Brewer's Best Belgian Golden Ale

[patjofo]

I bought a Brewer's Best Belgian Golden Ale. This will be my second brew. I plan to transfer to a secondary after 5-7 days. How long should it stay in the secondary? I read that Belgian Ales get better over time, does this happen while in secondary or while bottle conditioning?

 

[jethro55]

You might consider leaving it in primary for 2-3 weeks. By-products of that first phase of fermentation (5-7 days) are better dealt with by leaving it in primary for a while (for the average brewer).
Beers get better over time. 7 weeks from the time you pitch the yeast is a good nominal waiting period for bottlers. 2-3 weeks primary, 1-2 weeks secondary, 3 weeks in bottle. Of course you can skip secondary and just leave it in primary for 3-4 weeks.

That is a strong ABV recipe. You will want to have a blow-off tube installed. And a long primary ferment is a very good thing in this case. I'd go with at least weeks in primary.

 

[RM-MN]

I bought a Brewer's Best Belgian Golden Ale. This will be my second brew. I plan to transfer to a secondary after 5-7 days. How long should it stay in the secondary? I read that Belgian Ales get better over time, does this happen while in secondary or while bottle conditioning?

You've asked the wrong question. It isn't how long should it stay in secondary but how long should it stay in the primary. You shouldn't rack the beer to secondary until the beer is completely done fermenting and with the high amount of sugars in this kit, it won't be done in 5-7 days. I would expect this to take 2 to 3 weeks for the fermentation to finish so if you want to secondary it, wait at least this long. Also, beers with higher alcohol content take longer to mature so expect 4 to 8 weeks in the bottle for this to mature. Then you'll be tasting good beer. It might still get better if you leave it longer too.

 

[patjofo]

Thanks for your help. One more question. I made a hop spider and plan to use it for this brew.I noticed it has late extract additions.

Can I add the extract additions through the open sections of the hop spider and stir a bit in each section.... OR should I lift the hop spider (keeping the hops submerged) and stir around the bag? The schedule is below:

 

[RM-MN]

That syrup will by much more dense than the wort you are pouring it into and will want to sink right to the bottom where it will scorch if you have heat on. It would be better to turn off the heat, remove the hop spider and stir in the syrup really well, then put your hop spider back on and turn on the heat again.