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Yes another racking question…..
As this is my first attempt I’ll run though my plan and limitations for some expert advise..
I have one 60lt fermenter that has never sealed properly (no bubbles though air lock) yet I have never lost a brew in it.
My intention is to use this as my primary then rack into my 30lt fermenter (5 days or SG 1010) which seals well. The thinking is that the most of the CO2 will be produced in the primary there for the brew needs the most protection in the secondary.. Am I on the right track here??
I intend to put down a “Morgan’s Blew Mountain Lager” any suggestions.. I was thinking Morgan’s Lager Malt??
Any input would be appreciated
Cheers,
Brad..

Hi Brad,

If your 60L fermenter is OK to use when not racking, I see no problem with racking out of it. Definately save your sealed, 30L fermenter for the secondary. With a 20-23L batch racked at the right time, there should be enough CO2 produced in the secondary to clear the headspace quickly.

I stopped racking around brew number 20,as all of my racked brews were flat.As soon as i stopped this ,they had decent head and fizz.

mark68 wrote:I stopped racking around brew number 20,as all of my racked brews were flat.As soon as i stopped this ,they had decent head and fizz.

If you rack properly then the worst that can happen is you may need to mature for a little longer but if your not patient enough to leave them for longer then of course, dont rack

brad mercer wrote:Yes another racking question…..
As this is my first attempt I’ll run though my plan and limitations for some expert advise..
I have one 60lt fermenter that has never sealed properly (no bubbles though air lock) yet I have never lost a brew in it.
My intention is to use this as my primary then rack into my 30lt fermenter (5 days or SG 1010) which seals well. The thinking is that the most of the CO2 will be produced in the primary there for the brew needs the most protection in the secondary.. Am I on the right track here??
I intend to put down a “Morgan’s Blew Mountain Lager” any suggestions.. I was thinking Morgan’s Lager Malt??
Any input would be appreciated
Cheers,
Brad..

Yep, racking does mean longer to wait for Fizz, yet my 2nd last batch 2.5 weeks ago has fizz already

I would go the Lager Malt with Hallertau hops. I did one of these over 12 months ago and it was my best beer for ages.
I used a Hallertau teabag strained in at brew & did not rack it at the time (will not change taste though)

Go 4 it

Without racking, there would be no dry-hopping, and then where would we be?

I'm now forced to rack as I've got too much beer IN bottles, leaving me short of bottles, at least for the next two weeks.

May I ask some questions - I have two fermenters. All I need is a food grade plastic hose, yes? If so, where can you get them?

Chris wrote:Without racking, there would be no dry-hopping, and then where would we be?

Dry hopping in the primary or keg like a lot people already do
Racking isn't necessary for dry hopping. A lot of pro brewers actually recommend dry hopping just before hitting the FG.

Yep, food grade plastic hose. I got mine from my local HBS, Aust. Winemakers in North Melb. Try to get the plastic hose that fits inside your tap.

Cheers rwh - again. That's about 2,456 questions you've answered of mine (give or take)

Danzar,

If you're short of bottles, just take a stroll down Jersy St past the rail yards and Old Pub, then along the Highway past Theo's, down whatever street past the Shell servo toward Waitara, through the lane between the Station and Suttons, left and under the railway, left past the gym, right down Orara then up Edgeworth toward Westfield and you should have picked up a batch worth of assorted beer bottles. Also the Library carpark near Claudies can be good for bottles and glassware.

Cheers,
Greg

Wow - I knew adding "Hornsby" to my profile would have delivered dividends!

My girlfriend and I raided every recycling bin in all of the units around Hornsby and found not one longneck.

I'll try your suggestion - my thanks.

All will be well in two weeks though, as I have my second 'beer-a-thon', where my friends come over bearing empty longnecks in exchange for the right to drink my brew.

Any excuse for a party.

chris. Wish I had kegs, but I don't.

Hop aroma is slaughtered by the gas in primary in my experience. The bubbles scrub out almost all the aroma.

And I hadn't heard about dry-hopping prior to reaching FG. What's the reason?

Chris wrote:chris. Wish I had kegs, but I don't.

Hop aroma is slaughtered by the gas in primary in my experience. The bubbles scrub out almost all the aroma.

And I hadn't heard about dry-hopping prior to reaching FG. What's the reason?

CO2 blowing off the hop aroma's isn't too much of an issue at the later stage of fermentation. & as I understand most cap the fermentor (ie. close off the blow off tube) after adding the hops to help contain the aroma.
The reasoning behind it is that the warmer temperatures help to extract more oils from the hops than normally would in the colder temps of secondary.

I've been looking around my local hardware stores (thornleigh and nearby bunnings mostly)for foodgrade plastic hose but none of them seem to have any. They have vinyl and pvc, and from what i've found on this site thats what most people seem to be using. It just needs to be properly cleaned and steralized like everything else. So my question is it should be no problem using the bunnings stuff?

Thanks.

The clear vinyl tubing should be used in my opinion. I was of the belief that PVC can leach toxins, especially with heat.

I heard that silicone tubing should be used if you're going to be piping really hot stuff. Vinyl should be fine for mashing temps tho (that's what I'm using).

That sounds about right. I haven't heard about silicone. I only have vinyl for mashing/racking and anything hotter than that (Hot wort transfer/chiller) I would use copper.

Thanks for the advice. I'm only needing it for bulk priming/racking so heat isn't a problem.

Ive been putting about a cup of dextrose in the seconday and waiting for that to finish working before bottling with 2 of Coopers tablets
Man the brew sure is taking its time to get a fizz on (3 weeks now) have shook the bottles and will wait some more
Am I better to bottle from the secondary sooner ?say when it has settled?