Which is preferred? Bottle aging or in 2ndary?

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mullimat

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I was wondering about this because it would really help me if i could bottle this one batch next weekend but it will have only been in secondary for two weeks by then (it sat in primary for two weeks as well but it's a big belgian Rochefort clone so it needs a lot more time to age). Given that it's a big belgian (11.2% abv) i know i should probably let it sit in the secondary longer (like at least 4 weeks) but it would really help me to free that carboy up if i could bottle it next weekend (i have another batch that i need to secondary). Basically my question is, if you had to choose where to age it would it be better to age in the bottles or in secondary or does it really not make a difference?
 
:mug: A lot of people are just letting them sit in the primary for up to a month or so, but that is a BIG beer so I'm not sure about that. I would let it sit a while in secondary, waiting and patience really can't hurt.:mug: :tank: :) Or buy another bucket.
 
But what is the difference between letting it sit in secondary for a month and letting it sit in the bottles for a month or even longer? To me, there really wouldn't be much of a difference if any. All the sediment has pretty much settled already in the secondary so it shouldn't really make a difference right?
 
BTW, the other belgian that has been sitting in the primary for two weeks as well that's waiting to secondary in the carboy that the Rochefort is currently in seems like it has finally finished! I was getting kinda impatient becuase it was sitting in primary for so long and i couldn't get the temps up enough to get it finished off. Before it seemed like it was stuck at 1.022 and i wasn't satisfied with that. Well, i finally got it somewhere where the temps raised to 72 and i just checked the OG and it's now sitting at 1.013! So i will check it over the next few days and see if it's consistent and then hopefully i can find some way to get this belgian into secondary.
 
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