Russian imperial stout secondary.

[mikek]

I used a water/ice bath to effectively control primary fermentation temps. I am going to rack now for extended secondary. My understanding is a cool dark room is fine for the secondary as the fermentation is over that would raise temps in the wort. Is this correct? Room will be steady mid 60s.

 

[Queequeg]

I think secondary temps are less critical (unless your lagering), because the fermentation is over and you have more the beer off the cake. However hop aroma will be preserved longer at low temps, that said you could always dry hop just before bottling.

 

[Puddlethumper]

Temperature is probably fine. I've done one RIS at those temps and it tastes great. There are a couple things I learned that you might find helpful.
1) Rack the beer to a carboy that you can fill clear up to the neck. Glass is best. Glass eliminates any possibility of o2 permeation through the walls of the fermenter. Filling it into the neck of the carboy reduces surface area exposure to o2 to almost nothing. Both of these steps will reduce the likelihood of oxidation and premature staling.
2) If you plan to bottle the beer, add 1/3 pkt. of a neutral dry yeast to the bottling bucket. The yeast from the initial fermentation may be exhausted and lacking the vitality to restart and properly carbonate the beer.

Hope this is of some help. Cheers!

 

[mikek]

Thanks for the advice.. I did use glass carboy and it is nearly to neck.. pretty close. Still seeing a bubble or two in the airlock so hoping to expel all O2... I am going to use Safale-04 to bottle when the time comes... Also going to soak some oak cubes in bourbon and vanilla beans (I think) and toss the oak (not the other ingredients ) in with about 2-3 weeks left in secondary.. Hoping it all hits the mark when the time comes...

 

[Puddlethumper]

Thanks for the advice.. I did use glass carboy and it is nearly to neck.. pretty close. Still seeing a bubble or two in the airlock so hoping to expel all O2... I am going to use Safale-04 to bottle when the time comes... Also going to soak some oak cubes in bourbon and vanilla beans (I think) and toss the oak (not the other ingredients ) in with about 2-3 weeks left in secondary.. Hoping it all hits the mark when the time comes...

Don't give much thought to expelling the o2. It will be there regardless of what you do. The main thing is to minimize the amount of surface area of beer exposed to it. But it sounds like you have this going in the right direction. I'll bet this will be a great batch of beer.