Belgian Dubbel down to 1.006 in 5 days. Move to secondary?

Not sure if this makes much difference, but my dubbel fermented like crazy for 4 days and just started slowing down to a stop. OG 1.060, gravity after 5 days 1.006.

Since it's just about "done" (I can't imagine it getting much lower), should I take it off the yeast and start it in the secondary?

I typically give it 14 days in primary no matter what, but I've never had a dubbel finish so low so fast. I kind of want to stop fermentation as much as possible so it doesn't finish too dry. I'm thinking moving to secondary would help with this.

1.006??? That's crazy low for a Dubbel. I wouldn't take it off the yeast just yet personally, though.

I would leave on the yeast as well. I doubt it goes much lower.

I know, and the average house temp is 62 or so. I tried a yeast nutrient, not sure if that is what caused the crazy low gravity

yeast nutrients do magic. What yeast did you used? I brewed a batch of Bomshell Blonde Ale with Notty not long ago and it completelly fermented in 90 hours! Thats not even 4 full days

I used Wyeast Belgien Abbey 1214. I made a 2 pint starter which had 24 hours to get rolling before I pitched. The nutrient is Fermax which I think is mainly for wine, but beer brewers use it as well I think

That is really, really low for a Dubbel and particularly for 6 days although your OG was not that high. Did you use Candi Sugar? That might explain it in part but still...Normally I aim for around 1.016 TG so that is going to be one dry Dubbel. I would also leave it for at least another week if not two because as the other(s) said, doubtful it will go any lower so you have nothing to really lose. Montanaandy

I just finished a Dubbel. I used candy sugar and had a much higher gravity than 1.060. 1.006 is going to be extremely dry, but it will probably be a great beer anyway. I let mine sit in primary for one month and then went straight to bottle. Let me tell ya, it is one of the top 3 beers I've ever made. I quit secondary altogether a year and a half ago, and my beers have never been better. My advice is to leave it until you're ready to bottle unless you want an extra carboy/bucket to clean.

It was 3/4# specialty grains, 6.6#light LME, 1# light DME, 1# dark candi sugar.

Are you certain your hydrometer hasn't slipped? you may want to calibrate it again.

Could be. Do I need distilled to calibrate? I'm thinking tap would be a bit off.

fretsforlife said:

I quit secondary altogether a year and a half ago, and ...

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I love how we all talk about secondaries like it was smoking or a drug. (Me included by the way.) "I haven't been using secondaries for 6 months." "I only secondary when I want to oak or fruit." Funny $hit.

Triocd said:

Could be. Do I need distilled to calibrate? I'm thinking tap would be a bit off.

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Yes distilled.

Don't secondary... ever...

El_Exorcisto said:

Don't secondary... ever...

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Main reason?

CTS said:

Main reason?

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Yeast cleans up it's byproducts, less risk for contamination, yeast autolysis is not a real concern anymore, etc. If you use the search button you will find 1,000's of threads about it.

It's outdated practice unless you are dryhopping or adding fruit, and also harvesting yeast while doing it. The longer a beer, especially something as big and complex as a dubbel sits on the yeast, the more time you give the yeast to do it's manifold jobs.

Thanks guys.....I will be doing this for my second batch

I think we are in the same boat. I currently have a Dubbel in the primary (day 12) and my OG was 1.059 and I just checked it and its at 1.007, which comes out to 87% attenuation! However, in my case it was an AG batch and I'm pretty sure it has to do with my process. This was only my second AG and the first one (Witbier) ended at 80% attenuation.

Just to provide some reassurance...I just got finished reading Brew Like a Monk and many of the different brews listed have attenuation over 80%. When I first saw that, I thought it was error, but I just kept seeing the same thing over and over again. After all this time, I never realized that it was so common for Belgian beers to have such high attenuation.

In your case, it seems unusual to me for an extract batch to end with such a high attenuation. There are only two reasons I can think of that can result in that: 1) high fermentation temperatures (can result in fusels) or 2) large amounts of simple sugars. Neither seems to apply to you. To my knowledge, yeast nutrient should have no effect on the attenuation. After all, there is so much sugars that the yeast can process and extracts have a limit on the fermentables relative to an AG where you have more control over that.

I tasted my sample and as you would expect its dry as a bone. No off flavors or anything. I still need to refine my process to gain more control on my attenuations.

BoxofRain said:

I love how we all talk about secondaries like it was smoking or a drug. (Me included by the way.) "I haven't been using secondaries for 6 months." "I only secondary when I want to oak or fruit." Funny $hit.

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Haha, yeah really. We should put together some kind of intervention reality show about it.

I don't even secondary at all. If I dry hop, or oak (which I haven't done yet) it goes right in the primary after fermentation is done.

CTS said:

El_Exorcisto said:

Don't secondary... ever...

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Main reason?

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It leads to the harder stuff… like Thirding and Fourthing.

Brett infection??