Hop Head Double IPA - When to Bottle

[ccpotter]

I am brewing the Hop Head Double IPA which is suppose to have a high alcohol content. During primary fermentation the airlock went bananas for the first 2 days and then there was not really any action. I transfered the batch to the secondary after a 7 days and it has been in there for 2 weeks now. 5 days ago the airlock started to go nuts again and now I am confused upon when I should bottle this thing. It appears to be fermenting like crazy again. Is there harm in leaving it in secondary for another week? Should I bottle now like the kit recommends? Thanks in advance!

 

[marubozo]

Ignore what the kit says in terms of the times listed for fermentation and bottling. The only way to be sure your beer is done and ready is by taking a gravity reading. Ideally, you should take a few readings before even moving to secondary to make sure it's done. If it looked like it started fermenting again after transferring it may not have been done. Or it could have just been some CO2 release. Again, it's impossible to know for sure just by looking at the airlock.

So, take a reading and see if you're at or close to your target gravity. If you are and take a few readings over a couple days and it doesn't change, then your beer is done fermenting and you would be safe to bottle.

Even if your beer is done fermenting there is absolutely no harm in leaving it for another week. In fact, more time will likely just make a better beer. Unless of course you've already started dry hopping, then you have to watch how long you let it sit as to avoid getting grassy flavors. But if you haven't done that yet a little more time won't hurt anything.

 

[djspray]

I had this exact thing happen to me brewing Hop Head - see my post here It was my first brew, so I thought I was crazy. I just left it 2.5 weeks in primary before kegging. I hit all my gravity targets, and it turned out great. I don't know what they have in that recipe that makes the yeast kick up twice, but it does for some reason.