thoughts on racking to secondary this weekend. to soon?

So this coming Saturday will be 2 weeks since I brewed my American wheat brew. My plan is to check the gravity today, tomorrow and Friday to make sure fermentation has stopped. Lets assume for a second that I have a steady gravity reading for the next 3 days should I rack it to the secondary and add my frozen raspberries or should I let it say in the primary for another week or longer before racking to secondary?

 

I think that you are fine to rack off. Once the bulk of the fermentation is done you aren't going to have the kind of flavor scrubbing that you would if you added the raspberries during primary fermentation. Also, you are going to get a little additional fermentation from the sugar in the raspberries anyway.

mmmmm... American wheat with raspberries

 

You could rack, but I would leave it in another week.

 

I would think you could rack. Most people have recommended 4 weeks in the primary or 2wk pri/2wk second to me. I'm sure people will correct me if I'm wrong, cause I'm a newb too.

I rushed my first batch (about 10 days then carbonated), just because I was over excited. I think it could have been better if I'd waited, but I still loved it...great color, head, and especially aroma. I started my second batch as soon as I kegged the first. It's been sitting since Oct 1st. I'm thinking about pushing it to a secondary fermenter, starting a third batch, and then kegging once batch 1 is gone. I'll probably take my first gravity reading on batch 2 later today or tomorrow.

IMO, the thing you don't want to rush on is carbonation (if kegging). My carbonation has been all over the place because I force carbonated it, and didn't follow peoples advice. It started out with a nice, robust & creamy head, but soon died after I left it at serving PSI for a while. After it went flat, I bumped up the serving psi 2-3 pounds (around 8-9psi), and let it sit for a week (while still enjoying flat beer ). It keeps getting better, and better, and better...

 

i generally do 2 weeks primary and then 2 weeks secondary, but I've gone 3 or 4 weeks in primary before, too.

 

My answer would depend on how long you plan on keeping it in the secondary.

 

^however long any secondary fermentation last and if that is only a few days then probably 7-10 days I guess. do you have any suggestions about time spent in the secondary? thanks

 

Because you are truly doing a secondary fermentation and not just a clearing/conditioning, I'd let it go in secondary for at least 2 weeks. In which case I'd rack to secondary at either the 2 or 3 week mark. 2 weeks should be fine for your average wheat beer.

I'd suggest sanitizing a spoon and dropping a small spoonful of your yeast cake from the primary into the secondary. That'll make sure you have enough yeast to get a good fermentation of the fruit.

 

so you mention sanitizing a spoon and dipping a bit of the yeast cake out to put into the secondary. could I also just drop the siphon down to the bottom of the primary and get a bit of the cake that way or if that not a good idea?

 

That would probably work too.