Should I rack my weizen?

[trish]

Here's the details:

I brewed my second batch of beer (raspberry weizen) on Tuesday (8/3) night and by Wednesday morning it was bubbling like crazy. Wednesday evening rolled around and the bubbling slowed to once every 20 seconds. It did not bubble at all on Thursday or today (8/6). I used the yeast packet that came with the can of malt, I was a little warry about doing this b/c the books I've read have advised against it, but the guy at the store said that it should be fine since the raspberries were the main flavor focus of the beer.

The stats:
OG: 1.064
Today's reading: 1.022

I know a lot of people don't rack weizens but I'm concerned that the berries I used will start to rot at some point and spoil the beer. Should I rack, wait, or not rack?

[Edit]: I also have it stored in a closet which stays around 75 F. I'm worried that this might be a little too warm.

Thanks for any tips!

PS - my first batch was also a wheat ale, I used American Hefeweizen liquid yeast and was very patient with the fermentation and it turned out great.

 

[ChshreCat]

Should I rack my weizen?

My first thought was "OUCH!!!" Why would you want to do that?

But seriously folks...
Definitely too soon. It hasn't even finished fermenting yet! Fermentation should take place in the primary fermenter. The secondary is only for dryhopping, adding fruit or oak or something like that or for extra time for the beer to clear.

Since you did the fruit in the primary instead of the secondary, you don't need to worry about that. At least let it finish fermenting and get to a stable FG, give it a few days or a week after that and then rack if you're worried about the berries.

In the future, you might want to save the berries for the secondary. Ferment it out in the primary, rack to the secondary on top of the berries and then bottle when you see fit.

 

[s1080]

I also have it stored in a closet which stays around 75 F. I'm worried that this might be a little too warm.

Yeah that's a wee bit on the warm side. An easy way to combat this in a cost effective manor is with a swamp cooler. Just put the fermentor in a big rubbermaid bin. Fill it with water and drop a couple ice bottles in it every 12 hours or so. I use a spare bathtub at my house for this