secondary fermentation

I am new to the forum, so this is my first post...
I live in an apartment and my quad has been in the secondary for a week now. Something has come up and I will be moving out in a couple weeks. I will inevitably have to bottle earlier than I originally thought. My question is, how detrimental to the quad is this going to be? Will the secondary fermentation be continued thoroughly in the bottle if I have to patience to wait on it, or is my quad just going to be rough from the short secondary?

Thank you in advance
-Michael

Do you have anyone nearby that can hold it during your transition? That would be my first option for a large beer in your situation. While it may be fine if you bottle early, if there is still an active fermentation, you could have yourself some bottle bombs on your hands (or your ceiling)

If you are close to your target final gravity, I would bottle. Otherwise, I would move the carboy with you to your new location. I moved a barley wine in a glass carboy in the front seat of my car. I also moved my entire brewery over 1000 miles, but I used kegs in that instance.

If you do decide to move your fermenter, I would recomend that use vodka instead of water or sanatizer in your airlock for the move. Some of the liquid in the airlock can get sucked back into your fermenter.

Sounds like you should move it with you in a secondary if at all possible. Bulk aging and bottle conditioning are slightly different, and a quad should have the benefit of the bulk aging if you can swing it.

I say unless it's going to take you 6 months to move, leave it in the fermenter and don't bottle.

While we're on the subject, how long should a quadrupel be in a secondary?

A secondary is not even necessary. If you leave it in the primary long enough until fermentation is complete, it's ready to bottle or keg. A secondary is not really supposed to "ferment" anything unless you add more sugars, malt or fruit. It's really just aging like was posted above. Aging depends on beer style. Some are ready immediately, some take time before they are really ready to drink, like a barleywine or your quad. That does not mean you need to have all the aging done before you bottle it. After you bottle, it will still need to age probably several months or longer.