[jmitchell3]

brewing a Belgian quad, and I'm in a cooling phase from the primary fermentation (ended after 6 days at 77, cooling now to 67).  The instructions in the recipe call for cooling to 67, then racking to secondary before cooling to 50 to age for 8-10 weeks.  Is there any particular reason to rack prior to cooling to secondary temp!  For instance perhaps retaining a larger amount of yeast in solution for secondary?  I'm tempted to cool primary to 50 before racking.  Any suggestions?

[klickitat jim]

How does it taste?

Dropping the temp before its entirely done goes against everything I understand and have experienced. I only reduce temp once the beer is totally done done and then only to help drop the yeast out a little quicker before packaging.

[jmitchell3]

Pretty well done attenuating, 1.086 to 1.011 in 6 days.

[duboman]

What yeast did you use, it still may not be done, Belgian strains can finish pretty low. I would wait before crashing it cold

[jmitchell3]

Wlp530.  Anticipated Fg was 1.011.

[klickitat jim]

I did a 1.082 quad with wyeast trapist high gravity and it went to 1.008. If I had crashed it at 11 and primed it for 2 1/2 volumes, it would have been bottle bombs.

[Joe Sr.]

With a big beer, I think you need to be patient.  6 days is nothing.  Wait a couple weeks, there is no harm in that.

I have a RIS that's sitting for about a month now in primary.  I keep intending to check the gravity, but I'm not worried about it waiting.  Maybe next week.

[a10t2]

For instance perhaps retaining a larger amount of yeast in solution for secondary?

That makes sense, but I wouldn't do it. If you're only going to age it for a couple months, there's no reason to rack it to another fermenter. It may actually condition a little more quickly with more yeast in contact.

[jmitchell3]

Racked off the yeast today.  In two days the gravity has dropped from 1.011 to 1.008.

[denny]

Racked off the yeast today.  In two days the gravity has dropped from 1.011 to 1.008.

In Brew Like a Monk, Stan notes that it can often take as long for the last 10% of attenuation as the first 90% in Belgian beers.  Be patient.