Secondary for Dubbel/Tripel?

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superslomo

superslomo

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I'm waiting for the arrival of the NB Dubbel and Tripel extract kits for the next few rounds of brewing, figured they would work better with the slightly warm temps in the basement.

The question I had was whether they would be big enough to require a secondary fermentation, or whether I can just leave them in primary for the month-plus they are indicated as requiring.

Leave it for 6 weeks?

Hydrometer readings until stable?

Any advice is much appreciated.
 
Leave it for 6 weeks. Secondary is your call, but you can leave a beer much longer than 6 weeks in primary without risk. I did nearly three months once, and I'm pretty sure some people have done longer.

Aging for the most part is aging, whether done in a secondary or bottle. I think there was a thread about the differences, but I don't think they are very significant.
 
I usually let the gravity to drop to 1/4 of the OG. Then rack it to secondary to clear.
 
extexan said:
I usually let the gravity to drop to 1/4 of the OG. Then rack it to secondary to clear.
Click to expand...

For a tripel, though, in my opinion, the beer can be unfiltered.

Screw clear beer. I want my belgians yeasty!

I plan on having my Tripel I made on the 14th sit in Primary for 2 months. Then I'll bottle condition for another 2-3 months.
 
Full disclosure: I have only one vessel for secondary, but am going to add some spare buckets for primaries.

I am also longer on waiting time than I am on time to work on some elements of this. I'd be happy to "set it and forget it" for six weeks, then bottle. I also think maybe avoiding endless hydrometer measurements reduces the chances of contamination...

Not sure, but if I can avoid the extra work of racking to Secondary and cleaning buckets, I'd be happier guy.
 
extexan said:
I usually let the gravity to drop to 1/4 of the OG. Then rack it to secondary to clear.
Click to expand...

This is bad advice. The yeast aren't even done fermenting, let alone cleaning up. Don't do this.
 
I have been brewing beer for over 12 years, and this is how I always do it.
I never had a problem with overcarbonation.
My Trappist ales have always tasted great.
Obviously, there is always an increase of contaminating your brew with too many gravity checks and rackings, although I have never had any problems with contamination using proper sanitizion techniques.
Certainly, you can leave your beer in your primary for 6-8 weeks, and then bottle it.
Jeez guys, take chill pills. I'm just trying to answer a question.
 
extexan said:
I have been brewing beer for over 12 years, and this is how I always do it.
I never had a problem with overcarbonation.
My Trappist ales have always tasted great.
Obviously, there is always an increase of contaminating your brew with too many gravity checks and rackings, although I have never had any problems with contamination using proper sanitizion techniques.
Certainly, you can leave your beer in your primary for 6-8 weeks, and then bottle it.
Jeez guys, take chill pills. I'm just trying to answer a question.
Click to expand...

I didn't mean to offend. There's just not really a nice way of putting it; it's not good practice. It's been well-established that yeast perform clean-up activities even after terminal gravity has been reached. Furthermore, I can't think of a style where full attenuation is more important than Trappist ales. Why risk cutting it short?
 
There's still going to be yeast in the beer when racked to secondary, and it's going to be active. The stuff in the bottom of primary probably wasn't doing anything anyway. That being said, I'd probably never rack to secondary because I don't think it hurts to leave it in primary.
 
For ales in these styles, how long would you leave them to clean up after gravity is stabilized? If you were going to just Popeil the thing ("set it and forget it"), how long would you let it go for?
 
superslomo said:
For ales in these styles, how long would you leave them to clean up after gravity is stabilized? If you were going to just Popeil the thing ("set it and forget it"), how long would you let it go for?
Click to expand...

6 weeks to 2 months.
 
So you mean 6 weeks to 2 months start to finish, or an additional 6 weeks to finish AFTER the fermentation is done?

6 extra weeks after the initial weeks of fermentation seems like it might push how long it's sitting on the yeast cake wouldn't it?

I assume you mean 6 weeks from the start of fermentation to bottling (I don't have the means to keg at this point, not sure I'm going to start either, FWIW)?
 
superslomo said:
So you mean 6 weeks to 2 months start to finish, or an additional 6 weeks to finish AFTER the fermentation is done?

6 extra weeks after the initial weeks of fermentation seems like it might push how long it's sitting on the yeast cake wouldn't it?

I assume you mean 6 weeks from the start of fermentation to bottling (I don't have the means to keg at this point, not sure I'm going to start either, FWIW)?
Click to expand...

Yep, 6 weeks from brew day to bottling. Then a very long time aging in the bottles. I won't be drinking my quad or tripel until Christmas. :(
 
Fermentation should be done within a week, so 6 weeks to 2 months can include the fermentation time. I look at it this way: the higher the OG, the higher the length to age. I never go less than a month of aging.
 
Taking a beer off the yeastcake before fermentation is complete is one of the ways that stuck ferementations happen, especially in big beers. To me it's idiotic to take the beer off the largest amount of yeast that's going to actually FINISH the job to move it to another vessel to "clear." What's the point of clearing a beer that's not finished fermenting?

Moving the beer like that, especially if it's a huge beer, is like having the second string of a High School football team try to win the surperbowl in the 3rd quarter, when they're already behind 30 pts.
 
Also, if i'm understanding correctly: if you add two more weeks in the primary, it's two weeks less you need to bottle age, potentially? I can have some of the finishing happen in bottle or in primary, depending on where I have more space, it sounds like?
 
superslomo said:
Also, if i'm understanding correctly: if you add two more weeks in the primary, it's two weeks less you need to bottle age, potentially? I can have some of the finishing happen in bottle or in primary, depending on where I have more space, it sounds like?
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. For 1 thing, you are still bound by the physics of carbonation...it's still going to take the same amount of time for the co2 to be produced and integrated into the beer, and that is regardless of how conditioned the beer will be. It still takes 3 weeks at 70 degrees for most beers to carb up...But they might not need aditional time to loose the green taste...maybe. Sometimes that additional mini fermentation and IT'S clean up phase is what's ultimately needed for the beer to come together.
 
Ok, so to sum up what my takeaway is here: 6-8 weeks in primary is ok.

Give it at least three to carbonate.

Give it a lot longer to really hit its stride and be worth the effort :)
 

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