I have a general question about primary and secondary fermentation. Being a fairly new AG brewer I have chosen to follow a 2 week in primary and 2 week in secondary fermentation schedule. Is this generally acceptable or is another method preferred?
Let it ferment until its done. It should be done after a week or so. Check the gravity after about a week and then a few days after that. Don’t bother with secondary unless you are going to age it for a long time or are going to dry hop or something.
i usually do about 10 days in primary, or until done, then go straight to keg.i have enough beer backed up that i can afford to let it sit for a month or so before i drink it.
It’s often said on this forum - “let the beer set the schedule”.
Once bottled how long is a good time to let it age before it is tasting real good?
Give it around 3 weeks to carbonate. I am usually sampling once a week to check the progress. In the summer time I was able to fully carbonate in less than 2 weeks. Bottle conditioning depends on the style. For hoppy, wheat and low OG ales, the fresher the better. For high gravity beers, lagers, barley wine, sours and the like, usually longer is better. Ideally, I like to age my porters and stouts about a month in the bottle before drinking. Sometimes they don’t last that long.
