Hiw long is too long to wait to rack into secondary?

I brewed a blonde ale last night that I plan to split into 3 batches - I'm going to keep 3 gallons in its current state, and add blueberries to 1 gallon and add strawberries to 1 gallon. I plan to use fresh fruit, mash them up with an immersion blender, add water and heat to 170 degrees, and then add them to jugs for secondary fermentation. My question is, since I want to keep the bulk of the batch in its 'natural' state, can I wait until fermentation is complete to rack to secondary rather than racking after a week when activity has slowed but not complete?

I figure thos way, I can bottle the 3 gallons after siphoning off the 2 small batches for fruit, and the fruit should have enough sugar to it to restart fermentation and prevent oxygen from affecting them.

Thoughts?

Should work, that's how I've done it

You should be fine.
I no longer use a secondarry...3 weeks in primarry, then package.

Legume said:

You should be fine.
I no longer use a secondarry...3 weeks in primarry, then package.

Click to expand...

He's adding fruit.

I wouldn't heat the fruit- you're likely to set the pectin which will give you a nasty haze.

yeah don't heat the fruit. i personally wouldn't blend it either, but i know some people do that.

your idea is pretty spot on. just go your normal fermentation time, then rack to secondary/package. if you're really concerned about anything taking hold after racking, then you could just add a bit of sugar or dme. that's what i do when i've tried things like this.