Primary fermentation, Secondary fermentors & bottling

[Orfy]

wow that's a quick ferment tim - how do you get it to go so well?

Frothy

Frothy, The Majority of my ferments seem to do in under 3 days. I quite often rack to secondary in 5 days.

I was rather concerned about my last brew, it hit 1012 in under 12 hours. I'm not sure if it did any damage, we shall have to see.

[Bigster]

same as the very venerables Jim and daab

[Garth]

For the last few months I've been leaving the ale in primary (glass carboy) for 14-21 days, then bottling and waiting a few weeks.

It seems to work great for me.

Monk

me too Monk, I've had some mega clear beer recently, I usually do 2 1/2 weeks in the primary, bottle it then leave it in the warm for 2 weeks, then move to the cool... sometimes the last stage dosen't last too long............

[monk]

For the last few months I've been leaving the ale in primary (glass carboy) for 14-21 days, then bottling and waiting a few weeks.

It seems to work great for me.

Monk

me too Monk, I've had some mega clear beer recently, I usually do 2 1/2 weeks in the primary, bottle it then leave it in the warm for 2 weeks, then move to the cool... sometimes the last stage dosen't last too long............

Yeah, I started doing this because I was trying to simplify and read about a certain fancy-pants brewer (who wins all sorts of competitions and is semi-famous) who "never uses a secondary, unless it's a lager or a fruit beer". Now, the funny part is, I read another article by a different "renowned" homebrewer, and he specifically cited his use of a secondary as being a great help in making great beers. It just goes to show that a lot a folks use a lot of different techniques to make great beer. I've come to think that you should always take advice with a grain of salt and get first hand experience before you decide to start doing things a certain way. Different things work for different systems.

I don't know if this TV show ever played in the UK, but when I was growing up, we had a show in the US called MacGuyver, about an action hero guy who always ended up getting into a sticky situation and escaping by making a bomb out of some random crap (a popsicle, 4 mice, and toothpick--okay, not THAT ridiculous). Whenever I homebrew, I still get the MacGuyver feel, like I can't believe I'm making delicious beer in my kitchen, letting it ferment in a plastic bucket in my closet. That's, perhaps, what I love most about brewing.
Sorry for the long post.

monk

[Frothy]

Exactly monk the DIY / mad scientist vibe is great.
It's like beer is so simple & yet we can personalise it so much.

[Garth]

...well.. exactly what Frothers said, I can't say much more,

everybody has their own way and we're all here to do the same thing,...make great tasting beer by our own hand.. simple as that.

[Andy]

Amen

[mysterio]

In an ideal situation, I leave the beer in a plastic primary fermenter for a week or two. Then, if i'm brewing a lower gravity beer it will go straight to a cornie keg, put on gas and left at lower temperatures for a week or two before serving. If i'm brewing a moderate gravity beer (1.050) i'll do the same, but store the keg away for three or four weeks before putting it on gas and serving. Anything stronger will also get the same or longer. My ales will get fined with aux finings in the primary and isinglass in the secondary and it always comes out pretty bright.

Lager will get two weeks in the fridge, then lagered in the same vessel for a month or more.

Unfortunately the reality is it spends a week in the primary then it is drunk within a week

[Garth]

....well there's an honest man...

[SteveD]

Exactly monk the DIY / mad scientist vibe is great.
It's like beer is so simple & yet we can personalise it so much.

Amen. So many different ways to arrive at Goodbeerhalla