secondary fermentation

[mattybabsy]

Hi all

As I was bottling my stout the other day I noticed that the last few were being filled with a brew that looked a different colour than the rest- the dregs from the bottom were getting in. I had a taste and it def wasnt as good as the beer from the top.

I used one of those coopers bottling things from the tap at the bottom of the fv- is this why folks do a secondary fermentation- to get rid of the sediment at the bottom? Or should I invest in a good syphon?

thanks

 

[mtvessel]

I have fitted taps to both of my fermenting vessels which i bought off ebay ensuring that i could fit a length of (sterilised) hose to the outlet of tap.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Youngs-wine-f ... 19c4b39e06
When fermenting has finished i carefully drain from one vessel to other (with an approx 3ft lenght of hose to prevent too much air getting into the brew) and without disturbing sediment. I then leave for a week to settle before bottling with a 6" lenght of hose into bottle.

 

[Hollow Legs]

In my opinion it is worth the money to buy another FV just to batch prime i.e. add the amount of sugar to the spare FV (diluted and nuked in the microwave first to get rid of any nasties in the sugar) let the sugary liquid cool then put it in the spare FV and syphon the brew into this not causing splashes as too much oxygen at this stage is not good, give it a gentle stir when all of the brew is in the spare FV and then bottle or keg.

Happy brewing :