Newbie Needing your Knowledge

[Dave 666]

So if fermentation has completed and the yeast settled at the bottom is it not spent and dead or just dormant?. Could not simply carefully mixing the mix up and leaving it another several days (before bottling) be an idea to aid conditioning than transferring to a second FV or would anything else need to be done?. As surely by transferring from 1 FV to another will leave most of the settled yeast in the original FV?.

I have a habit of over thinking things so might even be missing the point altogether lol.

 

[Zephyr259]

Just dormant for the most part, some will have died which is why it used to be standard to rack off to avoid off-flavours from autolysis (dead cells break apart and release chemicals). In practice at homebrew scale autolysis isn't much of a concern as the smaller volumes mean a lot less hydrostatic pressure on the yeast, so unless you leave it for months and even then it's probably fine.

Racking to secondary for a week after 2 weeks primary is more about getting the beer clear and then being able to keep it clear when you rack to a bottling bucket.

 

[ACBEV]

I have a habit of over thinking things so might even be missing the point altogether lol.

What Slid has described is a perfectly acceptable FV routine. I don't use a secondary FV often, mainly due to the beer I brew and the yeast I use. Sometimes the beer might need that little extra help. A few beers that I keep in secondary for 6 to 9 months, for these its better in a secondary vessel without sitting on the yeast cake.

My rule of thumb is two weeks in FV as a minimum and not to fiddle with it.

 

[Duxuk]

I certainly agree with Slid's comment that larger volumes condition quicker. When I keg rather than bottle my beer is ready to drink in half the time. Commercial breweries are often delivering to the pub 14 days after brew day! Presumably this is further proof that the theory is right, since they would laugh at a mere 23l brew. Doesn't mean that their beer tastes better than mine, though.

 

[Dave 666]

So the smaller the volume, the longer time to condition in general terms then?. Is there a happy, or more acceptable medium for say 10 litre brews or is it more a personal preference?, maybe recipe dependent?.

My latest brew has been in the primary FV for 8 days now, and I suspect that fermentation has finished but intend leaving it until tomorrow before taking the first reading. If that's the case then is leaving it there in the primary FV of little point as such unless I intend to agitate the mix to stir up the settled yeast to aid conditioning for several days?. As otherwise I could simply transfer to a secondary FV instead to aid clearing if the transfer would aid conditioning at the same pace as conditioning in the primary FV alone would?.

 

[Slid]

So the smaller the volume, the longer time to condition in general terms then?. Is there a happy, or more acceptable medium for say 10 litre brews or is it more a personal preference?, maybe recipe dependent?.

My latest brew has been in the primary FV for 8 days now, and I suspect that fermentation has finished but intend leaving it until tomorrow before taking the first reading. If that's the case then is leaving it there in the primary FV of little point as such unless I intend to agitate the mix to stir up the settled yeast to aid conditioning for several days?. As otherwise I could simply transfer to a secondary FV instead to aid clearing if the transfer would aid conditioning at the same pace as conditioning in the primary FV alone would?.

Dave - Hi!

I would leave any beer for 2 weeks in the primary FV and then transfer to a secondary for a further week. Then bottle and leave for 2 weeks in the warm to carbonate (which is not exactly hard in July!) and then move to somewhere cooler for at least long enough to cool down.

I bottled a lot of my first brews too early and too cloudy and that was my mistake. You could make the same mistake yourself, but you don't need to.

So the answers to your questions are - No - you don't touch your beer and you certainly don't agitate it. And probably No - I expect the maturation is best if you leave in contact with the whole yeast for 2 weeks, although this will be marginal.

Good Luck!

 

[Fil]

+1 Patience can be the hardest brewers skill to acquire, but it can also have a huge positive impact on your beer,

Also it can take some skills to successfully repeat the same brew and have it quafable at an 'early' age with a consistent flavour and quality. And you may well have all the qualities required you may not yet either. ??

If not your beer can benefit form time to mature, and due in part no doubt to its live nature a beer sat in the cool to mature will develop and mellow out any harsh flavours over time, sometime weeks sometimes even longer, a very rough rule of thumb is a week for every 10 gravity points the brew dropped from og to fg. But this is also purely down to personal taste too..

The simple trick is to let brew #1 do what it will, by all means sample a bottle whenever you want.. But if not a pint to relish let it sit a week or so longer, meanwhile get brews #2 and 3 underway too.. You may hit the golden target and brew a beer you can quaff when all mine are still green, but if not they too will do the business at their own rate.. and when your 1st brew is ready your stocks will be plentiful..

 

[Dave 666]

This is pretty much why I want at least 2 brews on the go at once, so I can stagger brews and help that bit better with patience. By my next full day off work it will be 2 weeks since I did my current brew anyway. Transfer that to the secondary FV for a week and that frees up the first FV to start a fresh brew. Then off to visit family for a week just after bottling the current brew would be due and then allow another brew again to be started just before going off. But will definitely need a third small FV to allow for transferring from a primary FV once I have 2 on the go at once.

 

[GerritT]

But will definitely need a third small FV to allow for transferring from a primary FV once I have 2 on the go at once.

Oh boy... you know where this is going, right? When there's no direct need for fv1 or fv2 to transfer from, you gonna use it for an inbetweenie brew. And end up using the maisch vessel for transfer!