Secondary too early?

[Ster]

Not to debate, but I prefer to do a secondary.

This batch is taking its time. Air lock bubbling for 12 days now. Still bubbling.
I want to secondary it and dry hop, and then (hopefully) cold crash for a couple of days.

I need this to be ready, fully sugar carbed, by March 24, and I know, I got a late start.

So, assuming I am not at FG yet, since there is still visible fermentation, would racking to the secondary be unwise, and possibly cause it not to hit expected FG? I usually wait until FG before racking.

I can, of course, forget the 2ndary and forget the cold crash and just let it go for another week. I just hope for as clear beer as possible. One of my biggest fans of beer that I ship north will be here, and I have a reputation to uphold.

 

[kh54s10]

If the only sign you are seeing is a bubbling airlock, you may already be at FG. You will need to make some gravity readings.

 

[Ster]

If the only sign you are seeing is a bubbling airlock, you may already be at FG. You will need to make some gravity readings.

OK.. getting the hydrometer..... Will let you know

 

[porterpounder]

Yup bubbles mean next to nothing. Gotta have that gravity!

 

[Ster]

Yep, right about at FG. Maybe .001 from my expected calculation.

I guess it's ok to rack.

Do you guys usually dry hop in the primary, 2ndary, or cold crash phase?

 

[kev211]

Yep, right about at FG. Maybe .001 from my expected calculation.

I guess it's ok to rack.

Do you guys usually dry hop in the primary, 2ndary, or cold crash phase?

I dont secondary, so I dry hop in the primary.

That being said, people who Ive talked to that secondary tend to dry hop in secondary. They do that because they harvest the yeast from primary and like to keep the hop trub from settling on their yeast. But its your call. I probably wouldnt do it during cold crash though

 

[KeninMN]

Yep, right about at FG. Maybe .001 from my expected calculation.

I guess it's ok to rack.

Do you guys usually dry hop in the primary, 2ndary, or cold crash phase?

I use a Big Mouth Bubbler to dry hop in secondary for the easy access. I use a muslin bag weighted down with lead-free glass marbles and tied off and suspended in the center of the beer with unflavored dental floss. Hops absorb a lot of beer, so when I rack to the bottling bucket I squeeze as much of the beer as I can from the hop bag. (While wearing sanitized brewing gloves, of course.) I find that I get less sediment and more beer this way.

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

Dry hop in primary, then cold crash but then again....I don't secondary also.

 

[Puddlethumper]

Dry hop in secondary and bring temperature up a few degrees to make sure fermentation finishes completely. (I use a secondary almost every batch.)

Cheers!

 

[CamG]

Recently did a dry hop in the primary and then cold crashed
It was very clear. Much more than I expected.

Good Luck
Cam

 

[C-Rider]

Not to debate, but I prefer to do a secondary.

This batch is taking its time. Air lock bubbling for 12 days now. Still bubbling.
I want to secondary it and dry hop, and then (hopefully) cold crash for a couple of days.

I need this to be ready, fully sugar carbed, by March 24, and I know, I got a late start.

So, assuming I am not at FG yet, since there is still visible fermentation, would racking to the secondary be unwise, and possibly cause it not to hit expected FG? I usually wait until FG before racking.

I can, of course, forget the 2ndary and forget the cold crash and just let it go for another week. I just hope for as clear beer as possible. One of my biggest fans of beer that I ship north will be here, and I have a reputation to uphold.

Forget the secondary..Dry Hop and Cold Crash in the primary.

 

[Puddlethumper]

Not to debate, but I prefer to do a secondary.

I can, of course, forget the 2ndary and forget the cold crash and just let it go for another week. I just hope for as clear beer as possible.

Use of a secondary vessel will not affect clarity of the finished beer. Final clarity has already been pretty well set in stone by your processes up to this point.

Considering your time frame I believe your most important issues are: dry-hopping, cold crashing and determining if you've achieved FG or not. To that end I'd dry hop right now in the primary and take a SG reading. Check it again tomorrow and the next day. If all three are the same the beer is done. If you then get it into the fridge Wednesday and do a 48 hr cold crash you can bottle Saturday. That will give the beer 12 days to carb up which should be sufficient. That's a very tight time frame and certainly not ideal but it should work. Just make certain the bottled beer is at 70F or a little more to speed the yeasties along their way.

Good luck and cheers!