Next time you may want to try a yeast starter

I routinely let my beers sit in primary for at least 2 weeks; most often it’s closer to 3 weeks. At that point I transfer right to a keg. There is always going to be plenty of yeast still in solution so I wouldn’t worry about that. You can call it a secondary fermenter, but all the sugars are gone and you aren’t going to get much more fermentation, of course unless you add priming sugars. But you say that you are going to force carbonate the beer, so I don’t quite see why you’d be adding priming sugar.
I would just transfer the beer to the keg after primary, chill it, set the pressure for your forced carbonation process. Let is carb up for a week or two and condition in the cold. Then I’d draw pint to see if the carbonation and clarity is where you want it. If its good, then push that beer over to a fresh clean keg to leave the sedimented yeast behind.
You’ll now be in that “tertiary” vessel with very little yeast and fully carbed ready to consume.
Definitely not over the top. I’d just skip the priming sugar steps. That’s what kegging is all about.

Brew ON!

I’ve got a friend who had done a few batches this fall, and he and I am starting again for the summer, here in two weeks.

We have a couple 5gal ball-lock kegs, we were going to use for secondary, conditioning, filtering and serving. And I just wanted to get this straight.

If we are conditioning, filtering and serving from a keg (and thus also doing a touch of force carbonation), does this sound like a good step by step (assuming clenlieness, no aration, and priming transfer kegs with CO2 to avoid oxidation):

1. Primary fermentation for 1.5-3 weeks.
2. Transfer to keg and condition/flavor for 1-2 weeks.
- - I had a thought here, should I transfer in a touch of the cake to provide yeast for the secondary? Or will there be enough yeast in the solution to continue fermentation with any priming sugars in the secondary keg?
3. Rack and filter to Tertiary keg for forced carbonation for 1 week.
4. Drop pressure and serve.

Al transfers done in a closed system. The stopper of the primary fermenter has a gas release hose, as well as a permanent liquid hose. The first transfer works by connecting the liquid transfer hose to the liquid out nipple of a sterilized and primmed keg, and charging the primary fermenter with CO2 to transfer (forced transfer, not siphon). All other transfers would occur to primed kegs (CO2 displaced Oxygen) to prevent oxidation and aeration.

Does this sound like a good plan? Or too over the top?

You can open one or two earlier, just to check on things or just to collect information about the young beer’s taste, aroma, appearance, etc. but I think the beer will be really good after two weeks of bottle conditioning.

Thanks again!

For your red ale, I would leave it in the primary fermenter for 2 weeks and bottle.

We feel that secondary vessels should be used for high gravity beers, for lagering, and for beers that are going to have additives (fruit, dry hopping).

Unless your red ale fits into the above categories, just ferment it in the primary for two weeks and then rack it up.