How clear is clear

Hey Y'all,

I presently watch my secondary sit quietly and become a light brown colour. My question is when is clear, clear enough to bottle? It stopped bubbling last Saturday and I was going to bottle this weekend, since it has sat for almost one week.

If it has stopped bubbling then take a gravity reading. If your at your mark then bottle. It will continue to settle in the bottles. You can cold condition for a couple of weeks if you have a fridge to use.

2nd Street Brewery said:

If it has stopped bubbling then take a gravity reading. If your at your mark then bottle. It will continue to settle in the bottles. You can cold condition for a couple of weeks if you have a fridge to use.

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when you cold condition, do you condition the secondary for two weeks or the bottles? i've never managed to have this question answered.

I've read where people do it both ways. I prefer to do it while my beer is still in the secondary. It gives it more time for stuff to settle out and my bottled beer is clearer. Don't think either way is wrong.

2nd Street Brewery said:

I've read where people do it both ways. I prefer to do it while my beer is still in the secondary. It gives it more time for stuff to settle out and my bottled beer is clearer. Don't think either way is wrong.

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ok, great - so you're saying that once the secondary is near completion, throw it in the fridge for 2 weeks and then rack it off into the bottling bucket and proceed as normal?

drvodka said:

ok, great - so you're saying that once the secondary is near completion, throw it in the fridge for 2 weeks and then rack it off into the bottling bucket and proceed as normal?

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You could. Not a must. The possibilities are endless! I did a few batches last winter that I would set the secondary outside for a few days in the cold to "clear up". Didn't work too bad. The only thing that you might run into is not enough yeast to create any carbonation (if you are bottling and adding priming sugar)

loop

Yup, thats what I do. I also let it sit at room temp for a day to wake up the yeasties before bottling so it does carbonate ok.

2nd Street Brewery said:

Yup, thats what I do. I also let it sit at room temp for a day to wake up the yeasties before bottling so it does carbonate ok.

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smart! I'll give that a try, cheers.