OGreuelRules

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I've got a quick question regarding using a secondary fermenter when bottle conditioning. I know the goal of using a secondary is to clear the beer as much as possible, but does this adversely affect your ability to bottle condition the beer? I bottled about a week & a half ago after using the primary for one week & the secondary for 2, and the test bottle I opened last night was flat as a board. Only the slightest fizzle when cracked. My guess is this might just be too early & I should RDWHAHB, but I'm wondering if I haven't lost too much of the yeast to bottle condition. Thoughts? Oh, not sure this should matter, but it's a Belgian Strong Golden Ale...& I made plenty of starter so I'm not worried that I didn't have enough yeast to begin with.

Thanks for any input.

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Yooper

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Oh, a secondary doesn't impact carbonation at all. In fact, I've even lagered in the secondary (34 degrees for 6 weeks!) and the beer carbed up fine. Even though the beer appears clear, there are plenty of yeast in suspension to carbonate your beer.

It's hard when it starts to get cool outside, but if you can keep the bottles at +/- 70 degrees for three weeks, and then chill one at least overnight, you'll get a better idea of the carbonation level.

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DuckAssassin

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I think you need to wait at least 3 weeks in the bottle before being concerned that your beer is undercarbed. Sometimes it takes longer, but a week and a half is a very aggressive timetable. The secondary is a well tested method for brewing, though not practiced by all.

But you have it right RDWHAHB

EDIT: Thought I was first to answer. Also, if any information in my post seems to conflict with that of YooperBrew's, I am wrong.

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Primary 1) Empty
Secondary 1a-f) - 2 gallons Traditional Mead, 4 Gallons Melomel, 2) Wee Heavy Widgeon Ale, 3) Pintail Pale Ale
Bottled - Amber Ale, TheJadedDog's All Amarillo IPA x2, Apfelwine, Wit Bier, Stout, Pintail Pale Ale (V1-Cascade, V2-Amarillo), Graff

TheJadedDog

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I've had beer in secondary for 5 months with no trouble carbing in the bottle. A week and a half is a bit early for carbonation, sometimes mine can take up to a month to really be carbed to where I want them.

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hoffmeister

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I've had similar problems in the past, and tried a couple of different things to solve them. One, try moving your beer to a warmer location for a few weeks and give the yeast a chance to do their thing-they may have just needed more time or might have been too cold to carbonate that quickly. Another thing you might want to try, although it won't help you with this batch, is to crimp the caps twice when you're bottling. I started doing this about a two years ago, by crimping once, turning the bottle a 1/4 turn, then crimping again. Since then, I haven't had any problems. Good luck!

Southwood

Recipes 

For those of you who have experience with extended secondary time (+4 months) Should you repitch at bottling if it's a really big beer (OG: 1.110, FG: 1.030)?

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Conditioning: Duseldorf Altbier, '07 Barleywine
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