Sediment in Secondary

[ScottT]

I've had my first batch of Scottish Export Ale in the secondary for a week now. The airlock has been still for 4 days.

I had put another small 2 gal batch in primary fermentation a week ago and let it finish out, the krausen subsided and I racked that on top of what was already in the secondary to top off at 5 gallons yesterday.

This morning, there's still no airlock activity. I pulled the carboy out of my fermentation chiller and saw that there's a full 1/4 inch of yeast sediment in the secondary carboy. (My primary had over an inch of sediment when I racked it into the secondary last week.)

So, knowing that I was going to leave it in a carboy for another 2 weeks, I transfered it over to a Tertiary (third) carboy this afternoon on day 13 from initial brewing.

The batch is a full 5 gallons, pretty dark due to the crisp roasted barley I'd added to that second micro primary.

I pulled an SG and it's still at 1.020 same as it was a week ago.

I tasted, make that drank the sample and DAMN this is GOOD! When I get it to 55 degrees and 1.5 level of CO2 carbonation, this is going to be a very good Ale. Possibly more hoppiness than is proper for a Scottish Ale, it's more like a very malty bitter. I like it.

All of this just to ask, is 1/4 inch of sediment in the secondary normal? I just didn't want my good brew sitting on that so I put it over to a tertiary.

1 more week at 62 degrees then 1 week at 45 (in the garage fridge) then I'll bottle.

I'll be brewing a Wee Heavy tomorrow. Let you know about that one when I get it primed.

 

[SwAMi75]

There's nothing wrong with 1/4" of sediment in secondary. That's the whole point, to get the stuff to settle out, then pull your beer off of it.

Also, was this batch supposed to finish so high (1.020)? If so, cool. If not, I kinda wonder if your yeast stopped working. Seems that Scottish strains are only good down to about 55dF, if I recall. Just curious.

 

[ScottT]

I thought that it would finish lower but I figured that because I used so much unfermentable dextrinous extracts, John Bull, and Laaglander, it was just due to that. The Scottish Ales are supposed to have a bit of a sweet finish to them and that's what I was looking for. I ended up with 4.4 ABV and that's good enough for this one. Flavor is what I am looking for.

I might have gotten it down to a lower SG if I'd have fermented warmer, I had plenty of yeast in there to get the job done, that's for sure.

My formula ended up like this:

3.3 lb John Bull Light LME
3 lb. Laaglander Light DME
4 oz Demura Sugar

1 lb. Simpsons Medium Crystal (50-60L)
.75 lb. Simpsons Dark Crystal (70-80L)
.5 lb Golden Promise
5 oz Cara pils
3 oz Dingemans Special B (115L)
1 oz Peated Malt
1 oz Crisp Roasted Barley
(Mini-Mash)

1 oz plug East Kent Goldings at 60 minutes remaining
1/2 oz plug East Kent Goldings at 30 minutes remaining

1 tsp Irish Moss at 10 minutes remaining
1 tablet White Labs Servomyces 10 minutes remaining

White Labs WLP028 Edinburgh Scottish Ale yeast from 650ml starter.

 

[SwAMi75]

Cool. Sounds like you're on top of it! Like the looks of that recipe, too.

Mmm...peated malt.