Another first brew-Belgium ale

[JohnDoe Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JohnDoe]

I tried out the Belgium ale to start with. Fermentation temp kept constant at 22/23 DegC. Its almost 4 days now and bubbling has stopped. Also there is very little bubbles ontop of the beer compared to the start. I'll take a sg reading tonight. Can it be done with fermentation already? When should I add the finnings?

[JohnDoe Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JohnDoe]

Ok, SG @1.030. It got some carbonation in already.

[DieBaas Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close DieBaas]

What SG are you aiming for? I try to add finnings 2 days before bottling. On a side note I always leave my beer in primary for 10 to 14 days. Makes the yeast nice and sticky without any finnings so the beer is relatively clear and the yeast sticks to the bottom of the beer bottles after pouring.

[JohnDoe Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JohnDoe]

Around 1.014. What about the beer lying on the yeast bed too long?

[SimonB Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close SimonB]

Around 1.014. What about the beer lying on the yeast bed too long?

People seem to get too het-up about leaving the beer on yeast for too long. While it's really a personal preference I've never had issues with the beer on yeast for a couple if weeks. After all if you condition your beer in bottles it's exactly the same result.

[JohnDoe Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JohnDoe]

Simon, would you then recommend racking to a secondary fermenter if it bothers one, but then one risks infection?

So leaving it for another week should not pose any problems?

[DieBaas Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close DieBaas]

People seem to get too het-up about leaving the beer on yeast for too long. While it's really a personal preference I've never had issues with the beer on yeast for a couple if weeks. After all if you condition your beer in bottles it's exactly the same result.

Agree, I've heard stories from yeast cells exploding causing off tastes but I'm just too busy to bottle during the week and SWMBO will get pissed off if I spend 2 weekends in a row on beer making

[JIGSAW Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JIGSAW]

Simon, would you then recommend racking to a secondary fermenter if it bothers one, but then one risks infection?

So leaving it for another week should not pose any problems?

Even leaving it for 3 weeks will not be a problem. More & more people from the US & UK that were strong believers in secondary fermentation are slowly moving away from that extra step & just leaving their beer op top of the yeast-cake,... sometimes even up to 4 weeks

[SimonB Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close SimonB]

Another first brew-Belgium ale

In my mind the only real reason for racking to secondary is
a) when aging the beer for extended periods (more than a month)
b) when adding fruit or other adjuncts
c) you need the primary

[JohnDoe Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JohnDoe]

Here's the ale.

[hennels Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close hennels]

That looks nice. Looks like head retention is good.
How long was it in the bottle for?

[JohnDoe Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JohnDoe]

Thank you. Bottled for 2 weeks before onening the first one.