secondary fermenter yes or no?

[Slid]

My current regime is to leave in primary for 2 weeks, rack to a secondary FV for a further week and then bottle.

The racking gives a good opportunity to pour some yeast into small 250ml bottles that can be stored in a fridge for re-use.

I don't know whether this approach is fundamentally "better" or not. Since beer making seems to be about what actually works, I stick with it.

 

[steveh2112]

Honestly I cant be bothered with a 'bottling bucket' or measuring suga, I just use the sugar drops, nice and easy!

what is 'the sugar drops'?

another poster said he put his beer in ice a day before bottling. is that a good way to get some extra clearing before bottling?

 

[GHW]

what is 'the sugar drops?'

another poster said he put his beer in ice a day before bottling. is that a good way to get some extra clearing before bottling?

Yes, it's called cold crashing. It can help clear beer by dropping yeast out of suspension, but again it's not necessary. Beer will clear fine over time. Crashing might help speed things up.

I don't bother.

 

[Sandimas]

I tried using a secondary for a few months but ended up with a series of infections. Can't say for sure that it was the secondary as some brews were OK, but since I've gone back to not using one I've not had an infection.

 

[Godsdog]

I use a fastferment conicle and recently did a stout leaving it in the vessel 18 days in all when I came to keg it I had never seen anything like it in my 40 odd years of brewing with what looked like mould floating on the surface,anyway I thought nothing left to lose so kegged it,now been in the keg since13th may and I'm.now half way down it and its OK but I thought at the time it was a drain job,so in essense although it turned out OK I won't be leaving brews that long anymore,10 days Max if the yeast activity has died away

 

[Dutto]

what is 'the sugar drops'?

...........

These are 'the sugar drops' ...

http://www.homebrewcentregy.com/coopers-carbonation-drops

At 4.98p per "drop" can anyone please explain to me why we don't use these at 0.98p per cube?

http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=280403049

Especially when, according to the Beer Priming Calculator ...

http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

... at 5 grams per cube they would be ideal for some beers in 650ml bottles ...

... and for 5 litre mini-kegs.

 

[BeerCat]

I use a fastferment conicle and recently did a stout leaving it in the vessel 18 days in all when I came to keg it I had never seen anything like it in my 40 odd years of brewing with what looked like mould floating on the surface,anyway I thought nothing left to lose so kegged it,now been in the keg since13th may and I'm.now half way down it and its OK but I thought at the time it was a drain job,so in essense although it turned out OK I won't be leaving brews that long anymore,10 days Max if the yeast activity has died away

Did it look anything like this? post 16 http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=57999&page=2

Actually tasted OK but i binned it in anycase.

 

[Studders]

What about if you where planning on lagering a beer would it be best to transfer to a secondary then?

 

[Godsdog]

Did it look anything like this? post 16 http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=57999&page=2

Actually tasted OK but i binned it in anycase.

Hard to say as mine was a stout that looks like mould on a bitter,unfortunately I didn't take any pics of it dohhhh

 

[Crawfordid]

I use coopers carbonation drops, adds a little extra expense but makes things easier! I've done a few secondary's but moved away from it, mainly because I've had issues carbonating the beer afterwards because u have less yeast in suspension.

So now I bottle straight from primary or if I am wanting to add extra flavours like oak chips etc in the secondary I add a 'bottling' yeast which dosent add any extra flavours but will help carbonate the beer

 

[baggybill]

I use a fastferment conicle and recently did a stout leaving it in the vessel 18 days in all when I came to keg it I had never seen anything like it in my 40 odd years of brewing with what looked like mould floating on the surface,anyway I thought nothing left to lose so kegged it,now been in the keg since13th may and I'm.now half way down it and its OK but I thought at the time it was a drain job,so in essense although it turned out OK I won't be leaving brews that long anymore,10 days Max if the yeast activity has died away

6 weeks and 2 days in the primary



Mind you, last ~3 were at approx. ~1°

Straight to Corny, first pint tonight. Oh man, it's outstanding... :drink:

 

[Chippy_Tea]

It looks the business.

 

[BeerisGOD]

that's reassuring. iv got a fourth week planned for my youngs IPA.
10 days for yeast activity to die away is a bit premature I would say.
pleased Ur beer came out ok baggybill. ill use an ice bath instead so ill prob only get it down a few more degrees but I still found it made a difference with second from last batch I did.

 

[MyQul]

These are 'the sugar drops' ...

http://www.homebrewcentregy.com/coopers-carbonation-drops

At 4.98p per "drop" can anyone please explain to me why we don't use these at 0.98p per cube?

http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=280403049

Especially when, according to the Beer Priming Calculator ...

http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

... at 5 grams per cube they would be ideal for some beers in 650ml bottles ...

... and for 5 litre mini-kegs.

Cuz they dont fit in the neck of a bottle. I normally batch prime but the odd time I've primed bottles indiviually, I used a measuring spoon (I have a set of those nesting measing spoons that do 1/4 teaspoon, 1/2 teaspoon, 1 teaspoon,etc), a bowl of sugar, the back of a knife to level the sugar in the measuring spoon and a small funnel

 

[Dutto]

I don't use a second FV and have no trouble clearing my beer.

I Brewed a Fulstow Brewery AG Northfields IPA on Monday 6th June, (twelve days ago).

As per kit instructions I put Profloc into the wort 10 minutes before the end of the boil then cooled and ran the wort into an FV via a bottom tap. (The Profloc is provided with the kit and it's the only clearing agent I use. When brewing my own recipe AG brews I don't use anything apart from "time".)

With and OG of 1.042 the yeast was pitched at 20 degrees and fermentation ended five days later on Saturday 11th June with FG of 1.010 (ABV 4.5%).

I cold crashed the FV for 16 hours overnight and on Sunday 12th I syphoned the brew into a bottling bucket, bottled/kegged it and then kept the bottles and MKs at 22 degrees for two days. (I used brewing sugar for carbonation and put it directly into the MKs and bottles.)

On Tuesday I needed the fridge for another brew so the bottles and MK's were lifted out and left on the shelves in the garage until today.

It tastes superb and it's as clear as a bell but at the moment the head is a bit "slack" and I'm hoping that will improve in another week or so.

 

[steveh2112]

6 weeks and 2 days in the primary

View attachment 5879

Mind you, last ~3 were at approx. ~1°

Straight to Corny, first pint tonight. Oh man, it's outstanding... :drink:

6 weeks! that's the longest i've ever heard of. i was thinking 4 weeks seems like a long time.

i have a couple of extract brews in FVs now. i'm not very good at waiting, so i tried some 8 days old bitter last night and it tastes great and is nice and clear. i doubt i'll wait much longer to get it in bottles.