Coffee Stout

[BovvyD]

I've been doing my first brew, a Turkish Coffee Stout. I brewed it last Saturday and had fermentation going about 24 hours later. The OG was right at around 1.060. I've just checked it today and it's around 1.020. I've been trying to keep it cooler since we're running hot here in Texas. My instructions say to transfer to a secondary after 5-7 days. Judging by the gravity reading today, should I be transferring to a secondary or waiting another week or so?

I'm planning on picking up a mini fridge to keep it at a regulated temperature but I haven't got there yet.

 

[SmoothSmoke]

I think you're suppose to transfer it once you get two exact FG readings, 3 days apart. So one today, then check the FG again on Sunday.

 

[jkendrick]

Yeah that's good advice. But what is your target FG? If you take a gravity reading and you're at your target FG and it stays the same by Sunday, you're good! Also, are you correcting for temperature? That was a mistake I made on my first batch.

 

[BovvyD]

Yeah that's good advice. But what is your target FG? If you take a gravity reading and you're at your target FG and it stays the same by Sunday, you're good!

According to the instructions, FG should be "approximately" 1.018 after secondary.

 

[jkendrick]

According to the instructions, FG should be "approximately" 1.018 after secondary.

One thing you're going to read around here is that there isn't always a need to transfer to secondary. I did a coffee stout as my second beer (I just bottled my third, so I'm a beginner as well) and I transferred to a secondary to add a cold extract coffee. However, if your recipe had the coffee added to the boil, you may not need the secondary.

 

[BovvyD]

One thing you're going to read around here is that there isn't always a need to transfer to secondary. I did a coffee stout as my second beer (I just bottled my third, so I'm a beginner as well) and I transferred to a secondary to add a cold extract coffee. However, if your recipe had the coffee added to the boil, you may not need the secondary.

No coffee added to the boil - this was the recipe kit I used.

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_452_42_159&products_id=12764

I used the extract w/o yeast starter or alcohol boost.