BruT54

Recipes 

Ok - fairly new brewer here & I have not used a secondary to this point. I'm aware of the issues & discussions - that said:

I'm doing an extract (Partial Mash) Imperial Stout. Got the kit from MW, added a few pounds of 2 row to the specialty grains & did a 60 minute mash. Primary is going fine, 1 week so far, WY1098 with a starter.

The directions from MW say to transfer to a secondary after 10-14 days & add Champagne yeast (dry, included with the kit), then to secondary for 1 month or more....I plan to secondary until the house gets too warm - probly a month or 6 weeks (spring will be here afore long).

Questions about doing a secondary:
Using a better bottle for secondary, do you fill it as close to the bottom of the bung as possible? Do you want to leave any head space at all?

Also - does the temp matter for secondary & if so, try to keep it in the range that the Wyeast likes or the Champagne yeast?

Thanks for any advice
BT

eastoak

Recipes 

how imperial is this stout? the champagne yeast, what is it going to do in the secondary? i would ignore those instructions and transfer to the better bottle when your hydrometer indicates that the beer has reached final gravity. if you are worried about oxidation with the head space you could just skip transferring the beer into a vessel filled with oxygen, then into a bottling bucket (more oxygen) then into bottles (hello oxygen) or a keg (you can purge with CO2). obviously if you do use a secondary you will only get into the secondary what you have in the primary so 6 gallons from into a 5 gallon better bottle will allow you to get up near the bung but if you have 5 gallons to start with....

BruT54

Recipes 

O.G. was 1.090; I ended up with somewhere between 5 1/4 & 5 1/2 gallons in primary -

I think the purpose of the Champagne yeast is to make sure the fermentation finishes & theres active yeast left for carbonating at bottling time, after some months in secondary.

Thanks

eastoak

Recipes 

if you leave it in the primary there won't be any question about fermentation finishing or yeast for carbonation.