When to rack belgian ale in secondary

Colizza · Jun 19, 2015

When should I rack a belgian golden ale in the secondary? I know yeast cleans up some of the bad byproduct of primary fermentation, but when is it the right time to rack the beer off the dense yeast bed. I dont want dead yeast flavors in my 1.042 OG golden belgian ale.

I want to rack so i can clear the beer and condition it. It has been in the primary for about 2 weeks

misterkidd · Jun 19, 2015

Secondary is becoming less fashionable as far as i can tell. You ale can happily sit in primary for a few more weeks if you like. At 1.042, though, i wouldn't be too far off bottling up after 2 weeks. If you do want to do secondary, so long as your krausen has fallen and you airlock has gone quiet for a few days, you are good to go.

flars · Jun 19, 2015

A couple of decades ago there were worries about off flavors from dead yeast after fermentation was complete. With the new yeasts in use now, these worries are no longer a concern. You may want to use a secondary vessel if you plan to age the beer for a few months or longer.
Give your beer another one to three weeks in the primary. Bottle when it clears, and it will clear just as well in the primary as it would in a secondary vessel.

Colizza · Jun 19, 2015

Can i cold crash the primary in 2 weeks?

Also, is there a use for a secondary fermentation except conditionning beers for long period of time or for adding fruits hor dry hopping?

misterkidd · Jun 19, 2015

Colizza said:
Can i cold crash the primary in 2 weeks?

Also, is there a use for a secondary fermentation except conditionning beers for long period of time or for adding fruits hor dry hopping?

Yes to cold crashing in primary. No to other rationale for secondary that I can think of. I have also dry hopped in primary perfectly well.