Last Sunday I made an Imperial Stout, so it's been in the primary fermenter for about a week now...
This is my second homebrew I've made, but I just recently bought the glass carboy for a secondary fermentation.
How long should I let it ferment in the primary fermenter before I transfer it to the secondary? And how long do you suggest I leave it in there?
Thanks.
I generally leave beer in primary until there is no further visible fermentation. It certainly won't hurt to leave it in primary 2-3 weeks, especially for an impy stout. Think of secondary more as a conditoning stage than actually fermenting. You should be within a few points os your FG before going to secondary. Depending on the strength of the beer, secondary can be a couple weeks to 6 months or more.
--------->Denny
As usual, good advice. To me, visible signs means that it has stopped bubbling the airlock, the krausen (foam on the top) has fallen back in and you will notice that the beer seems to be getting darker from the top down. This is caused by settling and that's what you want. When it's dark all the way to the bottom is when I rack to the secondary.
I'd leave it in secondary at least a month, longer if I could.
Michael
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