secondary fermentation - Wherry

[Vimes]

My First Brew – Woodfordes Wherry kit.

In the FV for 8 days at a constant 19.5 deg until till it reached a steady 1014
Its now been in the pressure barrel for 3 days at 19.5 deg. ( added 80g sugar )

Kit instructions now say to place in a cold place.

Is it too soon to end the secondary fermentation or should I just do as the instructions say.

Will be placed in the garage at 6 – 10 deg.

Hope to try it in two weeks time.

Vimes :drink:

 

[PD]

Best practise....
10 days or more for fermentation
7 days somewhere cool
Bottle
2 weeks warm
1 week cool
drink

anything less and you will be disappointed

IMHO of course

 

[Will12283]

I always do
14 days fermenting
7 days cold
Bottle then 2 weeks warm
At least 2 weeks cold better if its 4 weeks then drink :thumb:

 

[Scott]

My First Brew – Woodfordes Wherry kit.

In the FV for 8 days at a constant 19.5 deg until till it reached a steady 1014
Its now been in the pressure barrel for 3 days at 19.5 deg. ( added 80g sugar )

Kit instructions now say to place in a cold place.

Is it too soon to end the secondary fermentation or should I just do as the instructions say.

Will be placed in the garage at 6 – 10 deg.

Hope to try it in two weeks time.

Vimes :drink:

I do two weeks in warm then two weeks in cold for secondary, but obviously the longer you leave it in cold the nicer it will taste.

 

[joe1002]

What you now need to do is get another kit on the go to build up a stock. That way you will be able to let your beers mature properly. I leave my beers for a month in the cold before trying, but as i have built up a good stock of beer it's a lot easier :thumb:

 

[rpt]

I leave bottles in the warm for 7 - 14 days to carbonate. I always have at least one plastic bottle to judge how well it is carbonating so I know when to move the beer into the garage. Even if you keg most of your beer you could have one bottle to help judge. Otherwise, I'd leave it for at least 2 weeks in the warm.

 

[wigwamheed]

Ibve only been brew in since January and its killing me trying to be patient but its worth it. I tend to buy beer from the shop to help and use it as an excuse build my empty bottles store maybe get a wheat on I hear they require less patience

 

[winelight]

Thanks to the great advice on this forum (some of which I pay attention to, believe it or not!) I now do:

2 weeks primary
1 week move to cold to settle
bottle
2 weeks in warm
2 weeks in cold to condition

Those first 3 weeks seem to be the most important, I sneaked a pint of Young's Harvest Mild yesterday when bottling it, and not only was it clear, it was also a surprisingly good pint for a cheap kit (I used dark DME, food grade malt extract and demerara sugar, total 1.7Kg additions, and the yeast that came with the kit). At that stage it tasted better than the end result you get if you brew and condition a kit according to the instructions.

The key is to get another beer into the FV as soon as it's empty and keep the cycle going.

 

[Andyhull]

I always do a minimum of 2 week in the primary then aim to do 2 weeks in secondary keg/bottles in the warm and then 2 weeks cold.

In reality they all end up drunk after 3 weeks in secondary and the last one always tastes sooooooo much better than the first

 

[winelight]

I used to do exactly what you did but now I've added the "move to the cold for a week" phase and it does seem to help.

 

[Vimes]

Thanks for all the responses. The keg is now in a cold region of the garage and will get two weeks to settle out.

Had a quick taste and very pleased. Flavour is spot on, all it needs is to clear. May have overdone the priming sugar in the keg as it formed a massive head.

Next I think I will try one more kit – Woodford’s Nog, before attempting an all grain clone of hobgoblin.

Like the look of …

2 weeks primary
1 week move to cold to settle
into Keg
2 weeks in warm
2 weeks in cold to condition

What do people think…

 

[Jez Graves]

Hi all,
Just approaching two weeks fermenting my first brew, a wherry. Just to clarify the points on this thread, the one week cold after two weeks fermenting, is that in the FV or keg and then bottle.
Sorry for newbie interruption to the discussion.
Thanks
Jez

 

[Vimes]

If you plan to bottle then leave it in the FV.

Mines staying in the keg.

I did not do the week in the cold after fermenting and its a bit cloudy. Hope it will clear over the next few weeks as its tatstes better that I expected.

Paul

 

[winelight]

Just to clarify the points on this thread, the one week cold after two weeks fermenting, is that in the FV or keg and then bottle.

"Best practice" is possibly to rack it into a second FV. I usually just leave it in the primary FV because I don't have a second one, I can't be bothered, and my keg is usually in use.

Next time however my keg will be empty and I am using US-05 and, apparently, it is more desirable with that yeast to get the beer away from the trub. So I will rack it into my empty keg, move it into the cold, and then a week later bottle it from the keg.

 

[Andyhull]

Thanks for all the responses. The keg is now in a cold region of the garage and will get two weeks to settle out.

Had a quick taste and very pleased. Flavour is spot on, all it needs is to clear. May have overdone the priming sugar in the keg as it formed a massive head.

Next I think I will try one more kit – Woodford’s Nog, before attempting an all grain clone of hobgoblin.

Like the look of …

2 weeks primary
1 week move to cold to settle
into Keg
2 weeks in warm
2 weeks in cold to condition

What do people think…

If you have already kegged it then bring it into the warm to secondary ferment and carb the brew for 2 weeks then in the cold for a following 2 weeks +.

If your putting it in the cold and it's in the keg and you've primed it already you'll gain nothing.
The idea of a week in the cold after primary fermentation is to clear the brew before bottling or kegging.

This is usually done by syphoning the brew into a second FV off the sediment and then into the cold for the week to drop as much suspended yeast/sediment (etc) so that when you bottle or keg it it's already well on it's way to being clear.

1 - Primary fermentation in FV1 usually for 10 to 14 days. (approx)
2 - Syphon to 2nd FV and take into the cold for a week to clear/drop the suspended particles (etc)
3 - Prime and either keg or bottle the brew and leave in the warm 18c to 22c to carbonate for 2 weeks.
4 - 1 week in the cold for every point of SG eg. 1040 = 4 weeks in the cold and it'll be ready to drink.

Hope this clears it up a bit!

Andy

 

[rpt]

2 - Syphon to 2nd FV and take into the cold for a week to clear/drop the suspended particles (etc)

Or just leave in the primary FV and put in the cold for a week. It's a never ending debate, but some say that using a secondary makes it harder for the beer to clear.

 

[Andyhull]

2 - Syphon to 2nd FV and take into the cold for a week to clear/drop the suspended particles (etc)

Or just leave in the primary FV and put in the cold for a week. It's a never ending debate, but some say that using a secondary makes it harder for the beer to clear.

Why does it make it harder for the brew to clear by syphoning it into another FV? :wha:

 

[rpt]

The theory is that the beer in the primary is well on the way to dropping out all the trub, but by syphoning into a second container you are stirring it all up again and so that will take longer to drop out.

Transferring to a secondary takes effort and it requires sterilising. So many people don't think it's worth the effort.

 

[Andyhull]

I get what your saying as in the suspended particles are on the way to the bottom (slooooowly) but if you move the primary you risk stiring the whole sediment up!
Surely by syphoning off into another FV and placing in the cold the particles will begin dropping once again at a far greater rate!

I'll be honest, i don't syphon into a secondary or put the FV in the cold, i just leave it in the primary for 2 weeks min and then prime and bottle or keg and all my brews are clear after only a week or so.
i may get a little more sediment in the bottle but not so much that it causes any pouring problems!