Can I bottle my Tripel after 2 weeks primary?

[Cockfighter]

I want to free up a fermenter as I want to brew another beer on the weekend and wanted to bottle a tripel that has been in primary for two weeks.
I pitched with Safbrew Abbaye and fermentation went off with activtity having died down only three days later. Final gravity is at 1010 down from 1080, and has remained so, so it's definitely done.

I have bottled many beers after two weeks primary with no adverse effects, but now I'm reading things about big gravity beers benefitting from longer primaries and secondaries.

Why???

Wouldn't the beer just age the same way in the bottle? It sounds like typical home brewer superstition to me. Am I going to ruin the Tripel by bottling it now? Any thoughts?

 

[m1k3]

If you are at FG and the yeast have cleaned up after themselves then feel free to bottle. But if the beer is not "done" less yeast and more pressure is going to slow the beer maturing.

From How to Brew by John Palmer (pg.91-92):

Secondary Fermentator vs. Bottle Conditioning:
Conditioning can be done in either the secondary fermentor or the bottle, but the two methods do produce different results. It is up to you to determine how long to give each phase to produce your intended beer.
Yeast activity is responsible for conditioning, so it is logical that the greater yeast mass in the fermentor is more effective at conditioning than the smaller amount of suspended yeast in the bottle. This is why I recommend that you give your beer more time in the fermentor before bottling. When you add the priming sugar and bottle your beer, the yeast go through the same three stages of fermentation as the main batch, including the production of by-products. If the beer is bottled , early, e.g., one week old, then the small amount of yeast in the bottle has to do the double task of conditioning the priming by-products as well as those from the main fermentation. You could very well end up with an off-flavored batch.

Studies have shown that priming and bottle conditioning is a very unique form of fermentation due to the oxygen present in the head space of the bottle, only about 30% of which is used. The other 70% can contribute to staling reactions. Additional fermentables have been added to the beer to produce the carbonation, and this results in very different ester profiles than those that are normally produced in the main fermenter. In some styles, like Belgian-style strong ale, bottle conditioning and the resultant flavors are the hallmark of the style. These styles cannot be produced with the same flavors via kegging.
For the best results, the beer should be given time to condition before priming and bottling. And to minimize the risk of off-flavors from sitting on the trub, extended conditioning should be done in a secondary fermenter. There will still be sufficient yeast in suspension to ferment the priming sugar and carbonate the beer, even if the yeast have flocculated and the beer has cleared.

 

[theheroguy]

I've bottled belgians at two weeks and they always come out fine if I give enough time in the bottle. It might be possible that the difference in pressure (due to carbonation occuring during conditioning) and a lack of ability of compounds to escape solution could affect taste but I don't know for sure really. Nevertheless I've had good success with bottling at two weeks.

 

[Aristotelian]

I say try it and see. At worst you are going to have some minor differences. Definitely won't "ruin" it. Unless this is for competition I can't imagine a major problem that anyone is going to notice.

 

[Cockfighter]

Thanks for the replies guys! Always good to have some first hand knowledge. Based on your experiences I've gone ahead and bottled the beer. Since bottle conditioning is a characteristic of Belgian styles I guess I can't go wrong.

Still, I read that some people leave their high gravity Belgians in primary and/or secondary for months before bottling.

 

[serum]

I've done this with similar beers without any problems.