Too early to bottle?

[manoaction]

Oatmeal stout has was in the the primary for six, and I wondering if I can bottle it after only five days in the secondary.

I'm leaving town for a week and I was wondering if the conditioning that takes place in the secondary would take place just as well in the bottles?

 

[Sawdustguy]

I would leave it if it was only 5 days in the secondary.

 

[manoaction]

I'm probably going to take your advice on that then.

What's the skinny with the term conditioning?

I've had some people say that there is no fermentation in the secondary, but I know that isn't true because my gravity continues to drop a couple thousandths and the airlock moves ever so slowly.

Even so, I understand it is mostly for conditioning, but does the conditioning continue during the three weeks in the bottle? Does it "condition" better when it is all together in the secondary?

 

[nanofreak]

I agree, I would leave it in the secondary for longer. I would also try to go a month or so on the primary for a beer like that and leave out the secondary. If you are still fermenting in your secondary it is due to moving prematurely. What you really want to do before you move it is let the fermentation finish and as much of the yeast flocculate out as possible.

 

[JohnnyO]

Was it in the primary for six days or six weeks? If it was in there for six days, then you should definitely leave it in the secondary for at least a month. If it was in the primary for six weeks, you could bottle.

 

[manoaction]

I would also try to go a month or so on the primary for a beer like that and leave out the secondary. If you are still fermenting in your secondary it is due to moving prematurely. What you really want to do before you move it is let the fermentation finish and as much of the yeast flocculate out as possible.

If there is no fermentation in the secondary, why does the final gravity continue to drop a small amount? I'm not arguing, I'm just curious why the gravity continues to drop if there isn't fermentation going on?

I thought the point of a secondary was to finish floccuation and conditioning away from the trub?

My main question was really about conditioning. I've heard that conditioning is the yeast working out the bad flavors of the byproducts.

So sayeth http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter8-2-3.html

What is the difference between doing it in the bottle or in the secondary? Does the yeast condition differently in the bottle than it does in the secondary?

Is the 3 weeks in the bottle only for carbonation or is it for conditioning as well?