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How long in secondary?

Started by colm89, January 21, 2021, 03:13:08 PM

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colm89

Brewed an imperial stout last Sunday (10 litre batch in a spiedel 12l fermenter), pitched it with Nottingham ale yeast, lobbed it in the ferminator and left it to get to work at 17 degrees.

I don't know why but I thought I'd have a peek today (4 days in) and was greeted with this delightful sight:



It was a stroke of genius that I popped it in a container on Sunday otherwise there might have been a right old mess!

Anyway, it had fermented right out to the target fg so I racked 5 litres each to the two glass demijohns I had knocking around (and took the opportunity to throw a small splash of bushmills into one) and cleaned everything up:



But here's my question, seeing as it has reached target fg, and I've racked it to the secondary with no trub, how long should I leave it here before bottling? Could I get away with bottling this weekend? Or should I leave it til next weekend as planned (full two weeks)?

Slev

Bottle whenever you are available to bottle. Don't think it will benefit anymore in the demijohns vs bottles. (as an aside, personally, I don't transfer to secondaries. I know you had some blow off, but, I feel that transfering adds to oxidation and contamination potential, without much gain (bar I was going to leave in in the fermenter for an extended period of month's) Would be interested to here what others do/think)

Water_Wolf

I would at least leave it the full two weeks. After the beer has reached its final gravity the yeast is still active for a while and will continue to metabolise parts of the beer in ways that are considered beneficial. It's not an IPA that you want to rush to bottle so I think it's better to leave the yeast do its thing in the fermenter rather than the bottle.

If you want to age the beer it is generally considered quicker to bulk age in a carboy than in lots of smaller bottles (I've never done a side by side comparison though...) I left my last imperial stout in carboys for 4 or 5 months.

colm89

Quote from: Slev on January 22, 2021, 01:09:25 PMBottle whenever you are available to bottle. Don't think it will benefit anymore in the demijohns vs bottles. (as an aside, personally, I don't transfer to secondaries. I know you had some blow off, but, I feel that transfering adds to oxidation and contamination potential, without much gain (bar I was going to leave in in the fermenter for an extended period of month's) Would be interested to here what others do/think)

Oh yeah I have never moved to a secondary before, but this had made such a mess I feel like my hand was forced  :-[

I did think about just leaving it but it would be absolutely reeking by the time it came to bottling next weekend if I did!

colm89

Quote from: Water_Wolf on January 22, 2021, 01:51:09 PMI would at least leave it the full two weeks. After the beer has reached its final gravity the yeast is still active for a while and will continue to metabolise parts of the beer in ways that are considered beneficial. It's not an IPA that you want to rush to bottle so I think it's better to leave the yeast do its thing in the fermenter rather than the bottle.

If you want to age the beer it is generally considered quicker to bulk age in a carboy than in lots of smaller bottles (I've never done a side by side comparison though...) I left my last imperial stout in carboys for 4 or 5 months.

Thank you for this, unfortunately I don't have the luxury of space where I am currently so I'll give it til next weekend before bottling and aging in bottles :)

Slev

I did miss that it is an imperial

LordEoin

If they were full to the top I'd say leave them for a week or two, but that much headspace would worry me unless i purged it with co2, but seeing as they're already there you might aswell leave them another week as planned.

johnrm

@colm89
Braumeister is not noted for its ability to brew big beers.
Curious to know the OG of your beer.

johnrm

Ah, Spiedel fermenter, but your brew device is not BM.
I saw the Tonka airlock and assumed.

colm89

Quote from: johnrm on January 23, 2021, 07:53:54 AMAh, Spiedel fermenter, but your brew device is not BM.
I saw the Tonka airlock and assumed.

Yeah the spiedel was the only decent ~10 litre fermenter in stock when I was buying. It's actually 12 lite but I aim to leave 1-2 litres for head space.

I would love the baby braumeister though, I've been trying to decide if the 2.8kg malt limit would bother me, but I'm slightly over high abv beers and could do the odd one on the stovetop if needed. I'm the only one in the house that drinks beer and brew every two weeks.

OG on this one was 1.084 and by day 4 when it emptied its contents through the airlock it was down to 1.014.