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Just a quick question about racking and bulk priming.

I've read that once you rack you should leave the secondary fermenter for say 3-5 to again seperate the sediment. However I've also read that if you want to bulk prime while racking you should do this more or less as soon as you plan to bottle.

So if I want to bulk prime while and also leave to secondary for 3-5 days, would this be OK, or should I only ever bulk prime when I am about to bottle?

Only bulk prime when you are about to bottle, otherwise the yeast will just ferment your sugars in the secondary fermenter if it is left to its own devices for a few days

I rack after 1 week, when I add some hop tea (made in a coffee plunger, just like you would make coffee) for dry hopping, and I always prepare some "big head" the day before. I put these into the secondary before racking.

You need to get a couple metres clear PVC tube (Bunnings or HBS) which connects to the tap on the primary via your filler tube (without valve). If you coil the bottom end of the tube around the bottom of the secondary, the swirling action will mix it.

I then fit an airlock, and leave for 2 weeks.

Before you bottle, boil 180-200g sugar in a small qty water, let it cool, put it in your bottling bucket, which is probably your primary fermenter. Then fill from secondary. Try to pour these things in gently, so they don't aerate too much, otherwise leave sit for a while before racking.

I now make up 22 litres, because these additions end up bringing it up to 23 litres.

Let bottles sit for 2-3 weeks. When you put them in the fridge, try to get enough in so that they're at least a couple of days in the fridge.

I can tip my bottles up, and drain to the last drop, and there is no sediment. My beer is still a little hazy though.

It's definately worthwhile, but it's a hassle until you perfect your procedure.

Further hassle is the fact that it ties up two fermenters for 3 weeks. I now have 3 fermenters.

They way I do it is as follows,

Primary fermentor until yeast cap drops, say 3 days
Transfer to secondary,
Ferment in secondary until complete and yeast clears.
Transfer to primary
Filter
Bulk Prime and Bottle/keg or if I am not prepared to bottle transfer back to clean secondary.

There are some other things that happen too but this is a basic run.

Dogger

Thanks for the replies guys.

What if I was to rack and bulk prime, and then throw the secondary fermenter straight into the fridge to cold condition it. Given the low temperatue the yeast shouldn't react with the priming sugar, but can I expect any more sediment to seperate while it is in the fridge?

I guess you could do it this way.

However, if you did, I think you'd want to chill the beer in the primary, then transfer to secondary, bulk prime and put it back in the fridge.

To chill 20-odd litres of beer to a temperature below which yeast won't work would take quite some hours (and probably overnight). If the beer was warm when you primed and put it in the fridge I reckon you'd find it fermented most, if not all, the priming sugar before the yeast became inactive.

Oliver

No,

I would recommend bulk priming right before bottling. That way you are in control of the carbonation and lessen the risk of having flat beer.

Dogger

I usually leave in primary for one week then transfer via hose to secondary for another week. At this point I bulk prime and bottle. Can someone enlighten me as to why I should transfer back into primary again? Ta heaps

Primary fermentor until yeast cap drops, say 3 days

Hi Dogged one,

Can you provide further explaination behind only 3 days in the primary! I've heard you mention this before.
I only ask this, as I have read many other sources saying either 1-2 weeks in the primary or 2/3 to 3/4 attenuation to final gravity, etc. before transfer to secondary.

Interested in your reasoning behind the early transfer.

Cheers
BK

Note: Is it something to do with getting the wort/beer into your glass carboy ASAP?

I used to go by the theory that you should rack before fermentation is complete. That way when you transfer, the beer is going to get the C02 cap above it that it requires.

Spoke to HBS guy about it Satdy. He said that the beer, even though fully fermented would have enough CO2 in it still to make the cap. If in doubt, rack, cap, shake fermenter about, release cap and get rid of the oxygen.

Makes sense to me.

I used to go by the theory that you should rack before fermentation is complete. That way when you transfer, the beer is going to get the C02 cap above it that it requires.

Spoke to HBS guy about it Satdy. He said that the beer, even though fully fermented would have enough CO2 in it still to make the cap. If in doubt, rack, cap, shake fermenter about, release cap and get rid of the oxygen.

Makes sense to me.

I think the theory behind leaving until primary is finished is to avoid a stuck fermentation..
i have read that it is actually better to get the beer away from the trub asap. commercial brewers i have heard drain the trub from the vats just after fermentation commences (i wish i had conical fermentors)

This from my AG mate:

I don't think you would need to rack so soon using kits. I think it is more important to rack early when mashing because of the trub.
I did a brew last night. Sparging was damn slow. I only ended up with 10 litres in the fermenter. The trub had not settled well when I tipped it into the fermenter so I will need to rack it soon.
I have read conflicting reports about trub. In my brew book it says trub isn't so bad and wont affect the beer and even required (can't remeber what for).

I have always racked to secondary when yeast cap drops, normally three days.

Never had a single issue.

Was just the way I was taught.

Dogger

dickTed wrote:I rack after 1 week, when I add some hop tea (made in a coffee plunger, just like you would make coffee) for dry hopping, and I always prepare some "big head" the day before. I put these into the secondary before racking.

I then fit an airlock, and leave for 2 weeks.

G'day dT,

Having never racked this is all greek to me . ( apologies to Zorba ).

'Please explain' the ''big head'' for the day before and also what are the advantages of leaving for 2weeks

cheers

Dogger - someone taught you to make beer? Who was it, Yoda?

Jeff wrote:I usually leave in primary for one week then transfer via hose to secondary for another week. At this point I bulk prime and bottle. Can someone enlighten me as to why I should transfer back into primary again? Ta heaps

you never have sediment in your secondary? How do you mix your sugar with the beer? If you stir it in, you'll stir the sediment and lose the benefit of the secondary, no?

Whoa

Too much info.

Is all the above just to obtain a clear beer or are all the other factors affected as well.
I'm sure it's been said before, but if it's all just to clear, then it seems like a lot of f!@%&ng about.

Enlightenment please.

Tommo,

I rack because I want the beer off the crap (trub) in the bottom of the primary. Additionally, I use a two stage system using a plastic primary and glass secondary.

Glass is less permiable and easier to sanitize than plastic so my beer is better off in the glass secondary when it isn't blowing its head off in the initial stages of fermentation. Normally when the yeast cap drops it is indicating that the fermentation is slowing down so, get it somewhere safe.

If I am going to lager it I will transfer again to get it off the yeast bed so their is no risk of bad flavours entering the beer.

Yeast will remain in suspension folks, the stuff that carbonates your beer in the bottle isn't the stuff at the bottom of the primary, its the stuff in suspension that you can't see. I filter my beer using a number 1 filter plate and I can still get a secondary fermentation to carbonate the beer. I end up having a minimal amount of sediment in the bottom of the bottle.

So I see two things here. Preventative measures (minimize bad tastes and infection prevention) and some cosmetic benefits (less yeast in the bottle, faster clearing.

Beermeister,

One day young brewer, you to will be able to use the force of the mighty fermentor

Dogger

as above, the secondary's benefit is to get the beer off the trub, but if you bottle straight after primary it doesn't make much difference. The clearing, on the other hand, is very obvious. When you rack to secondary, let it sit for a week, you'll be surprised at the amount of sediment that will be left in your secondary when you bottle - and that means getting a clearer and "cleaner" (less fermentation byproducts in suspension) tasting beer.
But if you're happy with bottling from primary, go ahead, to each his own.

Kitkat,

"you never have sediment in your secondary? How do you mix your sugar with the beer? If you stir it in, you'll stir the sediment and lose the benefit of the secondary, no?"

There is very little sediment left - so little I can drain virtually all of the brew from the secondary when bottling. When bulk priming I stir gently and not to much. I figure the sugar will spread pretty well by itself and assisted by the movement as I bottle