I brewed my first porter on Saturday and have a few questions around fermentation. Normally I rack to secondary (on advice of local brew shop) after 2 weeks and then bottle after 2 weeks. I’ve read mixed reviews on racking to a secondary. What is your advice on fermenting my porter? Do I rack to secondary? Or, just leave it in primary and for how long?
Once fermentation is complete and I bottle it how long do I bottle condition for?
No need to transfer to a secondary vessel.
The porter will almost certainly be done in two weeks but you can verify that by checking gravity over a couple of days.
Bottle conditioning usually takes about 2 weeks. Just keep the bottles somewhere that stays around 70 degrees.
Here’s what John Palmer had to say on this forum…https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=15108.msg191642#msg191642
Therefore I, and Jamil and White Labs and Wyeast Labs, do not recommend racking to a secondary fermenter for ANY ale, except when conducting an actual second fermentation, such as adding fruit or souring. Racking to prevent autolysis is not necessary, and therefore the risk of oxidation is completely avoidable. Even lagers do not require racking to a second fermenter before lagering. With the right pitching rate, using fresh healthy yeast, and proper aeration of the wort prior to pitching, the fermentation of the beer will be complete within 3-8 days (bigger = longer).
Thanks for the replies that’s what I’ve been reading. I’ll move to bottling once fermentation is complete!
What they said.
What about for dry hopping?
I don’t rack for dry hopping. I sanitize a hop bag and some glass marbles and drop it right into the primary.
I always rack before dry hopping. I have found unpleasant interactions between yeast and hops and I want to avoid that.
Same. Just preference.