When to bottle?

OK, I pitched on Sunday, OG 1045. Furious bubbling for 36 hours now on wednesday eve no bubbles. My gravity is 1020 now. Some patches of yellow still on top floating , not much. I plan on bottling or pitching to a secondary next monday when I am off. Should I go ahead and bottle so my yeast will carbonate well or can I let it clarify for a week in the secondary and then bottle? True brew Amber Ale with Muntons Yeast

No need to rush. If you're skipping secondary altogether it's probably better to leave it in primary for at at least 2 weeks. Even though the beer appears clear there is still plenty of yeast in suspension which will be sufficient to carbonate the beer in bottles. You could put it in secondary on Mon., but I wouldn't bottle it then.

Rounder999 said:

OK, I pitched on Sunday, OG 1045. Furious bubbling for 36 hours now on wednesday eve no bubbles. My gravity is 1020 now. Some patches of yellow still on top floating , not much. I plan on bottling or pitching to a secondary next monday when I am off. Should I go ahead and bottle so my yeast will carbonate well or can I let it clarify for a week in the secondary and then bottle? True brew Amber Ale with Muntons Yeast

Click to expand...

You'd be doing yourself an injustice by bottling in a week. Either leave it alone, right where it is, for two weeks or more, or you can rack to a secondary if you feel you have to and let it sit for two weeks there. If you're going to bother racking to a secondary, a week isn't really very long. If you're going to bottle in two weeks total fermenting time (and I wouldn't), then you might as well leave it where it is.
I mean, you'd have to sanitize the carboy, the racking cane, the new bung, airlock, etc. If you're going to all that trouble, at least leave it in secondary for two weeks.

If you can wait - use the rule of thumb as seen throughout this forum - 1-2-3. One week in primary, two weeks in secondary, three weeks in the bottle, enjoy!! I generally go at least 2 weeks and more often 3-4 weeks in primary then straight to bottle or rack to secondary depending on what I am trying to achieve. The secondary is for clarifying more than anything else - the fermentation is for the most part completed in the primary .

I can wait, but I do want to free up my fermenter for batch #2. I am unclear as to what i will lose if I rack to my secondary, where it can sit for 2 weeks ,if I will still have yeast to eat my priming sugar then. I guess I still have a lot to learn!

Rounder999 said:

I can wait, but I do want to free up my fermenter for batch #2. I am unclear as to what i will lose if I rack to my secondary, where it can sit for 2 weeks ,if I will still have yeast to eat my priming sugar then. I guess I still have a lot to learn!

Click to expand...

You can let it sit in the secondary for a LONG time before you have to worry about the yeast not carbing your beer. Like months, not weeks. So don't worry about it! I've lagered beers at near freezing for 8 weeks, and not had a problem with bottle carbing!

What are you using for secondary? Carboy, AlePail? Why not just brew another beer and use that for your primary?

HokieBrewer said:

What are you using for secondary? Carboy, AlePail? Why not just brew another beer and use that for your primary?

Click to expand...

I have a donated glass 5 gal carboy that is just begging to be useful.

Rounder999 said:

I have a donated glass 5 gal carboy that is just begging to be useful.

Click to expand...

Oh hai....

i... don't rush ya beer... it takes time to achieve something great! just get a few more carboys. if i were you, i wouldn't rack to a secondary just yet.... make a batch or 2 and then make that decision.... slow down a bit cowboy. it's a really fun hobby if you have the patience for it.....if ya keep brewin, you'll find it's like Christmas every 2 months! ho ho ho !!!!

Let it sit in the primary for a week minimum. I prefer two. No bubbles doesn't mean no fermentation. Trust your Hydrometer.

Since you have a carboy, you can rack to that after 10 days to free up your primary for another batch - for most recipes I use a modified schedule and do 10 days (minimum) in primary, 10 days (minimum) in secondary then bottle. I've yet to have a brew not finish primary in 10 days but I still always check SG before racking off.

This lets me start a new batch every 10-12 days and mostly keep up with my consumption

So I'm having a similar issue here. I have a red ale LME kit that I fermented for 5 days, poured on top of pasteurized pureed black berries and plan to sit for 14 days in asecondary. If I bottle it after that, is it good to drink after two weeks or do I need to wait 3 weeks as per The Rue of Thumb?