To rack or not to rack this is the question

[bulp]

Not sure what to do here blokes, i'm currently fermenting an old speckled hen recipe which i got out of the brewing crafts book (mike rodgers-wilson). Now the fermenter that i used has a tap in it that makes it very hard to get into a vertical position when using a sediment reducer without it leaking, so on this brew i decided to leave the reducer out. But when i took my fg reading i got quite a bit of sediment in the bottom of the flask, i know it will probably clear after the first bottle or so but was just chasing some opinions wether it would be worth racking into another fermentor before bottling ? P.S i couldn't give a stuff about cloudy beer especially with this style.

[lethaldog]

I think you answered your own question at the bottom of your post, if you dont care then why bother

In saying that i rack every brew i do

[bulp]

Yep your right i think i'm just over analysing i should just shut up and drink another beer

[warra48]

Whether to rack or not to rack is a question which has generated an awful lot of debate on this forum. There are those firmly in both camps, and I don't want to resurrect that debate.

I suggest for your next batch you throw away your sediment reducer, it is one of the most useles pieces of equipment IMHO. That will allow you to screw your tap to the correct position. If you are concerned it is not tight enough, you can always use a short length of plumbers tape, which is what I do.

How do I keep the sediment away from the tap? I simply lean my fermenter back about 10º from the vertical as it ferments, allowing all the trub and yeast residue to fall away from the tap opening.

[The Carbonator]

....I suggest for your next batch you throw away your sediment reducer, it is one of the most useles pieces of equipment IMHO....

Bloody oath

Plus, bulp, doesnt the reducer spin around anyway?
aaaawwww, who cares....just chuck it

[damian44]

Hands up who' racks and who doesnt?

Cheers Damo

[lethaldog]

I rack and i also disagree about the sediment reducers, i love em but thats just me

[bulp]

Sediment reducer gone never to be seen again, and i was too lazy to rack just bottled today sample tasted very nice i'll be struggling to wait for this one to mature. Thanks blokes will put a lean on the fermenter next time, the bottles didn't look cloudy anyway who are we kidding beer tastes good clear or cloudy just drink the bastard !

[timmy]

I got an infection on my first partial due to racking. I had been a dedicated racker up to that point.

I think I'll just leave the brew longer in the primary and then CC

[Boonie]

Hands up who' racks and who doesnt?

Cheers Damo

I do....no shock there.

With the sediment reducer, I don't bother anymore...it slows down the beer coming out of fermenter, I'm an impatient bastard sometimes. I've had both Tap with and without Sed Reducer clogged

How do I keep the sediment away from the tap? I simply lean my fermenter back about 10º from the vertical as it ferments, allowing all the trub and yeast residue to fall away from the tap opening.

I'm doing that with Lethals Belgian Beer ATM. I went to measure and I had some Hops and muck stuck in the tap, they came out, tried again and more came out in quick sharp bursts as it blocked the flow, then not and it was going everywhere. So I tilted the fermenter and put some cardboard underneath it as I had read the post earlier this week. Next day, no clogs....cheers Warra

Boonie

[Kevnlis]

I rack a beer if I feel it is necessary (not very often does a beer need to be racked IMHO). I do not use a sediment reducer.

[racer]

I rack to a cube to free up the fermenter.
Still trying to get ahead of my drinking habit

[The Carbonator]

I rack every time, but thats becasue I always brew Lagers.

I dont rack ales.

Reducer went into bin years ago.

[Ed]

How do I keep the sediment away from the tap? I simply lean my fermenter back about 10º from the vertical as it ferments, allowing all the trub and yeast residue to fall away from the tap opening.

So simple, so effective. Nice one Warra, I'm using that on the current brew. Sediment well away from the tap

Cheers, Ed

[tazman67]

I only rack lagers...ales are fine ...off topic....Great tip Warra
Never used reducer..I strain my hops and grain into the fermenter..so why bother ? another item to clean..no thanks.

[James L]

i have the reducer in the primary, but not in the secondary.

I only rack lagers. simply cos i ferment for 4 weeks @10 and CC for 4 weeks @4 then bottle, so it is a nice cycle. (a day not fermenting is a day wasted).

Or a day brewing is a day me wasted. something like that.

[PaulSteele]

i rack depending on the type of beer i'm brewing, and i have been known to rack just because i have no bottles to put a batch in.

[SpillsMostOfIt]

I recently racked a Scottish Wee Heavy from plastic to a 20-litre glass demijohn because I expected it to take a while to complete. It's still going, so I was strangely correct. I rack my meads into (nowadays) glass to clear and age them in bulk before bottling - the first one is beautifully clear in the bottle unless you move it.

I've butchered a white rubber stopper to fit in the top of the demijohns with gas in and liquid out holes/tubes/whatever so I can blow stuff out of demijohns with CO2. It will probably get its first in-anger test next week with a mixed-berry mead.

I filter most of my beers these days, although I am yet to decide if I will long-term or not. Sediment reducers are not part of my repertoire.

[pacman]

Only racked once and got an infection. Never again.

Used the same method as Warra and put some cardboard under the tap side of my fermenter to encourage sediment to congregate away from tap. It worked a treat.

[PaulSteele]

don't let that put you off! just be a little more careful next time.
racking does wonderful things for your beer, and should not be underestimated.
There's a lot of beers i wouldn't bother racking, and a lot that you must rack.