Beer Forum

All,
I am getting ready to brew my first creation (estimated OG of 1.084). This is a fairly high gravity beer and I was wondering A) how long should I leave this in the fermenter once the gravity is down and B) should I bother with a secondary on this one? I'm still a bit too new to this to not get some advice on sitting times. I'm pretty sure I don't need to worry about the yeast autolysing, but I want to make sure I've addressed diacetyl and such.

Good Brewing

Edds

Well, I commend you for taking the bull by the horns and going for a big beer out of the gate. However, you must realize that big beers are automatically in the "intermediate" to "advanced" category. You really should have your process nailed down - including fermentation temp control and sanitation, first. Nothing worse than a big homebrew that has been fermented too warm. Headache city. Additionaly, you'll need a big pitch of viable yeast, and lots of aeration. Ok.... PSA over.

I typically leave my beers in the primary for 2-3 weeks. The krausen falls back in usually 3-4 days for ales - but that has nothing to do with whether or not the beer is done. Don't rush moving it. Leave it in there at least a week after the gravity bottoms out. I have left beers close to 5 weeks with no issues (highly dependent on how healthy your yeast are). When you taste your sample you can determine whether you should warm it up for a diacytl rest - but I usually don't bother for ales. When it's young, it will probably taste like bitter hops and alcohol. It takes a few months for it to meld. You shouldn't have to mess with a "secondary". Just keg it or bottle it and let it do its thing for a few months before you start drinking it.

Good luck. Let us know how it works out.


Mylo

Thanks Mylo,
This is just the first beer I've designed, I've brewed a couple prior to this with splendid results. I'll leave this one alone for at least after the gravity stabilizes. I'm making a 2 part starter per the Wyeast website reccomendations. A half gallon, then after it settles down I'm going to add it to another half to make a full gallon starter. As you can imagine, I'm just going to put in the fridge to settle the yeast out and pour off the liquid (I may try drinking it just for the hell of it). I'm hoping the yeast will still be healthy enough to give me a good bottle conditioning/carbonation after being stressed in these conditions.

Thanks Again and Good Brewing,

Edds

Edds5p0 wrote:I'm just going to put in the fridge to settle the yeast out and pour off the liquid (I may try drinking it just for the hell of it).

Well, if you do it right (the starter), then I don't think you'll enjoy drinking it. In addition to there not being any hops in there - if you keep it aerobic the whole time (best growth), then all you will have is slightly carbonated, malt flavored water.

Oh, forgot to mention - the biggest problem you will have with the buckets if you do a long primary is oxydation. You probably won't have that much of an issue - as long as you keep it down to less than three weeks.


Mylo