Beer Forum

I am not sure if this is the right place, but here goes. Why would I monopolize fermenter space with an extended secondary on a big beer? If I have hit terminal gravity why not just bottle and condition? Is there an advantage to secondary vs bottle aging?

If your final gravity is stable and you and left the beer in the primary fermenter for at least two weeks to allow for the yeast to clean up a bit after themselves, then by all means go ahead and package (bottle) your beer. The only time I ever use a secondary fermenter is when adding fruit, oak, or for sour beer aging. Otherwise it is directly kegged/bottled from the primary. Keep in mind that every time you rack your beer to a secondary, you are risking oxidation, potential infection, and of course more cleaning and more work. So be lazy and make some better beer!

On a side note, depending on how strong your beer came out you might want to consider adding some fresh rehydrated dry yeast to your bottling bucket along with your priming sugar to ensure a timely carbonation. If your OG in your brew was 1.080 or higher, than your yeast might be too tired to bottle condition your beer properly. Ask me how I know !! Better to be safe than sorry then ending up with 5 gallons of uncarbonated beer that you worked so hard to make well. Some good yeast choices for bottle conditioning include fermentis S-04, and dry wine/champagne yeast. You will only need to rehydrate a small amount (about 2 grams or half of a 5 gram sachet) in boiled, cooled lukewarm water before adding it to your bottling bucket.

Yea, she's been sitting in primary for about a month, I never secondary. I was just curious if it was worth it or beneficial for a high gravity brew. I normally just ferment then package, I just never brew big beers. Good idea about adding yeast at bottling.