Quick fermentaion with US05, is there any reason to keep it in the primary?

I have an IIPA that seems to have fermented out fairly quickly. OG was 1.082. 6 days later, SG is 1.020, which is 74.1% attenuation. I usually get about 75% with 2 weeks, so this is right on par.

My question is; Do you think I will get any noticable further fermentation in the primary if I leave it there for another week before going to secondary? Really, I'd like this beer to finish as dry as possible, but my urgency is that I want to bottle and serve it as soon as possible (before the hop aroma and flavor start to decay).

Thanks,
Seann

You should leave it another week at least for the yeast to clean up as best as they can. This will also net you a little more attenuation out of the yeast. Don't worry so much about the hops. If after you taste it later you lost something you wanted, you need to adjust the recipe next time. Hop flavor and aroma loss is not as important as what the yeast can do with a little more time cleaning up what they make during fermentation. I don't even use a secondary, as most of us don't, so my yeast can do their business and then drop out all on its own. I'm working out a dry hopper myself so I can add the aroma and flavor post fermentation for beers like APA-IPA-and IIPA's. Too much is lost during CO2 creation during the fermentation for my liking.

1.020 seems low enough for an IIPA. Brewers yeast cannot ferment dextrins, so you will not get any more fermentation in the primary.

As for "cleaning up", assuming you are not removing the yeast prior to bottling, this is IMHO totally unnecessary. Re-absorption of unwanted compounds such as diacetyl, and acetaldehyde by the yeast will occur anyways. It does not matter whether this happens in the bottle or the carboy.

Wortmonger, are you saying that secondary fermentation is a thing of the past? I ask respectfully, rather than challengingly, but I thought that the idea behind secondary fermentation was to remove the beer from the yeast cake created during primary, allowing the rest (or decent amount) of the yeast to floculate before bottling/ kegging?

I would say 1.020 was still a little high. Obviously i don't know your recipe or mash temperatures, so you could be there. If it were me, I would have mashed lower or subbed in some sugar to help he FG end a lot lower. Leave it and see where it goes. It will not hurt leaving in on the cake, and will help clearing the beer.

Secondary does seem to be out of favor. I still do it to most of my beers, to harvest the yeast, to clear with gelatin, for dry-hopping, and to empty my Primary fermenters ready for the next beer. I always wait at least 2 weeks before moving it off the primary; more if it is still fermenting. Probably the only times it is necessary to move the beer is if it is a big beer you will be bulk conditioning for months, or it's something like a saison and you are conditioning for a few weeks at relatively high temperatures (75 F).

forces said:

Wortmonger, are you saying that secondary fermentation is a thing of the past? I ask respectfully, rather than challengingly, but I thought that the idea behind secondary fermentation was to remove the beer from the yeast cake created during primary, allowing the rest (or decent amount) of the yeast to floculate before bottling/ kegging?

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Yes, it is unnecessary. Extending the primary does the exact same thing, and "cleanup" can happen faster due to the higher number of yeast cells vs. later, although AshtrayDinner is right that it will still occur. There are uses for secondary containers, such as needing a fermentor for another batch. I would say, with an ale you are perfectly alright going 2 weeks in the primary-couple of days crash cooling-transfer to serving container/bottling bucket.