Question about Secondary Fermentation, Please help.

Good info here

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/any-rule-of-thumb-when-to-rack-to-secondary.231037/

 

You say its a "simple ale" but that doesn't tell me much about original gravity, potential abv. Assuming this means "low" gravity I would recommend that you leave it in primary two to four weeks and then bottle directly from there. Without getting too into the science, there are some benefits to extended conditioning time in primary and potential negatives for oxygen exposure for secondary transfers.

Since you have already transfered to secondary, assuming the beer is done fermenting go ahead and cold crash and bottle anytime in the next couple of weeks.

 

if your beer has reached FG then there is no secondary fermentation. not until you bottle prime anyway.

if you are using a secondary to clear the beer, then the temperature is just as important as the time, if not more. keep it cold, all the way down to the high 30s and the beer will clear within a week. then prime and bottle.

there is nothing wrong about bottling an ale immediately after achieving FG. most all beers do benefit from some quiet time before drinking however.

 

Assuming your FG was reached go ahead and bottle now.

 

beer will clear substantially faster if you bring the temp down. 38F is a good target temperature, but even low 50s will help. if you have a basement then use that.

finally, if you are really interested in truly bright beer, using a clarifier such as gelatin will help tremendously. but it is not necessary.
Cheers.

edit-
the next question is "will there be enough yeast to carbonate after I have cleared the beer?"
answer- yes. a few hundred billion cells in fact.

 

I personally don't do secondary unless it's a big beer that needs aging or I'm racking on top of some additions (mostly fruit). I've found my IPA's taste best when not taken off the primary yeast until it's kegging time. Just make sure you've hit your FG and you are good to go.

 

A key question to answer too is whether your beer ended up with the right amount of liquid that the recipe was written for. If you are short on liquid then your FG will be higher than required, and the opposite is that if you have too much beer the OG will read lower than the recipe. So your FG reading may be fictional and cause you to make a wrong decision if your amount of liquid is incorrect.

Also, don't forget to allow for trub volume when figuring out the amount of liquid that you have.

 

Better to have skipped secondary and kept it in primary that whole time, IMO.