Newbie racking Question

[spatch]

Hey all,

Just curious, I hear people rack their lagers after 2 two weeks in the fermenter.
1/ Is this regardless of SG reading?

I ask because my last lager took 31 days before I got 2 readings the same (1012).
I'm half keen to try racking but wouldn't want to do it too soon.

2/ Also, is there a minimum time in the 2nd fermenter it should stay there or just until SG is stable
(assuming it continues dropping if it was racked mid ferment).
FYI, I'm bottling the finished product.

3/ Is it imperitive the racked brew is kept cool? I haven't got a second fridge so it would be at
"shed" temperature (pretty cool in winter).

Man, I'm confused. Thanks in advance!

[rwh]

Just curious, I hear people rack their lagers after 2 two weeks in the fermenter.
1/ Is this regardless of SG reading?

Strictly speaking, it's ideal to rack a lager slightly before it reaches FG so that the headspace in the secondary fermenter will have the air purged from it. In practice I simulate this effect by adding a little sugar (boiled in some water) to the secondary.

2/ Also, is there a minimum time in the 2nd fermenter it should stay there or just until SG is stable
(assuming it continues dropping if it was racked mid ferment).
FYI, I'm bottling the finished product.

Depends what you're trying to achieve. If you want the proper lager conditioning, then really you should be storing it for a month or more, and you should be doing it at cold temperatures (generally 4°C or below). The word "lager" does mean "to store" after all. You can do this either in secondary or in the bottle, but the conditioning process is quicker in secondary which is why ppl don't just bottle right away after primary is complete.

3/ Is it imperitive the racked brew is kept cool? I haven't got a second fridge so it would be at
"shed" temperature (pretty cool in winter).

It's better. Dunno about imperative.

[drtom]

You know, one of the terrific things about brewing beer is that there are so many *right* ways to do it.

I generally rack after two weeks, and bottle after another two. If it's cold, if it's a high gravity beer, if I feel like it, or the phase of the moon is wrong, I might take specific gravity readings over a couple of days before bottling, but I figure if it hasn't been too cold, &c, it is very very likely to be fully fermented out. I could make it all go faster by racking sooner, and doing measurements, and so forth, but I'm not in a hurry.

dT.

[spatch]

Cheers guys.
The current brew is sitting at 12. Had bubbles for 1 day then nothing.
Might try racking, not sure yet.

Tasted one of the ones that sat on the yeast for the whole month and it was very sweet and not
much fizz so will bring 'em back inside to finish carbing up and leave it for another 2 weeks
before another taste test.

Thanks again.

[spatch]

Well I ended up racking on Thursday evening.
Funny thing was that the samples from my SG readings weren't clearing
at all overnight. When I racked it there was only about 5mm of yeast cake,
I'm used to it being around an inch thick?
Any way, since Thursday, heaps of the floaties have dropped out and I now have
a yeast cake about an inch thick which was what I was trying to avoid?

I'm a bit hesitant to leave it on the yeast cake again and it was why I racked it so I
think I might have to bottle it sooner rather than later?

Any thoughts?

[scanman]

Personally I think your playing to much into it. This is how I do it.
Brew in the primary till decent FG is achieved. Then rack. The main reason I rack is to reduce the amount of sedement in the beer. I dont even check the gravity at this stage. If it brew a bit more, then so be it. I dont worry about it weather it does or not. Long as you get what you want in the primary what happens after with the gravity is no concern to me.
The beer in the secondary is kept at brew temp for a couple of weeks then put in the fridge. Time in the fridge depends on when I remember ot get it out, usually at least a month. Sometimes much longer. The cold storage does not hurt it one bit, if anything, it allows the flavours to develop. Then I keg it.
When bottling its a bit different. Rack then leave for a couple of weeks before bulk priming and bottling. When bulk priming i try to actually drain a bit of the yeast into the bulk priming container. Then the beer is bottled then left again at room temp for a month to carbonate, then chucked in the fridge for as long as you can stand not to drink it.

Never had a bad drop yet using it this way, and not once have ai worried as much about the FG during the secondary.

Sometimes I htink people put to much science and speculaion into brewing. It does not need ot be that specific, and in fact I think it usually isn't anyway. That why when you ask for advice you get many different people telling you many different techniques on how do do things. They all work because these people do them.

[James L]

All i do is:

ferment at 10C for 2 weeks,
rack at 4C for 2 weeks,
bottle (i like to let a little bif of yeast come through to the bulk priming container too), and drink after about 4-5 weeks...

If i was brewing a beer stronger than about 5%, maybe 7% i would probably rack for longer than 2 weeks.. maybe 4-6...

The only reason why i dont leave it longer for racking is due to lack of refridgerator space, and the two week turnover i have with lagers (every two weeks bottle my lager thats been racking in the fridge, transfer my beer that has been fermenting into my now empty racking container, and brew another lager to put in my now free fermenter)...