Back to homebrew / Directors kit question?

[Glenn H]

Hi,

I have just got back to home brewing after a few years off, I use kits and have a question. I recently brewed a Directors kit and previously after fermenting I pour the beer into PET bottles with a teaspoon of sugar, shake it for second fermentation, place it in the airing cupboard for 3 days, remove from the airing cupboard and then leave for at least 14 days before consuming.

I noticed the instructions on the kit suggest after 4 - 6 days syphoning the beer into a into a second fermentation bin with the required sugar for 3 days and presumably for secondary fermentation before bottling. I have never tried this before and wondered whether this would make my bottles less likely to have so much sediment? Specifically does this approach work effectively for secondary fermentation and do you need to stir the sugar in? My understanding previously was that by immediately placing into bottles and leaving for 14 days before consuming would give extra time for the secondary fermentation to take affect whereby using a fermentation bin for this before bottling is more time specific, i.e 3 days.

Apologies for my question perhaps being a little garbled, also hopefully not wanting to look to naïve?

Glenn

 

[Fil]

Hi, I think you may be confusing 2 separate optional practices,
1) Using a bright or 2ndary FV to aid clearing the beer with or without finnings by racking off most off the sediment near to or at the end of primary, and letting that stand for a further clearing.
and
2) Batch Priming in a botteling bucket, where just before botteling you mix the whole batch with the priming charge and gently mix in prior to botteling to ensure a consistent result and reducing dead or double primed fountains....

If as you suggest you added a priming charge to the bulk and let it stand for upto 3 days that priming charge or a significant but unknown proportion of it will have been consumed prior to botteling resulting in an inconsistent and underconditioned finished product.

 

[Glenn H]

Thank you, I think my question and terminology maybe a little muddled, however your last point is the fear that I have with this method, I think I will stick with what I have done previously.

 

[Clint]

Think about it...batch priming is easy as is using a bottling bucket.
You just need to be able to weigh out your sugar for priming. A spare fv with a tap and a bottling wand. Boil a small amount of water and dissolve your sugar. Sterilise everything! Tip the cooled solution into the fv then carefully syphon your beer on top...stir gently with your sterilised spoon. This removes the beer from the trub in the fv. Now take a seat and bottle your beer...I do mine over an open dishwasher to catch any drips. It works even better if you can cold crash your beer at the end of fermentation but it's not essential. Give it a try!

 

[Glenn H]

Thanks Clint, that makes sense now, very grateful for providing the clarification. Every day is a school day.
Cheers
Glenn

Think about it...batch priming is easy as is using a bottling bucket.
You just need to be able to weigh out your sugar for priming. A spare fv with a tap and a bottling wand. Boil a small amount of water and dissolve your sugar. Sterilise everything! Tip the cooled solution into the fv then carefully syphon your beer on top...stir gently with your sterilised spoon. This removes the beer from the trub in the fv. Now take a seat and bottle your beer...I do mine over an open dishwasher to catch any drips. It works even better if you can cold crash your beer at the end of fermentation but it's not essential. Give it a try!