with you on the hop thing , it has been in the mid 30's here in the Pittsburgh area and 40's during mid day. I could probably do a day or 2.
Except for lagers, and ales with special ingredients, I think a good amount of time to secondary is 0 days. For most beers, I give them extra time in the primary instead.
I usually shoot for about a week after the primary fermentation has finished. But I would say that 4 weeks total (even if fermentation is finished in a week or less) is not too long, and I have gone longer than that a few times with no problems. The only beers I really rush to package are weizens, moving to keg or bottling almost as soon as attenuation is done.
I've been leaving my beers in primary for 3 weeks lately and I seem to be getting better results than 2. I haven't done any really big ones, though I have a sour aging that I did put into secondary. Conventional wisdom is that for anything under about six weeks, secondaries are not necessary even if dry hopping or oak / "barrel " aging it. I do have a cider that I need to rack over for clarification, but it seems to be pretty clear even after primary.
VikeMan knows what hes talking about. Ill just add what guidelines i go by. 2-4 weeks primary secondary only for lagers or if a longer 6+ week fermentation is desired bottle condition for at least a month for best taste, if your patient. Ipas maybe sooner.
