Fermentation time for India Black Ale

[TorribleBrew]

Hello all,

Thanks for such a great forum! The amount of information on here is unbelievable and has definitely taken away from my work productivity the last week.

I am fermenting my first batch, an India Black Ale, and I have my recipe and calculations here Black Eye. I brewed this on Wednesday night, Nov 30th and I am trying to schedule my upcoming travels with fermenting times. After looking at the potential ABV (8.9%) and IBUs (70.3) my questions is do you think this will need to sit longer than 2+2 before splitting the batch between a keg and bottles?

I am not in a hurry, but it would be nice to have half the batch in a keg, force carbonating a day or two before New Years Eve. However, I am willing to let it sit in the secondary longer. As a side note, I did make a yeast starter with 1 gal of wort, that I chilled and decanted. I had bubbles in my air lock after 6 hours. Primary is a bucket, secondary is 5 gal glass carboy. Fermenting temperature is fluctuating between 66F-68-F.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[amazinglarry]

by 2+2 I'm assuming you mean two weeks in both primary and secondary. That would be fine.

 

[TheBrewAbides]

Or you could just do a 4+0, or a 5+(-1), or a 3-(-1)...just sayin'

Sorry, I'm a di@k. But it sounds like your beer will benifit from aging a bit longer.

 

[amazinglarry]

Or you could just do a 4+0, or a 5+(-1), or a 3-(-1)...just sayin'

Sorry, I'm a di@k. But it sounds like your beer will benifit from aging a bit longer.

Or a shocker plus shocker...

 

[TorribleBrew]

Yes, I meant 2 weeks in primary and 2 in secondary. Any advice on how long to leave in secondary before kegging half and bottle conditioning the other half?

Salut, jamSent from my iPhone using HB Talk

 

[RM-MN]

That's a high alcohol brew with plenty of darker grains. I think the 2 + 2 is rushing it and that it would do better if you went 4 + 2 or even just 4 or 5 weeks in the fermenter. Good beers don't follow a time schedule worth a darn and they really hate being rushed. Be patient and drink good beer or rush it and drink poor beer. You might as well be drinking Budweiser instead of rushing this one.

 

[TorribleBrew]

Thanks for the input! Once I saw the calculations, I figured it might have to sit longer in primary and/or secondary, but I didn't have the experience to know how much longer.
I guess it is a good thing my LHBS also sells great beer for us to enjoy on New Years Eve. Luckily, I just snagged a bottle of The Event Horizon from Olde Hickory Brewery.