Fighting_sin
Active Member
This past Saturday I brewed an experimental Chocolate Ale I came up with that has an original gravity of 1.080. Is it necessary to rack it into a secondary fermenter? I only have one, and I'm just wondering if I should go buy a second one for this batch. Here are the ingredients if it helps:
7lbs 4 ounces Dark malt extract (it's the amount I had left and wanted to use it)
1 lb chocolate malt
1 lb crystal malt
8 ounces unsweetened chocolate squares
3 ounces unsweetened cocoa powder
1 lb dark brown sugar
12 ounces unsulphured molasses
1/3 ounce Burton Water salts
2 ounces Glacier hops 5.8% alpha (boiling)
1 ounce Kent golding hops 4.5% alpha (finishing)
1 vial White Labs liquid English Ale Yeast
To keep a long thread short, after sparging the grains immediately after bringing to a boil, I boiled the wort and the Glacier hops for a total of 60 minutes. I added 4 oz of chocolate squares for last 30 minutes of the boil and the Kent goldings hops for last 15 minutes. The brown sugar, molasses and rest of the chocolate squares and cocoa powder were thrown in for final 5 minutes of the boil.
This was a thick, thick wort. The unsweetened chocolate has no fermentable sugars and I believe the molasses has little, if any fermentable sugars, so I think I won't have as strong of a brew as the O.G. may initially lead one to think. I brewed this Saturday and pitched the yeast around 7:00 PM. The fermentation was well underway by the next morning. The fermentation appeared to have reached its peak and die down a bit last night (Tuesday). It is still going strong, however (today, Wednesday evening).
But the question is, how necessary do you think it is to rack it. I do not want to keep it in the primary for any longer than 2 weeks, and even that seems a bit too long. What's your opinion?
the chad
7lbs 4 ounces Dark malt extract (it's the amount I had left and wanted to use it)
1 lb chocolate malt
1 lb crystal malt
8 ounces unsweetened chocolate squares
3 ounces unsweetened cocoa powder
1 lb dark brown sugar
12 ounces unsulphured molasses
1/3 ounce Burton Water salts
2 ounces Glacier hops 5.8% alpha (boiling)
1 ounce Kent golding hops 4.5% alpha (finishing)
1 vial White Labs liquid English Ale Yeast
To keep a long thread short, after sparging the grains immediately after bringing to a boil, I boiled the wort and the Glacier hops for a total of 60 minutes. I added 4 oz of chocolate squares for last 30 minutes of the boil and the Kent goldings hops for last 15 minutes. The brown sugar, molasses and rest of the chocolate squares and cocoa powder were thrown in for final 5 minutes of the boil.
This was a thick, thick wort. The unsweetened chocolate has no fermentable sugars and I believe the molasses has little, if any fermentable sugars, so I think I won't have as strong of a brew as the O.G. may initially lead one to think. I brewed this Saturday and pitched the yeast around 7:00 PM. The fermentation was well underway by the next morning. The fermentation appeared to have reached its peak and die down a bit last night (Tuesday). It is still going strong, however (today, Wednesday evening).
But the question is, how necessary do you think it is to rack it. I do not want to keep it in the primary for any longer than 2 weeks, and even that seems a bit too long. What's your opinion?
the chad