Moved this bad boy into the secondary, oh yes.
I usually do not use secondary fermenters for two main reasons; 1) Its additional work and cleaning and 2) It requires additional handling of the beer which can lead to infections or other problems.
That said it does have its advantages. First of all, if your using a plastic fermenter you can actually see your beer. Secondly it really helps clean up the beer, leaving the majority of the trub and yeast cake in the Primary. The results are a cleaner, clearer looking beer. Finally it gives you a chance to sample your beer and see how the flavours are developing.
So I decided to move my Dark Irish Ale (I think originally I coined this as a stout, but its more akin to a very dark ale) to a secondary. I took a gravity measurement which read at 1.010 or about a 4.0% ABV, exactly what I was looking for and had a sample taste. It’s quite bitter right now, but I imagine that will mellow out a little in the next couple weeks prior to bottling.
This is my second attempt at a partial mash... I really hope it turns out