Bottle Condition

Sully11 · Post by **Sully11** » Sun Apr 28, 2013 4:00 pm

I just brewed a Belgian Saison Saturday. It was from the recipe from the BYO magazine, though I adjusted the grain bill to yield 3 gallons. It says to bottle condition...do I skip putting it into a secondary? Or should I bottle after the primary in about 10 days or so?

whitedj · Post by **whitedj** » Sun Apr 28, 2013 7:56 pm

As long as your primary fermentation is completed, you should be able to bottle condition directly off the primary. Officially, if you take hydrometer readings 2-3 days apart and if they are the same you are good to bottle. However I typically let it go 2-3 weeks in primary, If I'm close to my FG I bottle.
Lack of airlock movement is not a sign that fermentation is complete, and you could have a stuck fermentation... you don't want exploding bottles.

I only secondary if I am aging or adding flavor (such as dry hopping).

Matt F · Post by **Matt F** » Sun Apr 28, 2013 9:01 pm

Same here. I almost only keg but even if I bottle I skip secondary unless dry hopping or something.

Sully11 · Post by **Sully11** » Sat May 04, 2013 9:06 am

Thanks for the advice. I'll give a few weeks and then bottle.

Steven P · Post by **Steven P** » Mon May 06, 2013 8:32 am

I use bulk aging quite a bit. Pretty much any beer I do over 7% gets some time in secondary, whether I'm dry hopping or no.

Bulk conditioning allows flavors to mellow and blend somewhat. If it was a mild or a Hefe there's no reason to secondary. But if you made a larger Saison then some time in secondary may do the beer some good.

You can feel free to age however long you want and then add dry hops 3-7 days before bottling to brighten it up as well.

johnnyik · Post by **johnnyik** » Mon May 06, 2013 8:47 pm

I agree about the bulk aging. I age high gravity beers for months either in keg or carboy. If you are going to bottle condition after this, though, you will need to add some fresh yeast along with the sugar.