how long do I keep my beer (MO, safeale S0-4) in primary and secondary?

[Elysium]

This is a question that I havent been able to find an answer to.....in months.

Can someone tell me how this works? I understand the importance of the FG and when that doesnt change between 2 takings (there should be 3 days between taking the 2 readings), I am ready to bottle.

The problem, however, is the other factors....such as beer clarity, flavour mellowing, yeast off-flavour that might happen if I keep the beer on the yeast cake too long...etc.

I think I should probably leave the beer in primary for a week and then dry-hop and keep in a secondary for another week and then bottle. (obviously....paying careful attention to the gravity). Do you guys agree?

 

[KYdustinj]

Yeah that plan seems to be pretty sound and would work just fine. Fermentation is usually done within a week anyway, but you're correct on the mellowing, and clarity. And the yeast will actually "clean-up" after themselves so it's beneficial to leave it on the yeast for a short period of time. I usually give it three weeks for the average beer. Sometimes that's 3 weeks in primary on the yeast cake, with hops going straight in with 7-4 days before bottling, or one week primary followed by 2 weeks secondary (again hops 7-4 days before bottling). I've never had any yeast-off flavors in my beers using this method. When most people move to secondary, fermentation has already completed or very close to it, they are just looking for the mellowing, flavor development, clarity, hop aroma additions etc. while erasing the fear of yeast off-flavors. As long as your beer is sealed off from the outside environment it will keep for longer than you think. It depends greatly on the type of beer you're making. For instance, I'm doing a Russian Imperial Stout that will remain in primary for three weeks, then I'll move it to secondary with bourbon oak cubes and it'll stay in there for three months before bottling.

If I was you I would just leave it in primary for two weeks if thats only the amount of time you need. And just throw your hops in there about a week before you plan to bottle. Two weeks isn't long enough to worry about spent yeast cells. And remeber that everytime you transfer your beer, you're increasing the likelihood of contamination.

By the way, what kind of beer are you making? And what the OG and target FG?

 

[Glynn]

I have always left mine in the primary for at least 2 weeks then cold crash it when i can. i don't have a beer fridge so i just dump a bunch of ice in my swamp cooler to help it clear. the only time i use a secondary is for dry hopping. I tried dry hopping in my primary once and particle nucleation from the hops just churned up all the yeast, so i ended up using a secondary to clear it again

 

[Elysium]

By the way, what kind of beer are you making? And what the OG and target FG?

It's a recipe I made on brewtoad: http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/cc6-followup

I am using 100 % MO and 3 different hops (1 is for dryhopping). Yeast: safale S0-4.
OG: 1.052
FG: 1.013