Fermenting ?

[freebirdjf]

This is my 4th batch to date, so I am definitely new to brewing. I've been happy with drinkability so far, but have a question about fermenting times vs. ABV. I recently brewed a clone of Avery's New World Porter, which tasted great, but I feel like we fell a little short on the ABV. I am 3 days into fermenting an imperial red and am curious if anyone has advice on how long I should ferment to maximize my ABV. Also, does racking to a secondary fermenter provide a significant benefit outside of better clarity for the end product? Thanks in advance for the advice.

 

[reverendj1]

You ferment until the yeast are done. If you bottled before that, your bottles will blow up. The yeast eat the sugar and make alcohol (and CO2). As long as there is sugar to eat (and the yeast are capable), they will continue to eat sugar and make alcohol, increasing your ABV. So, fermentation time (as long as you are not bottling early) has absolutely nothing to do with your ABV. You need to have more fermentable sugars in the beginning (higher OG) to have a beer with a higher ABV.

Secondaries are a personal choice and there a dozens of threads about the pros and cons.

 

[cluckk]

Length of fermenting would effect ABV only if your were doing something to interfere with it finishing. It will ferment out in a set length of time--depending on strain, temperature and gravity--and when it is finished it is finished. Beyond this time allows the yeast to clean up after itself and clear out some of the less appreciated compounds. What is your OG? Is this extract or All Grain? If all grain what was your mash temperature? What temperature are you fermenting at? What strain of yeast did you use?

Some will tell you racking to secondary does little or nothing, others will swear by it as a major improvement. If you leave it in primary to finish it will be fine. Since it's a porter I doubt clarity is going to be a major issue anyways--though things clear just fine in primary if given enough time. Secondary is helpful when you want to do post-fermentation changes to the beer. For example, I have a beer that is aging in secondary with Brettanomyces. I also use secondary for dry-hopping (though some do it in the primary after everything is finished).

 

[freebirdjf]

Extract. We added an extra 2.5 lbs of extract and OG on this one was 1.094 and it's fermenting just under 70. I don't have a temperature controlled fridge or box for fermenting - will soon hopefully - but the closet is dark and consistent in temp. I'll have to check what yeast I used. It was whatever the guys at Homebrew HQ advised when I picked up the ingredients.