Time to bottle?

[deanktenor]

Hi folks,

I am taking a pass at my second recipe not using a kit. The recipe is below for your reference. I am on day 10 of fermenting. On day seven I went to secondary. Haven't seen any air lock activity in 48 hours day 8). Gave a vigorous stir and now there is an occasional bubble now and again, maybe every 5 minutes.

Part of me wants to give this a few weeks to sit in the car boy and get delicious, and the other part of me doesn't want to risk ending View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1448332301.599055.jpgup with flat beer because I waited too long to bottle carbonate. Ha ha. Any thoughts would be appreciated. The picture was taken at time of posting.

Coffee & Cream Stout
(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.061 FG = 1.016
IBU’S = 28 SRM = 55 ABV = 5.9%

Courtesy of O’Shea Brewing Company Laguna Niguel, California

Rich, creamy, full-flavored oatmeal stout enhanced by a smooth, mellow coffee flavor derived from Kiln Coffee malt, topped out with a frothy, creamy white head. This is a great beer to enjoy on a cool evening.

Ingredients
6.0 lbs. (2.7 kg) amber liquid
malt extract
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) dark dry malt extract
0.75 lbs. (0.34 kg) crystal malt
(120 °L)
0.25 lbs. (112 g) Kiln Coffee malt/carafa 2
6 oz. (168 g) roasted barley
6 oz. (168 g) black malt (black patent)
0.75 lbs. (0.34 kg) chocolate malt
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) flaked oats
5.7 AAU Northern Brewer hops
(bittering hops)
(0.80 oz./23 g of 7.1% alpha acid)
2.2 AAU Fuggle hops (aroma)
(0.50 oz./14 g of 4.30% alpha acid)
White Labs WLP004 (Irish Stout) yeast
0.75 cups corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step

1. Steep grains in hot water at 151 °F (66 °C) for 30 minutes. Drain tea from grains into boiling kettle, rinse one or two times with hot water (170 °F/77 °C).

2. Add liquid and dried malt extract to kettle, top up with water to desired level and bring to a boil.

3. Add boiling hops and boil for 60 minutes.northern at 60. Aroma at 5 min. When 60 minutes has elapsed, shut-off heat, add finishing hops and start to cool.

4. Once cooled, add to fermenter, aerating well then top-off fermenter with cool water until you have 5.25 gallons (20 L) and pitch yeast.

5. After fermentation is done, add priming sugar, bottle, sit back, relax and enjoy the fruits of your labor!

 

[deanktenor]

Ps I have hit the suggested FG.

 

[Gavin C]

It's done, package it up.

In future I would suggest two things

1. Never stir the beer once fermentation has begun
2. Forgo the secondary in 99% of beers. In this particular instance your secondary is undefilled and transfer to a second vessel will have done nothing to benefit the beer.

 

[C-Rider]

If you are not adding something like fruit forget secondary for 99% of what you will brew.
But since you have done it already it's only DONE if you show no difference if SG over a period of 3 days skipping day two.
Checking for changes in SG is really the only way to tell if your beer is done.

 

[mrgrimm101]

Airlock activity is a poor indication of when fermentation is complete. You did it right by measuring for the FG. Did you measure it just once, or do it a couple times a couple days apart? This is the best indication that you have hit a stable FG and you should be safe to bottle.

Also, why would you stir it?! Did the krausen fall before you stirred it? Once full attenuation has been reached you want to let the yeast settle out in the bottom of the fermentor with the trub..stirring it will kick that back up into suspension. It also risks a crazy amount of oxidation, which will make the flavor of your beer go really bad pretty quick.

I also agree that you didn't need to secondary this beer. You won't have flat beer just from letting it sit in the carboy. You can bottle it now and let it condition in the bottle, or you can let it sit in the carboy for another few days or a week..it's your call. Personally, I would leave it in the carboy for another week and then bottle.

 

[deanktenor]

Thanks, everyone. So, mrgrimm101, if there is no need to secondary why would you let it sit for another week since it hit the final gravity. Not trying to be argumentative, just trying to understand.

Thanks for your help, everyone. After searching the forum a bit, it seems like everybody except for the guy that runs my homebrew shop and author John Palmer feels that going to secondary is not necessary in cases where you're not adding anything. Interesting.

 

[Gavin C]

After searching the forum a bit, it seems like everybody except for the guy that runs my homebrew shop and author John Palmer feels that going to secondary is not necessary in cases where you're not adding anything. Interesting.

John Palmer has discussed this many times and now asserts that there is no need for a secondary vessel for the vast majority of beers. Printed works can get out-dated and opinions change.

 

[mrgrimm101]

Thanks, everyone. So, mrgrimm101, if there is no need to secondary why would you let it sit for another week since it hit the final gravity. Not trying to be argumentative, just trying to understand.

Thanks for your help, everyone. After searching the forum a bit, it seems like everybody except for the guy that runs my homebrew shop and author John Palmer feels that going to secondary is not necessary in cases where you're not adding anything. Interesting.

I like to give my brews 2-3 weeks in primary, depending on the style. It could hit FG after a week, but I still like to let it sit after that. It's a personal preference really. Lots of people prefer to hit FG, bottle or keg right away, and then let it condition in the bottle or keg. I've read that the extra time in primary lets the yeast finish up and potentially clean off-flavors. Again, it's just a preference really. It still has to condition in the bottle anyway.

 

[mrgrimm101]

Most of what I've read is that the reason that people used to insist on using a secondary is because brewer's yeast used to be a lot more fragile and was prone to dying (autolysis: basically eating itself) which can cause some bad off-flavors if the beer sits on the yeast cake for too long. So they would transfer it to a secondary to get it off the yeast cake. However, things are different today. We have much hardier yeast strains that do not seem to go through this process. So you can leave the beer on the yeast for much longer and have no problems.

Unfortunately, many instructions out there still insist on a secondary, which can be misleading for new brewers.