Chocolate Stout

So I’m working on a 1 gallon chocolate stout and according to the directions it needs to ferment 1-2 weeks then move to secondary fermentation for another week. It’s currently been one week and it’s done fermenting as in no more bubbles at all. I’ve seen NB say you can just keep it in the primary for an additional week instead of racking to secondary. What would you suggest?

You can leave it in “primary” for the full three weeks without a problem.

Apparently around 15-20 years ago, there was an understanding that moving to “secondary” was a good thing - in that it prevented off flavors from autolysis. Currently, most people state that there is more risk from moving the beer to the secondary container than there is from leaving the beer in “primary”.

As I’m becoming more of a “lazy” brewer, I’m not moving beer to secondary except for special circumstances. The beer doesn’t seem to notice not being moved. :slight_smile: .

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Got It, will do! So even though the bubbling stopped I should just let it sit for two more weeks?

Yes…yeast are still doing important stuff :grinning:

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Yes. While there are no visible signs of activity and a lot of the yeast has gone dormant, there are still yeast actively working on breaking down the remaining fermentables. There is an on-line version (1st edition, around the year 2000) of John Palmer’s book How To Brew. The first two paragraphs of this section talks briefly about some of the activities that occur:

http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/fermentation/secondary-or-conditioning-phase

The 4th edition, published this year, has more current information, but the first two paragraphs of the above page are pretty much unchanged. If you like some of what you read in the online version, buy the 4th edition.

Wow that is a good read. Definitely buying the book

The way i do i use the 8 to 10 day rule leave it stand. Than take a grav reading. Two days later again. Same grav. Than transfer to second. If grav still dropping. I give it more days. Before transfer to secondary

My first beer - #16 by flars is probably the most recent post that covers how people use hydrometers.

It’s been a while since I looked at this post: Hydrometers You need one, here is how to use one, but I would anticipate that it’s been updated (as necessary) over the last year to remain a good resource.