What would I gain by doing a secondary right now?

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TrojanAnteater

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I brewed a small batch of Belgian Strong Golden Ale 3 weeks ago. It's a total of about 3.5 gallons in my 6 gallon carboy. It's been done fermenting for a couple weeks and I was going to transfer it to secondary in my 3 gallon carboy for another 3 weeks or so.

Would I really gain anything by doing this? What if I just left it in my primary for another 3 weeks then bottled it? I don't want to risk infection if I don't have to. Does anyone see a problem with leaving it on the yeast cake for the full 6 weeks before bottling? Thanks for any help, this is my first Belgian, and my first beer over 7%.
 
I don't think you would have a problem leaving it on the yeast cake for six weeks, but that is a lot of head space. If it were me, I would rack it then get another brew going in that empty primary.
 
yeah that's another thing I was wondering, how much the headspace will affect things for that long of time....
 
The longer you leave it, the less the CO2 cloud will blanket it. Normally if this was a 5 gallon batch it wouldn't be a big deal but with that much headspace, I'd personally transfer it and start another brew like double_e5 said.
 
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