High Gravity Scotch Ale Aging Question

I have a scotch ale in primary 1.088 OG . Used WLP028. This beer is within 4 points of projected FG after 8 days in primary. I intend to leave it in primary for 4 weeks. My question is should I rack to secondary for a couple of months (Bulk Age) or go ahead and bottle it and age it that way?

Personally, I would just bottle it after 4 weeks.

Bottle it, it's going to age faster in the bottle than in bulk.

wyzazz said:

Bottle it, it's going to age faster in the bottle than in bulk.

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I do believe you have it backwards. IIRC, bulk aging works much faster. Luckily I, and many others on here, have the benefit of aging in bulk in their corny kegs but I would definitely rack to a secondary and just leave it alone.

I'll be brewing a big wee heavy soon (next brew), and I've read everywhere that a beer that large should be racked to a secondary for sure. I don't know about it sitting on trub in the primary for a month, though; autolysis can happen before that as it sits on dead and decaying yeast cells, and you don't want to chance ruining such a beauty. I'll be racking to secondary after two or three weeks at most (probably 2) and will let it sit in the secondary for two months then aging in the bottles for a couple/few weeks.

Hmmm. Just read my kit instructions, and it does say primary for 2 to 4 weeks then move it to the secondary, so maybe it won't hurt due to the OG being as high as it is. (My kit's OG is 1.083, for the record.)

Best of luck, and do that heavy some justice.

My wee heavy spent 30+ days in the primary and 95 days in the secondary, it's been in the bottles for a couple of months now and in a word it's awesome...

OG 1.100 FG 1.022

Reno_eNVy_446 said:

I do believe you have it backwards. IIRC, bulk aging works much faster. Luckily I, and many others on here, have the benefit of aging in bulk in their corny kegs but I would definitely rack to a secondary and just leave it alone.

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I stand corrected, one too many for me last night!

Along the same lines with bulk aging, I have a related question for you all. I transferred a high gravity (~10.4%) Belgian Tripel IPA to secondary 2 days ago. It spent 2 weeks in the primary, and I wanted to leave it in the secondary for a least a month before bottling. When transferring into my 5-gallon carboy, I noticed that I had a little more headspace than I've ever had (prob around 4.25-4.5 gallons in carboy). I have kept the room temp for the secondary around 67-68 degrees, but I'm starting to notice what looks like some internal condensation within the headspace in the carboy. Is this normal/harmful to the beer?

As long as you practice good sanitation you should be fine, just a difference in temps inside/outside the bottle.