Big Beer Fermentation

[Portreath]

I've recently put together and AG old ale and it's a few days in the beer fridge fermenting at 20c. Starting gravity was 1.082 so I'm expecting it to come out at around 9.4% abv. I recently read that big abv ales should be left for about a month to finish fermenting as there is a risk that fermentation may restart after bottling or barreling.
With my 'standard' ales to do like to barrel early and most do finish off and self carbonate in the barrel.

what's the longest I should leave a big ale in the FV?, Also, would racking off to a second FV be worth the effort for second stage fermentation?

Cheers

 

[MrRook]

It depends on when the yeast is actually done. Take a gravity reading after about 3 weeks and another a couple days later, if the same you can bottle. I wouldn't bother with a secondary.