Single Stage vs Two Stage

[epbillsfan]

I keep reading differing opinions on if it is necessary to use a secondary fermenter for Ales. I Brew all grain and ferment in carboys. If im brewing an Ale that I would primary for 1 week and secondary for 1 week, could I just leave it in the primary the whole time and dry hop in there as well? Does anyone have experience with this ?

[Fritz Eye]

I normally do single stage and leave it in 2-3 weeks and then keg or bottle. If I dry hop, then I will transfer to secondary, but I have also done dry hoping in the primary with no ill affects.
Try it, you' like and may never go back to seconadries.
Good luck.

PS, curious as to your forum name, from Buffalo?

[epbillsfan]

Yea from Buffalo, still a Bills fan through this awful decade....would you change your process for higher gravity beers. Like would you rack to a secondary for Double IPAs or do you think it dosent matter?

[alan_marks]

I've had a Belgian Golden Strong in primary for 2 weeks starting at 1062 and right now at 1016 (just took a sample). I'm looking at bottling at 3 volumes on Sunday and then conditioning for another 2 weeks at 74F. After listening to JZ and Rock for the past couple of years I really can't understand why you would want to go to secondary except to get the beer off the trub. If you were to compare to a commercial brewer, they would transfer their beer to a "bright tank" from the fermentor after going thru some type of filter, either plate or DE. Then they would carbonate and bottle, either with or without pasteurization. So, how do you plan on carbonating your brew? I think that answering this question would give you some insight to your process.

[Dirk McLargeHuge]

Yea from Buffalo, still a Bills fan through this awful decade....would you change your process for higher gravity beers. Like would you rack to a secondary for Double IPAs or do you think it dosent matter?

I will ferment a barleywine for 3-4 weeks in primary. I will keg it and let it sit in the fermentation area for a few more weeks. I don't think I put anything in secondary this year.

[epbillsfan]

Well I am currently in the process of getting a keg system going. So ive been bottling my beer. But Ive heard Jamil say he goes to secondary when dry hopping, and considering I brew a lot of hoppy ales, Im wondering what kind of results people have had dry hopping in the primary.

[Dirk McLargeHuge]

My Tasty APA is dry hopped in the primary. I use a Wlliams Brewing bucket with and inverted back nut. That keeps most of the hop material our of my kegs. I did How to Disappear Completely in it as well. I've had no complaints. I have a cheap stainless conical, and if I dry hop in that, I might pull some of the yeast off first. Because there is nothing covering the side spigot, I use hop bags in the conical.

[brewinhard]

I NEVER use secondary carboys except for sour beers or fruit beers. It is not necessary to dry hop in the secondary either. All of the pale ales or IPA's I make ALWAYS get dry hopped in primary after 7 days of fermentation. I then add the hops, give the primary a good swirl to mix the hops with the beer, then let them sit for another 7 days (total of 14) before packaging. If I dry hopped with a lot of hops (4-6 oz) then I will typically crash cool my primary for the last 48 hrs or so to drop out the hops and brighten the beer up a bit before kegging. I have had great results with this and it keeps in line with the KISS method. One less piece of equipment to clean/sanitize, one less chance of infection, less time spent working = more time sitting on my ass drinking my homebrew!