Secondary Fermenter vs. Bottle Conditioning

[DrummerBoySeth]

I was wondering if anyone out there had any preference about the merits of secondary fermentation tanks (brite tanks) versus bottle conditioning. I recently brewed a fairly big Belgian Tripel. It came in at 1.080 before primary fermentation, and fermented out to about 1.020 after one week. I put it in a better bottle plastic carboy one week ago, and now the yeast seems to have flocculated fully, and the beer has cleared quite nicely.

All the information I can find about brewing big beers says that secondary fermentation/aging is recommended to allow the flavors to bind, and the beer to mellow before bottling. I have also heard some brewers express concerns that long secondary fermentation is unnecessary, and may even be harmful in some cases.

I was wondering what experience you may have had regarding the benefits of bulk secondary fermentation vessels vs. aging in a bottle. I am temped to go ahead and bottle the beer now, since it is clear, and tasted really good before it even went into secondary. I just want to make sure I do not "shoot myself in the foot" and prevent what could be an excellent beer from reaching it's full potential.

Any thoughts?

 

[jholen]

I think it just comes down to how long you keep something in primary - for a typical ale that for most HBT'rs seems to be around 3-4 weeks, with absolutely no negative yeast effects imparted on the beer. That is what I've stuck to being new to homebrewing - 3-4 weeks depending on the beer, and confirming that fermentation is complete with my hydrometer.

Then I bottle. I suppose if you wanted to condition it over the course of several months it would be beneficial to get it off the yeast cake, but if you're just talking a month you should be fine just keeping it in the primary, confirming fermentation is complete with a hydrometer (same reading over three days), then bottling.

Just a newbie's 2 cents.

p.s. My method for confirming fermentation is taking a reading at 2 weeks, then another at 3 weeks, if they match up cool - if not, then I take two more and see if it is confirmed with the 3 week reading.

 

[DrummerBoySeth]

I thought about leaving it in secondary for a while, because the FG was a little higher than I expected. This recipe stabilized at 1.020, but I really expected to see a number closer to 1.015 or so...

wouldn't bulk secondary give the remaining yeast more time to work on the beer and bring that FG down a little more? I realize that I possibly should have left it in primary longer, but it had been stable at 1.020 for three days, so I figured that the primary phase had completed. Since I already moved it into secondary to get it off the trub, the only question that remains is should I leave it in the carboy, or go ahead and get it in the bottles?