How long to keep Imperial Stout in Secondary?

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skagit991

skagit991

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I recently brewed my first high gravity beer, Creme Brulee Stout, which is an Imperial Stout. The recipe I followed did not specify on how long to keep it in the secondary. Does any one have a ball park recomendation? Also, is it necessary to add another dose of yeast?

Thanks for the advice!


Here is the details.

Type: All Grain Date: 1/7/2012
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal Brewer:
Boil Size: 6.52 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Pot and Cooler ( 5 Gal/19 L) - All Grain
End of Boil Volume 5.98 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 5.13 gal Est Mash Efficiency 84.0 %
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients


Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
17 lbs 9.6 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 80.1 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 2 6.8 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt (600.0 SRM) Grain 3 6.8 %
12.0 oz Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (1.0 SRM) Sugar 4 3.4 %
10.1 oz Milk Sugar (Lactose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 5 2.9 %
1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [13.90 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 28.4 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 30.0 mins) Fining 7 -
3.00 Items Vanilla Beans (Boil 2.0 mins) Spice 8 -
1.00 tsp Cardamom Powder (Boil 2.0 mins) Spice 9 -
0.75 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [13.90 %] - Aroma Steep 30.0 min Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
0.50 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Boil 0.1 mins) Other 11 -
1.0 pkg London Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs #1028) [124.21 ml] Yeast 12 -

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.117 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.046 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.025 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 12.3 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.7 %
Bitterness: 28.4 IBUs Calories: 151.6 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 49.8 SRM
Mash Profile
 
Wow, that's a low OG from what was estimated in Beersmith. Did you grind your own grains? I've never done an Imperial Stout, but as I understand, very high gravity beers do need/benefit from extended aging but yours isn't that high...
 
Are your measured gravities listed there accurate? If so, you have a 4.7% abv 28.4IBU stout that doesn't need to be conditioned at all.

I recently bottled a 12% abv stout after cold conditioning for about 115 days. The initial boozyness mellows substantially over the first few months, I'd give it at least 60 days in a secondary.
 
I'm pretty sure those are just the beersmith default #'s if you don't enter a value yourself.

If you brewed and fermented out close to your targets you should give that around 6 months minimum to age.
 
So.... I am new with using Beer Smith and added a few numbers incorrectly...:(
The OG is 1.106 and FG is 1.033
 
That looks better! Have you racked to secondary yet or is it still active in primary? Also, did you make a yeast starter? Just trying to see if it might still drop a few more points.

edit: What's your secondary fermentation vessel?
 
I made a large starter and had great, overwhelming, fermentation for nearly 2 days. It has been in the secondary for about a week now. Very little to no action in the airlock right now.
 
skagit991 said:
It has been in the secondary for about a week now. Very little to no action in the airlock right now.
Click to expand...

you really should have left this in the primary longer than 1 week. there should be no activity in the secondary, its just for bulk storage. id give it at least a month
 

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