When to bottle/keg

[Garmoni]

I brewed my first batch of beer last weekend. Fermentation completed quickly and I racked to carboy last night, SG 1.010. How do you know when it's time to bottle/keg?

I'm not sure if this matters or not but it's an all grain pale ale batch.

 

[hunter_le five]

Technically you can bottle/keg as soon as you've reached your FG, but I prefer to wait until the beer has cleared. This will make for clearer beer and less sediment at the bottom of your bottle/keg. You can speed this process along by cold crashing and/or using gelatin finings.

 

[Upthewazzu]

Since you've already racked to the secondary carboy, you might as well wait another week. But really, as long as you've hit FG, you can bottle/keg anytime.

 

[doug293cz]

When bottling, you want to make sure you've actually reached a true FG, not just the recipe's predicted FG. You do this by taking gravity readings, and having a stable gravity for at least 3 days. This makes sure you won't have more fermentables in the bottles than you expect, and which can cause bottle bombs.

Brew on

 

[Garmoni]

Thanks make sense.

On the flip side is there any length of time that is considered to long in the secondary?

 

[hunter_le five]

Thanks make sense.

On the flip side is there any length of time that is considered to long in the secondary?

Not really.

I mean, you probably don't want a pale ale to sit for a year, as it will lose a lot of the hop flavors, but if you can't get to it until next month, it will be fine.

 

[Clonefan94]

Not really.

I mean, you probably don't want a pale ale to sit for a year, as it will lose a lot of the hop flavors, but if you can't get to it until next month, it will be fine.

True, unless you have a lot of headspace in secondary. You don't want too much headspace which will allow for contact with oxygen. This could do two things, allow for oxidation of the beer and also give air to mold that might have a chance to start growing.

That being said, personally, since you've already reached FG, I'd maybe let it sit a couple of days, then cold crash if possible, then bottle/keg.

Now there are many debates that have been had as to weather secondary is worthwhile or not. My personal preference with Pale Ales that I won't be dry hopping, would be to just go ahead and leave it in primary until I'm ready to package. Then cold crash that right before I go to do my transfer.

As I said, there are varying opinions on this and this is just mine, but I like the idea of minimizing any chances of a mishap.

 

[Puddlethumper]

Thanks make sense.

On the flip side is there any length of time that is considered to long in the secondary?

It depends a lot on what style of beer you are making. Pale ales, cream ales and IPA's are usually better served fresh so with those styles I would get them into the bottle or keg just as soon as they have reached a stable FG.

Darker beers such as porters and stouts can often benefit from a longer stay in the secondary. A couple of weeks for these types isn't out of line. Imperial stouts may stay in secondary for a year or so!

But whatever you do keep the headspace in your secondary to a minimum (as mentioned above). Fill it into the neck and use a glass carboy if you are aging more than a couple of months.

Cheers!