FG hit only after 3 days

this is my second try at this recipe, last time i dropped my thermometer and shattered on the concrete floor of my garage so i messed up my mash temp.

well this time i went got a digi thermometer and redid the recipe, i missed my post boil OG, coming in at 1.042, it should have been 1.047. my final gravity is supposed to be 1.008, which ive hit today only after three days, wtf? heres the recipe, should i rack to secondary or leave it for another 5 days?

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: muntons
Yeast Starter: NO
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
est Original Gravity: 1.047
Final Gravity: 1.008
IBU: 23
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 3.1 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10 days @ 68° F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10 days @ 68° F
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B's Honey Wheat

Grain:
3.50 lbs. Wheat Malt 1.038
2.50 lbs. Pale 2-row Malt 1.036
2.00 lbs. Honey 1.042
.25 lbs. Honey Malt 1.030

Hops:

.75 oz. Glacier 4.8 AA 60 mins
.75 oz. Glacier 4.8 AA 20 mins
.75 oz. Glacier 4.8 AA 0 mins

Notes:
Add honey at flameout.
Mash schedule: 30 min protein rest at 122°F, 60 minute Saccharification rest at 154° F.

Are you trying to make a Kristallweizen?

the recipe doesnt specify what type of beer. i posted the entire recipe, i dont intend to filter

I wouldn't bother with a secondary. Just let it sit for a week or so, then keg or bottle.

Since you missed your OG by 5 points, the FG will be 1 or 2 points lower as well. I'd leave it alone.

Let the yeast clean up after themselves for ten days total

I've noticed that the Munton's yeast that I use is quite speedy to ferment, often finishing off the full 5-gallon batch in three days! I leave it go, however, and I do rack over to a secondary, but that's just me. I'd let the yeast continue to work for 7-10 days and then rack, or just leave it in the primary.

glenn514

Leave it for 2 weeks.

Americans are big on transferring to secondary .. if I tell you that the vast majority of Australian home brewers never transfer to secondary .. and that's fair dinkum, would it scare anyone here ? I'd back ArcaneXor's comment - even though you've hit your FG doesn't mean the yeast has finished with your brews. Leave it alone.

There is a lot of talk (and old wives tales) on why you'd transfer to a secondary. I would advise a newbie to go and find out what and why and decide for themselves on whether they do it or not.

Fatgodzilla said:

Americans are big on transferring to secondary ..

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Hyperbole aside, I think you'll find most on this forum advocate not using a secondary. At least that is what I get from reading the posts here.

I'm personally a fan (now anyways) of over-pitching (e.g. 2 packs dry yeast) and just leaving it for a a couple weeks. For most brews with OG <1.060, this is plenty of time for the yeast to clean up everything. The other option is to just (as has already been said) leave your beer in primary for 1-2 months, then bottle or keg. Then you KNOW it's done. (For bigger beers, YMMV. Go by S.G.)

I say leave the beer be. I leave all of my brews in my plastic primary for 3-4 weeks before kegging. Unless it's a high alcohol beer or needs fruit I don't use a secondary.

suprchunk said:

Hyperbole aside, I think you'll find most on this forum advocate not using a secondary. At least that is what I get from reading the posts here.

Click to expand...

Hyporbole was intended and in my opinion warranted, you only have to read the numerous and often repeated comments on transfers to secondary from the succession of new brewers to this site, to wonder where they even get the notion from. In my opinion, websites like this one are important to allow new brewers to obtain information readily, but that fact that so many new brewers are transferring to secondary suggest they are sourcing that perceived need from somewhere. When I started brewing many years ago in Australia there was never any talk of transfers to secondary here - as my reading on brewing increased, it was obvious America was the major source of the concept. I was lead to believe that it was to do with poorer yeasts available to home brewers many years ago, but is no longer relevant in the vast majority of cases as yeasts available today are tremendous.

I brewed up a 3 gal all grain batch of bitter 4 days ago and it went from 1.039 to 1.010 in about 48 hours. I used windsor, i was a little worried about it finishing to high so i mashed around 149@90min. The gravity sample was pretty damn tasty for being 3 day old beer.

Fatgodzilla said:

Hyporbole was intended and in my opinion warranted, you only have to read the numerous and often repeated comments on transfers to secondary from the succession of new brewers to this site, to wonder where they even get the notion from. In my opinion, websites like this one are important to allow new brewers to obtain information readily, but that fact that so many new brewers are transferring to secondary suggest they are sourcing that perceived need from somewhere. When I started brewing many years ago in Australia there was never any talk of transfers to secondary here - as my reading on brewing increased, it was obvious America was the major source of the concept. I was lead to believe that it was to do with poorer yeasts available to home brewers many years ago, but is no longer relevant in the vast majority of cases as yeasts available today are tremendous.

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Yep. Also, the major online guide for novices is http://www.howtobrew.com/ which is a really, really great resource; it's also, unfortunately, a decade out of date. For the most part things don't change that much in the brewing world, but secondaries are one thing where the conventional wisdom has certainly shifted.

John Palmer (the author of How to Brew) has changed that advice in newer versions and has apologized for spreading misinformation online, but the new versions aren't available for free and so the online version remains as-is.

hfd73 said:

Leave it for 2 weeks.

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Agree. Leave it for 14 days, then bottle/keg after checking your hydrometer reading. Yeast are amazing creatures, it that one of their many talents is cleanin up after themselves, they just take a while (14 days) to do it.