Secondary or not

While plenty of people hate secondaries I really like using them. I have never had a problem with a secondary. I normally give it a 2 to 3 week primary (assuming the SG has stabilized) and transfer it over for however long I feel it needs to be there. You can normally start drinking from the bottle after about two weeks but I always found that a little extra time never hurt.

 

I'm a big proponent of leaving the beer on the yeast in primary as long as possible, and either kegging or bottling straight from primary. However, in the case of lagers or large beers that will benefit from extended aging, I see nothing wrong with transferring to secondary. More specifically, I don't like leaving beer on the yeast cake for more than roughly 4 or 5 weeks, so if it's going to sit longer than that due to aging, additional ingredients, etc., I will move it to a conditioning container. I have an impy stout that will be moved to secondary to age on chocolate and peanut butter, and will soon have an old ale that will be moved to conditioning to sit on oak cubes.

So that said, I'd wait about 3 weeks in primary, then move to secondary. Were this my beer, I'd let it sit a week there, then add the coffee for about an additional week. From that point, you can bottle. Ass OddNotion said, once in the bottle it usually takes at least two weeks to carbonate, but beers this large can benefit from additional time. Feel free to pop one now and again to see how they're coming along, but the longer you can wait, the better it will get, all things being equal.

 

i love the secondary... really helps me get a cleaner finished product. as for coffee beans in the secondary... that's what i've done, but with mixed success (depends on the roast and length of time in there).

maybe other people have a different approach, but i worry less about the FG and more on making sure that fermentation has ceased - even if it isn't necessarily the FG i want - before bottling. Heaven forbid the exploding bottle. As for aging, an imperial stout will probably be good to start testing in a couple of weeks - I usually open one every few days starting at 2 weeks until I feel like I'm happy with where it's at. I have a batch of orange-chocolate RIS that's been bottled since January and is still improving.

hope the coffee IS turns out great!

 

I think it depends on your system. I keg, so I just use the keg as a secondary, basically. I let it ferment in primary for two to four weeks then transfer to keg where it cold conditions and carbs at the same time until it is ready. Were I bottling, and there was a lot of trub plus other adjuncts, I would think about using a secondary (though I never have used one, personal philosophy), just make sure to blast in some CO2 if possible to purge the O2.

Also, I'd wait until primary fermentation is done before racking over. And, I'll just throw out cold steeping the coffee and then adding that at bottling so you can have greater control on the coffee addition.

 

Secondary is good for clarity, dry hopping, and fruit additions. This is primarily because there is less chance of infection because of the alcohol content after primary fermentation. Also it is of note to keep in mind that the beer will have a more bready/yeasty flavor with extended periods on the yeast cake. Its typically advantageous to migrate off as soon as primary is complete. Clarity is never a bad thing but flavor is usually of most import.

For a RIS, I would add the coffee in secondary. Also, I would make a pot of coffee over using the beans themselves as the beans add tannins which may or may not be desirable.

 

So is the equivalent extension in the primary. It's a function of gravity x time, regardless of where it's happening.

 

For me the ‘bottom line’ is that there is no need to perform a secondary for an ale. If you desire to have extended conditioning of your ale, that can be conducted perfectly well within the primary fermenter.

I personally only use a secondary for lagering my lager beers. I have seen where folks have posted that they use a secondary when they utilize fruit; they add fruit to the secondary and then transfer the beer to the secondary for ‘fruit conditioning’. Why you couldn’t just add the fruit to the primary is beyond me but I have no experience here; I have never added fruit to any of my homebrewed beers.

Each homebrewer needs to decide whether a secondary is a ‘benefit’ to them. I personally do not see any benefit to conducting a secondary for an ale.

Cheers!

 

Exactly. It's only when the time factor goes beyond a certain point that I move my beer. Otherwise, I believe the time spent on a greater quantity of yeast aids in the "cleanup" of the beer, as the yeast goes back and cleans up some of the esters, etc.

While I have absolutely no evidence to support this, I believe that part of "that homebrew taste" is due to brewers racking their beers far too soon, leaving inadequate yeast to clean the brew. I won't go so far as Jack does and say there is no need to secondary an ale, as I do move my beers over ~8% abv when I'm going to be conditioning them past about 5 weeks or so. But I will say it is rarely necessary. I've usually done my coffee beers by adding coffee to the primary, as I don't condition them for an extended period. Of course, I've never added coffee to anything over 8% either. As I stated above, I'll be racking my stout to secondary because with the addition of the chocolate and PB, the total time spent in primary would take me past my (admittedly arbitrary) 5 weeks before I keg it.

 

“I do move my beers over ~8% abv when I'm going to be conditioning them past about 5 weeks or so.” I personally do not condition my ales for “5 weeks or so”. If I were to condition for this time period I would indeed utilize a secondary.

As a point of example I make hard ciders. I primary ferment my ciders for about three weeks. I then transfer my ciders to a secondary (a 5 gallon carboy) and I condition for several months (e.g., 4-5 months).

So, if you intend to condition for an extended period (e.g., 5 weeks or longer) then a secondary is a good idea.

Cheers!