NicePelos

Recipes 

I brewed a Tripel last week that had a low OG (1.079 actual vs 1.085 expected). Should I expect the FG to be lower than the expected 1.018? The fermentation seems to have stopped at 1.020. Any thoughts? Should I feed the yeast to get it going again? The recipe calls for racking to the secondary after 7 days and letting it sit for 5 weeks until the FG is reached. I may be wrong, but I thought very little if any fermentation occurred in the secondary?

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Primary:
Secondary: Belgian tripel
Bottle: American amber ale
Up next: American wheat

Edcculus

Recipes 

You won't necessarily get a more fermentable wort (lower FG) with a higher OG. How long has it been in the primary? 1.020 is the typical "curse" of homebrewing. Rousing the fermenter and warming it a bit may help get those last few points.

As for a secondary, you are right. A lot of older recipes will give you this time table. For a beer this big, you will gain a lot from letting it sit in the primary for 3-4 weeks. It might not hurt a tripel to rack to a secondary (really clearing tank) for a few more weeks of bulk aging.

JesseRC

Recipes 

I'd shake it an leave on primary for 3-4weeks. I've also heard you can bring the temps up a bit right after most of the peak fermentation has occurred.

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Jesse

Primaries: Mojave Red (AG)
Kegs: Hibiscus Saison (AG), Orange Kolsch (AG) , Cocunut Porter
Future Brew: Wee Heavy

NicePelos

Recipes 

Thanks! It's only been in the primary for a week which is when the recipe recommended it should be racked to the secondary. I'll give it a shake and leave it for a couple weeks.

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Primary:
Secondary: Belgian tripel
Bottle: American amber ale
Up next: American wheat

WBC

Recipes 

My rule is 2 weeks minimum in the primary. Most of the time I never use a secondary fermenter. Never use secondary's for ales.

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Cheers,
WBC

Fermentor 1: Bill's House Ale II, Fermentor 2: German Helles, Fermentor 3: Bill's Schworzbier (Black Bier)
Tap 1: Bill's House Ale II, Tap 2: German Hefewizen, Tap 3: Nut Brown Ale
Future Brews: Stone IPA Clone, Blonde Ale, Budvar Clone, Newcastle Clone
New toy: Blichmann 27 gallon fermentor

“If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging”

“Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment”

944play

Recipes 

+1 to the above. My 1.082 Delirium Tremens clone dropped 10 points (to 1.010) in the second week in the primary. Don't rack yet!

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OD: SMaSH Gambrinus Organic Pils/Spalt Select (2308), SMaSH CMC Pils/Spalt Select (2308)
Pri -
Keg: SMaSH Mystery Malt/Spalt Select (2308), SMaSH Munich/Northern Brewer (2308), SMaSH Briess Pils/Spalt Select (2308), Kronik (WL002)

AnOldUR

Recipes 

A secondary is good if you are dry hopping or doing other fermenter additions and want to harvest the yeast from the primary without a lot of crap in it. Even so, I'd leave it in the primary for at least a couple of weeks before transfering.

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Complexity is good. Complicated is bad. -- Mosher

CourtHouseBrewing

Recipes 

After reading all the posts about how people leave the wort to ferment in the Primary for up to 4 weeks!
I now own three 6 gal carboys as Primaries, I modified a fridge with digital temp controller for lagers to ferment and another fridge dedicated to cooling the bottled beer for consumption, and for some reason SWMBO puts oranges in it! Doesn’t she get it… it’s for beer. And still I need more of everything because I like to brew every weekend. Oh yea, and I took over one room in the house for my fermentation and storage room. I guess I’ll deal with the oranges.