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justin22 · 06-20-2009, 05:07 AM

At what point should your beer be at its Final specific gravity. My belgian pale ale is at its listed final specific gravity at day 6 of fermenting. I was thinking about moving it to a secondary.

enderwig · 06-20-2009, 05:18 AM

When it's finished.

Sorry for being sarcastic, but it's the truth, its done when its done. Some take longer than others

justin22 · 06-20-2009, 05:20 AM

So as of now my beer is done, is what your saying. So basically I should move it into the secondary to clear it and drink when its clear enough for my liking. ???

enderwig · 06-20-2009, 05:24 AM

You should take gravity readings on 3 consecutive days, if you get the same reading 3 days in a row, it is finished. At that point, I would proceed to transfer to a secondary bright tank. I personally like to leave mine on the cake for at least 3-4 more days after fermentation is finished, lets the yeast clean up diacatyl (sp?) and what not.

**Bluelinebrewer** · 06-20-2009, 05:43 AM

+1 on leaving it in the primary. I wouldn't even mess with a secondary. Leave it in the primary for 3-4 weeks and bottle. Just my 2 cents worth though....

Spludge · 06-20-2009, 07:53 AM

I agree with these guys, leave it in the primary.
I use irish moss when I want a clear beer rather than secondary.

justin22 · 06-20-2009, 03:27 PM

Well should I leave a Dark ale in the primary also?

**Revvy** · 06-20-2009, 03:39 PM

Many of us leave all our beer in primary for 3-4 weeks, skip secondary and bottle...for many of us the only time we secondary is if we are dry hopping or adding fruit, or oak...or if we have made a beer like a pumpkin whith a huge amount of trub in primary..but for most of our beers we just leave it and let the yeasties clean up after themselves...

Even palmer mentions it in How to brew....

From How To Brew;

Quote:

Leaving an ale beer in the primary fermentor for a total of 2-3 weeks (instead of just the one week most kits recommend), will provide time for the conditioning reactions and improve the beer. This extra time will also let more sediment settle out before bottling, resulting in a clearer beer and easier pouring. And, three weeks in the primary fermentor is usually not enough time for off-flavors to occur.

And this...

Quote:

....As a final note on this subject, I should mention that by brewing with healthy yeast in a well-prepared wort, many experienced brewers, myself included, have been able to leave a beer in the primary fermenter for several months without any evidence of autolysis.

This get's discussed almost daily, there are plenty of threads on it...you could do a search for "long primary" or "no secondary" for more of the discussions, or just look at all the threads in the beginners section with the words "should I rack" or "how long in primary" and you'll see all our answers...we've kind of hashed and discussed it to death, and cited reasons whay we do...you you will find and abundance of info on the topic...but ultiamtely you'll have to make up your own mind.

nakros · 06-20-2009, 04:36 PM

I got sold on the (extra) long-primary back in April when work deadlines were approaching and I didn't have time to bottle. That beer spent 7 weeks in the primary. It was so tasty that I almost didn't make it through bottling, since I was pulling too many samples!

Since then, I'm sold on extra-long primary -- The beer is tasty and ready in bottles much sooner...