Big beer secondary

G'day!

It's my first time posting so forgive me if my lingo is off...

7 weeks ago I brewed my first big beer (1.080 OG) and because I was out of the country it had sat in the primary until yesterday.

It has reached its desired FG of 1.018 and I now have it in a secondary bucket.

My questions are:

How long can or should it say in the secondary before I keg it?

If I leave it too long will it spoil?

Am I better off to keg it now and condition it further in the keg- refrigerated?

Thanks for your help!

 

What kind of beer is it? That will dicate what to do with it. Either way you should age it in whatever vessel has the least amount of headspace

 

A bucket for secondary is no good, too much headspace.

Keg it now. Aging at room temp is fine as long as the temp is below 70°-ish. Aging cold (lagering) is fine too, but will take longer.

 

I agree. Do not secondary in a bucket.
Go ahead and keg it now. It already has some aging on it. Try some now then wait a week, if it seems to get better, try a glass a week until it seems the same then drink away.

I would just put it on tap at this point and age as necessary in the kegerator.

 

Thanks guys, I will transfer it to a keg tonight.

Is the head space in a bucket bad because it has more room for oxygen and increases the chance of spoiling?

 

Not necessarily 'spoiling', but yes that's the idea.

 

yep, keg it, cool it, carb it, and then start testing it now....

once or twice daily, pint by pint....

 

A bucket is bad for secondary because of two reasons. The plastic is oxygen permeable and when you do take a sample the surface area exposed to air is large in comparison to a carboy.

Bulk aging should truly only be done in stainless or a glass carboy. Headspace is a consideration after you get the proper material.

 

But yes what style this is would be helpful too

 

Thanks for all of the tips. I have a spare keg, so I will use that for a secondary moving forward.

In terms of style... I don't know if it has one??? Haha

I used:
12lbs Maris Otter
12lbs Pilsner
4.4lbs inverted sugar
1/2 Caramunich 60

Northern Brewer hops:
3/4 oz 60min
3/4 oz 30min
2.5 oz 15min

Sweet orange peel and coriander at the end of the boil.

Is it a Belgian style something.... haha

Not sure about it, but I hope for the best!

 

Call it a saison and let it be hazy and keg condition... Wooo

 

7 weeks in primary? That's fine. I've gone with 9 weeks myself and it made a fine beer. However you need to think about the timeline of your beer. By week 2 the ferment is over as in done, done, done. By week 4 most of the yeast will have settled out although enough remains suspended to be able to carbonate the beer. From this time on your beer is conditioning or maturing. By week 7 it might as well be in bottles or kegs. Secondary will do nothing to improve your beer at this point (secondaries rarely do anything to improve your beer) but will give bacteria a chance to infect your beer. Most bacteria cannot survive in beer because of the acidity and alcoholic content. Of the few that can, most cannot survive with too much CO2. In your primary bucket with a lid and airlock this CO2 is trapped and is protecting your beer. If you transfer the beer to secondary this CO2 is left behind but the beer itself has some dissolved CO2 that outgasses and can fill a small space to replace what has been lost such as when you use a carboy and fill it to the neck. You cannot do this with a bucket as secondary because there is insufficient CO2 being outgassed so the entire surface of the beer is exposed to the bacteria that may fall from the air and there is insufficient CO2 left to protect the beer from becoming infected.

 

- A saison it is!

- Thanks for explaining the downfall of buckets for a secondary

It's in th keg now, in a short time I will sample it and cheers to you all.

Thanks again