Starting Secondary

Brewing processes and methods. How to brew using extract, partial or all-grain. Tips and tricks.

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HardcoreLegend
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Starting Secondary

Post by HardcoreLegend »

I am an extract brewer. I brewed a Porter on Thursday that I want to bottle relatively quickly, but still want to do a brief secondary fermentation. So, my question is; Is it bad to rack from the primary to the secondary too quickly? I don't want to affect the FG.Thanks!
Gravity Thrills
Strong Ale
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check this thread...

Post by Gravity Thrills »

Hardcore, check the thread "1056" started by Jayhawk a couple of posts down. There is a good discussion on early vs. late racking to secondary. I tend to let my primary sit longer, but Freon suggested to do otherwise and Mesa (who I'll defer to in beer-related matters 5 out of 4 times!)gave good reasons why racking to secondary after 4-6 days might not be a bad idea.

All I will add is that if you ferment at a warm temperature - above 72F or so - you will have a higher amount of diacetyl and fuesel alcohol that will both adversely affect flavor. The catch 22 is that, while a couple of days of letting the beer sit on the yeast bed after vigorous primary has subsided will reduce the levels of both of these, yeast autolysis is going to be more rapid at high temp. If you do rack while there is still a head of foam as Freon suggested in the earlier thread, you'll leave most of the fuesels behind in the head, though, so that might not be a problem.

I'm sure some others will chime in and you can make your decision.

Cheers,
Jim
stumpwater
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my experience

Post by stumpwater »

The first time I brewed my porter I left it in the primary for 7 days and then racked it to the secondary where it sat for 10 days. Temperatures for the duration were 22 Celcius. I then racked it into the keg where it sat for 5 days before I began downing it. The second time I brewed the porter, I racked it from primary after 4 days and then 7 days later refrigerated the carboys at 5 celcius. I let it sit for 7 more days before kegging. I now use the second method I described always. The beer was better, it was smoother flavoured around the palate with no sharp tones. It may be the cycle of the moon for all I know, but hey, that's my story I hope it helps.

Na Zdahroveh!

Stefan
Freon12
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Crash method

Post by Freon12 »

Darker beers seem to be less senisitive to time and transfer and trub also has less effect and less sharp bitterness. I don't know if it effects alcohol types or not, the idea is to leave trub behind.
The sharp tones Stefan refers to went away (I think) because he transfered at the proper time and then crashed(lowered the tempreture to put the yeast to sleep at the bottom) the beer before kegging.
I prefer this way but it sure won't work with Hefe Wiezen.
I use a plastic bucket primary for Lagers with a valve at the bottom at 1" above bottom. After max foamidge, open the valve and drain the beer until the foam at the top just hits the opening and shut it off. Let the beer hit final gravity and then lower the tempreture to 5-3 degrees C. (near freezing).
Step 3, keg it, condition it, drink it.


Steve
Freon12
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Above for Hardcore oopps.

Post by Freon12 »

I put it under Stumpy instead.
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