When to rack the 1st time.

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dehuti

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I have a 5 gal batch brewed on 5 jan from 10lbs honey, 11.75 oz Blue Agave (sucrose), 2 LBS vanilla syrup (mostly corn sugar). Well, it's past the two week mark and my airlock is bubbling at a constant 7 to 8 seconds. Do I give it another week or rack again to eliminate the lees?
Thanks,
Mike
 
It's up to you, but I'd wait a while, like till Feb. 5th & depending on how thick the lees are & the type of yeast, I might wait longer still. Regards, GF.
 
original gravity was 1.08; haven't cracked the seal since I pitched the yeast on the 5th (despite the nagging urge to do so)
 
Well its up to you, if primary fermentation has slowed significantly, then it it probably somewhere in the 1.000-1.020 range already. Personally, if I have the time, I would rack once the bulk of fermentation is complete. When you do, make sure to take a new sg reading, so you can get an idea of where it is. Once its in secondary, considering racking whenever a decent amount of lees build up, that should help it clear quicker.
 
I like to rack when the fermentation is still a little bit active so that the oxygen in the secondary is soon pushed out and replaced with CO2.
 
If you've got access to CO2, don't worry about that. You want the gravity down to at least the final quarter (that is between your original and desired final gravity). Mead is fine for 3 months. I usually don't rack the primary until 2 months and then every 3 months after that. Wait at least until mid feb, then rack and if the gravity is still high, add some yeast energizer or fermaid K
 
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