Racking question

[Robbo100]

Hi all,

Sorry to post so many questions, but with AG 1 coming up I want to make sure I fill some holes in my knowledge.

I have done a good number of kits over the years and alway allow the primary fermentation to have a week or so in the FV before putting in the king keg. I have recently moved to bottles (which I much prefer to using the keg for a variety of reasons), but am conscious that there is quite a lot of sediment (which is fine if poured carefully).

I planning on leaving my AG1 in the FV for longer than I ever did with the kits (2-3 weeks), but I was wondering if I should just bottle the beer straight from the FV, or if there is anything else I can do to minimise sediment.

I have heard of people transferring into another FV, but is isn't clear to me if this is done for a period of time (week or so) or just as a transient holding vessel before immediately moving to the bottles in order to minimise the sediment brought from the bottom of the FV into the bottles.

Finally, what are the risks (if any) or adding another step in the process?

Thanks all

Robbo100

 

[Sean_Mc]

I seem to get more break material if i use protofloc than Irish moss so once the boiler is cooled using a chiller I like to drain through the spent hops slowly and seem to have less break in the FV.

But for me it still only 10days in the FV and transfer/rack straight to bottles or keg with minimal disturbance.

Guess we all acquire a system that we like and seems to work better for us :

Good question though and will be reading others reply's with interest :thumb:

 

[calumscott]

Racking is a personal thing as Sean says.

I tend to batch prime and I'm lazy so I tend to rack once at bottling time. I'll draw off some beer with a baster to dissolve my priming sugar, add that to the bottling bucket, rack on top then bottle from there.

The risks are oxidation and infection as with all transfer jobs. Be scrupulous with sanitation and splash avoidance and you'll be fine. :thumb:

 

[jonnymorris]

I tend to batch prime and I'm lazy so I tend to rack once at bottling time.

+1.

2 weeks at fermentation temp plus 1 week cooler to clear. I get very little sediment in the bottle.

 

[Stihler]

If I have the time I generally have my beer in the primary fermenter for one week followed by one week in the secondary and then I bottle or keg it.

If I do not have the time then I bottle/keg from the primary fermenter. Well, actually I transfer the beer from the primary fermenter onto the priming sugar ( I generally use ~2/3 cup of honey) within another keg or carboy.

I, of course, do the same process if I am using a secondary fermenter.

- Scott

 

[lukehgriffiths]

I am only on my third brew but I go for two weeks in Primary (I could say it was to reduce infection but truth usa it is just quicker and easier) and I just leave it in the cold for a day or two at the end of this (this said my beer never seems to clear even the first runnings still look murky after 10 litres have been drawn and returned). :

 

[PD]

do what you are comfortable with. I'm for a 2nd Fermentation vessel and bottle prime as it works fine for me.
I give it 7-10 days primary then rack it off all the trub into a clean vessel where it remains for a further few days depending on the brew itself some get 4/5 days others get just over a week. I then rack into my primed bottles.
There is ALWAYS some deposit left in this vessel which would have been transferred to the bottle.
I would suggest that if instead of bottling the brew was transferred to a further fermenter and left a few days, even more deposit would be thrown however minimal.
But pick a system that your comfortable with and which works for you. You could just leave in the primary fermenter for a week or so and bottle.

 

[pittsy]

+1 for what piddle says , I only do 1 fv but if i wanted less sediment then i would 5/7 days fv then 2nd fv for 5/7 days then leave in cold for 2 to 3 days then batch prime . Using more fv's means more drops out and also the cold helps with the yeast etc dropping even more , Some yeasts compact in the bottle more than others and the longer you leave the bottles the more solid the sediment becomes too.

 

[LeedsBrewer]

I do FV1 for one week then rack to fv2 for 3 or 4 days and then when it comes to bottling I rack to my bottling bucket that has my priming solution in and then bottle from there. :hmm: seems i do a lot more racking than everyone else... On the bright side I have very little sediment in my bottles :thumb:

 

[Good Ed]

I just rack off from primary to another FV with priming sugar and then bottle.

Not to be controversial, as you do what you are comfortable with, but I'm with Jamil Zainashelf when he says transfering to secondary to get clearer beer is totally illogical, because you are taking your beer that is clearing in the primary and then by transfer you are then mixing the clearing beer up again, and it has to start clearing all over again. The second point he makes is that on a home brew scale and using flat bottomed fermenters and by using yeast in a healthy condition, you will not get any off flavours from yeast autosylis by keeping the beer in the primary for a few weeks.

 

[Robbo100]

Blimey chaps.

I didn't realise that I would get such a good response from such a silly question. I guess it proves that there is no such thing as a silly question.

If I am honest, the I don't find priming bottles particularly troublesome, so I think I will probably stick with that rather than batch priming (unless there are any significant advantages to batch priming other than time saving).

Since I currently only have one FV, and I don't like the idea of putting the beer in my boiler or mash tun (since it is not going to be easy to get them as sterile as an FV), I will probably stick with my current process in the short term, but move the FV into the garage for a week of cooler conditions to help the sediment drop better before bottling directly.

Thanks guys. your answers have really helped me to understand the process better.

Rob

 

[calumscott]

I think I will probably stick with that rather than batch priming (unless there are any significant advantages to batch priming other than time saving).

There are three on top of the time saving.

1. consistent priming load - each bottle gets the exactly the same.
2. mixed size bottles - you can bottle to anything without having to work out smaller loads for the smaller bottles.
3. use liquid priming sugars - you can use treacles, syrups, malt extracts, candi sugar, honey or whatever other sticky stuff you fancy. e.g. treacle in stout is the berries!

 

[Robbo100]

Thanks for the extra info - I definitely hadn't thought of those benefits!

 

[jonnymorris]

Biggest benefit... #4. It's much easier.

 

[Robbo100]

It might be just me, but I don't find pruning each bottle difficult or time consuming at all. It is certainly much quicker than:

1) sterilising a fresh FV
2) measuring out one batch of sugar
3) syphoning 40 pints from one FV to the other.

I have a simple DIY funnel and use the 2.5 ml side of a child's medicine spoon (half a tea spoon) and it takes me about 3 mins to do the lot!

 

[Robbo100]

Just one last question then (if I may):

For my AG1, considering only the evaporation (I.e. ignoring MT and Boiler dead space), how much runnings should I aim for to get an resulting wort quantity of 23 ltrs, assuming a 90 min boil duration?

I was sort of expecting to start with about 27 ltrs before the boil, and that I would loose about 4 ltrs (just over 10%) during the 90 min boil.

Will this be about right, or will I likely loose more?

Note: I will likely be doing the boil outside and it may be a cold day (around 5 deg C).

Thanks again.

 

[Good Ed]

Ok, start with your brew length + dead space of your HLT (boiler) + loss to hops by displacement & absorption, 1.6L/100g of hops + loss to evaporation, I use 9% per hour + volume loss to cooling your wort, for 23L brew length use 1L = pre boil volume

hope that helps

 

[Robbo100]

It does, thanks mate.