Brown ale fermentation schedule advice wanted

Nottingham is very fast. Check your gravity to make sure it is done.

I'm not a fan of secondaries for low gravity ales. If it were me, and I want to make sure this is ready for Thanksgiving, I would: 1) Verify you've reached final gravity with a hydrometer; 2) Gently stir in gelatin into the beer while still in primary (look online for the method); 3) Put the fermentor somewhere very cool, fridge temps if possible; 4) bottle 2 to 2.5 weeks before Thanksgiving

 

This ^^^^ is good advice, especially no need to use a secondary fermentor. However, I'll add one comment to clarify -- once bottled, don't put the bottles in the fridge until they have had a chance to develop their carbonation. Usually 10 days to two weeks at room temp is adequate. Open a bottle after 10 days to see the progress. If it's progressing okay, leave at room temp until a couple days before you want to drink them, then chill.

 

Gelatin won't take all yeast out of suspension, there will be plenty left for bottle conditioning. I've bottle conditioned lagers after long secondaries and using gelatin with no effect on bottle conditioning.

If you decide to use gelatin, just use .5 to 1 tsp of gelatin for a 5 gallon batch. Add the gelatin to 1/2 cup cool water for about 10 minutes to let it bloom. Microwave in short bursts until the temp reaches 150, stirring in the gelatin as you go. Then gently stir into primary.

 

Transferring to secondary is just another opportunity to introduce oxygen, unwanted microbes, and for many standard styles there's little evidence of benefits in flavor or stability. Yeast autolysis would take much longer than most beers spend in primary and since most homebrewers are using buckets or carboys the increased pressure and temperature in the cone of a conical is not a concern.

If adding fruit, wood, or long term aging a secondary is worth considering but not always necessary. Honestly, kegs are my favorite secondary container.

 

Because they don't like to make better beer.

Backs out of the room slowly.

 

I'll bite, go on...

 

The risks of oxidation are minimal if you rack into a vessel while fermentation is still progressing and especially if you rack into a vessel that is purged with CO2.

Risk of microbial infection is also minimal if you follow even the most basic sanitation procedures.

I feel that the benefits of racking to a secondary fermenter are that it gets your beer off of as much trub and yeast as possible, gets your beer to drop clear more quickly, and, for lack of a better or more scientific term, focuses the flavors of your beer.

Keep in mind that the benefits of this type of procedure are rather unique to the homebrewing scale, especially in cases where CCFVs and temperature control are not used, like in the case of my home brewery.

 

You are basically breaking common thought that secondary and temp control for fermentation are both important. I've never tried your beer so I can't really say that you are wrong but I think controlling fermentation temps have greatly enhanced MY beers flavor. I'm interested in racking to secondary kegs like you mentioned with a sounding valve. I've racked to secondary before without issue but generally don't cause I'm lazy.

 

Maybe what I wrote was confusing, but I don't think that I ever said that temperature control was not important. I simply said that I lack the ability to do it.

 

Oh gotcha. So how do you control temps?

 

My fermentation area is in my basement, which stays around 68F year-round. Seems to work well for most ale yeast (and other microbes).

 

I'm gonna have to side with the others on this one...mainly because since he is bottling, I assume he doesn't have a CO2 tank to purge the vessel. The beer may end up a bit clearer, but honestly I haven't seen much difference since I stopped using a secondary for lower ABV beers (but also added a few days of cold crashing in the fridge). I also love not doing work, and the additional sanitizing and transferring is one of the least fun parts of brewing IMHO.

 

I only use secondaries with high ABV ales and my fruited sours. Two weeks in primary, cold crash, keg.

An ambient temperature of 68 can get into the mid-70s, too high for many ale yeast during peak fermentation.

 

I'm on-board with this. Caves and farmhouses of old lacked thermostats, too. I ferment in a spare bedroom (mid 60s) or a basement (high 50s in the winter, low 60s in the summer), and these spaces are stable enough to give fairly predictable results, and give a wide enough range to brew most of the beers I brew. I do have some means for controlled heat, but I rarely feel the need. I used to have the capacity for controlled cooling, and used lower temps for lagers, but that unit died over a year ago and I haven't replaced it yet, and made my last several lagers at basement ambient. The act of brewing tasty beer can be a really simple endeavor.

 

In 13 years of brewing, I've never seen this happen even once. Have you?

 

I've had some fusely beers when I first started but I suspect that was related more to pitch temp and not fermentation temp. I got a ferm chamber and became a next day pitcher at the same time so I can't realistically tell you yes. But fermenting at 68 has greatly improved the qualities of my beers.