Can I expect the gravity to drop even further?

were you going to leave it at 62 in secondary or drop the temp? if you're leaving it at 62 I wouldn't think it would matter if it's hit FG yet because it still has four weeks to continue fermenting and clean up.

that being said it seems you might still eek out a few more points from it. Only a gravitometer will tell.

 

that being said it seems you might still eek out a few more points from it. Only a gravitometer will tell.[/quote]

Where I can buy one of those whizbang things?

 

Where I can buy one of those whizbang things?[/quote]

At the gravitometer store, duh!

 

Jesse,

What final gravity you reach will be heavily influenced by your mash (how fermentable your wort is) and how attenuative your yeast is.

What temperature and duration was your mash? What yeast strain did you use?

As it turns out I made a Kolsch yesterday. I used a 2/3 Kolsch & 1/3 German Pilsner grain bill. I pitched Wyeast 2565 (Kolsch) yeast.

So, I mashed at 151-152°F for a duration of 90 minutes. My original gravity was 1.050.

I have brewed with 2565 many times in the past. My personal experiences with this yeast strain is that it is moderately attentuative:

· Batch 1: OG = 1.050, FG = 1.010
· Batch 2: OG = 1.046, FG = 1.014
· Batch 3: OG = 1.042, FG = 1.010

So, my average Apparent Attenuation of the three batches above is around 75%. The Wyeast published values for 2565 is 73-77%. So, for the batch I just brewed yesterday I am anticipating the wort to be pretty fermentable (lower temperature and longer time duration). If I assume an Apparent Attenuation of 77% then my anticipated final gravity of this particular batch would be 1.012.

Cheers!

Jack

 

Well your mash should result in a very fermentable wort (plus Briess Pilsen DME is very fermentable).

White Labs publishes for WLP029: Attenuation: 72-78%

So, it is my guess (and at the end of the day estimating final gravity involves some guess work) that your Kolsch should come down a few points.

I personally never use a secondary for brewing my ales so I have no experience with this aspect. There is a part of me wanting to tell you to not transfer your beer to a secondary until final gravity is achieved. My concern is that a premature transfer could affect the final gravity you ultimately achieve? So, even though I am not personally experienced in this particular matter I would advise that you don’t transfer to the secondary tonight and maybe wait a week before you consider it. In other words, in one week’s time take another gravity reading and if you get a value consistent with an anticipated final gravity then transfer to the secondary.

Cheers!

 

“I have always operated under the idea that letting it sit in a secondary would "clear the beer up" as far as making a more transparent beer.” That is one of the ‘features’ sometimes ascribed to conducting a secondary. In my opinion, what ‘clears’ beer is time and gravity. Gravity ‘works’ just as well in a primary as it does in a secondary. The negative aspect of conducting a secondary is that there is a risk (albeit a small risk) of oxidation occurring during the transfer. From my perspective, a secondary for ales has nothing but risk with no genuine benefit.

“Should I stir it up at all, maybe give it a shake to see if I can dislodge a little yeast action?” Conducting a shake will not hurt anything. I suspect that you just need to give your ferment some more time but feel free to shake the primary if you are so inclined.

Cheers!

 

I would say this has got to go quite a bit further (min 1.012) so I would leave it primary and even try to warm it up (high 60's) to encourage it to finish up. I always use a secondary but the fastest I ever rack is 10 days...usually at least 2 weeks.
Good luck !

 

I'm old school punk rock (and learned to brew from some way old schoolers). Beeradvocate is full of naysayers who poo poo decoction mashes, fly sparging, glass fermentors, and secondary "bright tanks"...I guess it's in my blood to revolt !

Seriously, I use secondaries primarily for clarity-sake but I also ferment in glass so the longer I let that krausen gunk set, the harder it is to clean off. I also think all beers benefit from some bulk aging so racking frees up my 6 gallon fermentors. I also brew ~ 5.5 gallon batches so, even after transfer, I know my 5 gallon secondaries will be filled to the brim.

Truthfully, if you're planning to age this for a month after fermentation is complete, I would rack it off of the yeast into a glass carboy (I'm assuming you're fermenting in a plastic bucket) just to be safe from autolysis and oxidation. But you gotta let the beer finish up first. A FG = 1.107 doesn't sound good - especially for Kolsch...that's about where a RIS should finish up.

 

Below is something that I posted in the thread: How long in secondary?

“What is the secondary for besides allowing flavors to meld and does this happen as well in the bottle?” I have no scientific studies to back up my assertion, but in my humble opinion conditioning is conditioning. There are some proponents that state bulk conditioning (i.e., conditioning in a secondary) is ‘better’ but I don’t know if there is any scientific reasoning behind that opinion.

In my opinion the bottle conditioning for carbonation and then bottle aging (additional conditioning) process is the same as doing an extended secondary.

Cheers!

 

To go along with Jack's thoughts, my use of secondaries might be counter-productive for you bottlers...I keg and force carbonate so I try to get the cleanest, clearest final product into my serving vessels.

 

You are such a rebel

 

I bet Denny Conn has gotten even Jello Biafra to convert to batch sparging

 

Yeah man - typo