I have a saison with a belle saison yeast that started at 1.078 OG and after it was in the secondary for a week went down to 1.012. What is a good way of knowing when it is completely ready to bottle. Should it sit for any amount of time after the gravity drops or should I solely base when it is ready on the gravity?
Consecutive gravity readings that are the same a few days apart usually signify it is finished.
How long was it in the primary. I usually let my saisons sit for about 4 weeks total. .012 sounds like if could go more but I also don’t secondery so maybe taking it off he yeast cake made the difference
primary for 10-11 days and secondary for only 3 days so far. this is my first brew and i think i hurried the primary
Don’t rush it, let it sit. If your primary is open get another batch going. I sometimes hurry a pals ale but a saison gets better if you don’t hurry it. By the way, I never secondary except to a keg.
you never secondary? So, anytime it says to secondary you think it is just better off to stay longer in the primary?
Also. I just brewed a barleywine since my primary was open. What are your thoughts on a long secondary on that brew?
Secondaries are not nesesary. People use to believe it helped clear the beer but if you are carefull when racking off the cake you can do just as well. The less chance you have of infecting or oxidizing the beer the better. If you don’t believe me start a post about secondary of not and you’ll see a good portion of the guys on here don’t bother.
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Good to know… I’ve read that some people don’t do secondaries but I wasn’t sure with the long fermentation of a beer like barley wine… Thanks!
I am with brew cat, the only possible secondary is in the keg. I will let a big brew sit up to a month in the primary, then quietly rack into a keg, gelatin ifn you will, then into the fridge. I will pull 6 oz glass from time to time to see ifn it time! Sneezles61
I just wonder about leaving it in the primary for SO long… you guys know more than I do obviously but I just wanted to make sure.
Barley wine can and does do well sitting on it lee’s, an IPA, well I’m not leaving it very long as the aroma escapes. See, its all very straight forward! 
Sneezles61
I don’t agree with these 2 on “secondary”. Here is my take on it.
And if you leave a beer to long in primary it can have negative affects such as creating “soapy” or “yeasty” off flavors. These are caused by autolysis. Worse case scenario it will smell and taste like rotting flesh. This worst case scenario can take awhile but why risk it. So if you are brewing a barley wine and pitching a huge amount of yeast and planning on aging it you should likely transfer that beer to another vessel.
Very much agree with this. Once primary fermentation is complete, there really is not a benefit to aging a beer on the yeast cake. By primary fermentation complete, I don’t mean just terminal gravity is reached, but the yeast have also cleaned up any intermediate metabolites produced during fermentation. While you can certainly leave a beer in primary for 3 or 4 months with minimal risk of harm, bulk aging a beer for longer than this is best done by racking to a smaller vessel with minimal headspace.
About the only style you want to leave on the yeast cake for an extended period of time would be a lambic-style beer. However, in this case the autolysis of saccharomyces helps create some of the characteristic flavors by providing a food source for brettanomyces over an extended period of time.
