secondary question

[johnnyt471]

So I had the beer in the primary for a week, took a gravity reading and it seemed to be at a FG level of 1.016 or so, so I transferred it to secondary. This was before I read here that transferring to secondary is kind of pointless.

So now it's been a week since transferring to secondary, and I'm wondering...could I bottle it? What exactly is the point of having it sit in the secondary for another week if fermentation is done? Couldn't I just bottle it and wait another 3-4 weeks?

 

[l1ranger]

i use secondary sometimes, and sometimes i don't.

If im dry hopping, I use secondary.
the other times i use my secondary is if i want the beer to clear some more, but need to open up a primary for another brew. in this case, i feel the beer has been on the yeast long enough, but I still want some more yeast to drop out of suspension.

generally, based on the information i've gathered here, I keep mine in the primary for 3 weeks or more.
also, from what i've seen here, there are quite a few people that don't use secondary much, if at all.

 

[Jubilee]

What exactly is the point of having it sit in the secondary for another week if fermentation is done? Couldn't I just bottle it and wait another 3-4 weeks?

The main purpose is clearing the brew and getting it off the trub...which you've since read isn't generally necessary. Bottle it up!

 

[frazier]

The point of letting it sit is to let the yeast clean up some of the rough fermentation products. You won't see much change in the gravity, if at all. But you will taste the difference in the beer.

I usually let it sit 3 to 4 weeks in primary, then bottle. No harm in leaving it in the secondary another week or two. Slow is better.

 

[92greenyj]

I ALWAYS secondary all of my beers. Every Beer I brew spends 1 week in the primary fermenting bucket and one week in a secondary fermenting bucket. Some beers go into a carboy instead for a longer secondary if needed (like a Barleywine, IPA, Imperial, etc). I transfer to secondary through a spigot on my bucket into a new one and make sure I get just a small amount of the yeast cake off the bottom of the primary with the transfered beer. After another week in the secondary I have a thin cake at the bottom of the bucket and I get much more beer into my kegs with no sediment. For me its all about clarity and not having sediment.

Also, leaving beer on the main yeast cake can produce off flavors from the dead yeast particles

 

[johnnyt471]

ok, the question wasn't "is a secondary necessary" and I don't want to go down that road. the question was, given that I already put it in a secondary a week ago, is there any need to keep it there for another week or two before bottling?

thank you, frazier, for your reply.

 

[HollowPointBrewer]

It's fine to bottle now. I always use a secondary but don't disparage those who feel it's not needed. I just see it as a clarifying step and you've given it enough time to do that. If you wait too long the yeast could die off, preventing carbonation.

 

[hal2814]

If fermentation is done (and just to be perfectly clear, by "done" I mean 3 or more days of stable gravity readings), you can bottle it when you want. The only downside is that you may have more crap in the bottom of each bottle if you bottle before the beer clears in the fermenter.

 

[l1ranger]

like hal said, if the gravity is stable, its okay to bottle.
its also okay to let it sit. its gonna take a lot more than 3 weeks the yeast to be causing any problems like off flavors and yeast death.