Scottish Ale

keep it in primary at least another week... that's my vote.

Well, it's been in the primary for 11 days now, and the compitition is March 11. That gives me only two weeks of bottle conditioning... So I need to decide if I should just go from primary to bottle, or add a very brief secondary to help things clarify...

I do appreciate your response!

Primary. Then bottle. Check your gravity and make sure it's finished. No sense in rushing it and sending in a "green" beer to a competition.

Look up "cold crash". I would cold crash for a couple days in your primary before bottling as long as you hit your FG.

You don't have time for a secondary. Do you not have a hydrometer?

Thanks for the replies.

Blood, yeah I've heard of cold crashing, though I have no experiance... I think I've hit my FG (although not tested) but my wife wouldn't bee to happy with me rearranging the fridge to put my carboy in... But good idea, lets hope the temp drops enough for me to do that. (I have it fermenting in my garage as it has been a steady 64 degrees out there)

40watt, I do have a hydrometer... And to answer any potential questions, my OG was 1.056.

Again thanks for the replies.

FloridaCracker said:

40watt, I do have a hydrometer... And to answer any potential questions, my OG was 1.056.

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure the question had to to with current readings, not OG readings. The number of seconds in between your airlock bubbling tells you nothing about how close the beer is to being finished. Also, your beer won't really clarify much better (or even any better) in a secondary versus primary fermentor, given the same amount of time in each. I'd just hold out until it's ready to bottle.

That beer is going to be green, 11 days is short and you're not even sure if it is finished fermenting. Perhaps if you pitched a massive starter it could be finishing up.
It won't be ideal, but you're going to need to cold crash and bottle soon to have about 2weeks conditioning time.
Good luck.

Here's a suggestion after the fermentation finishes. Rack into a water cube for a secondary. For about $6 you can get a 5 gallon water jug that looks like a cube with a handle. I use my daugthers old college fridge and it fits perfect in there, but would also fit a regular fridge without making your wife mad. So you could cold crash over a couple days and clear up your beer.

Works great and doesn't cost a lot.

phone a friend!! I think you sould look at maybe doing a forced carbe on this one! I would be very scared of bottles thats just 2 weeks conditioned, especialy with all thats on the line? bottle conditioning is not predictable!
cold crash, rack to secondery/keg, let it sit there for 1week, then look at maybe put the gas on for the last week (dont have equipment?) I one carbed one liter of beer in a "soda stream" soda maker. only did it ones to test, cant comment on effectiveness

Anything less than 2 weeks in primary would be a bad idea. Even if fermentation is complete (use your hysrometer) you want your yeast to have at least a little time to clean house. You don't have time to let the yeast fall out on their own. So, if you can't cold crash, you just need to get them in bottles and hope for the best.