When to rack?

[Sweeney Tod]

Hi all,

I am currently brewing an Oktoberfest style beer using a malt extract recipe and have purchased a second fermenter for the purpose of racking (or secondary fermentation) for the 1st time.

The brew is currently at 1020 after 8 days and had an OG of 1055, my expected FG is 1013 (approx) so what I need to know is, when is the ideal time to transfer to the secondary fermenter?

I was sure that I had read that around 3/4's of the way through, but I’m not sure if this is true or not.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Steven

[warra48]

I wouldn't rack just yet.
Are you using a proper lager yeast?
If so, now is the time to raise the temperature of your brew to about 18ºC for a couple of days for a diacetyl rest.
I wouldn't bother racking until after 3 to 4 weeks in primary. Allow the yeast to clean up after itself.
Then rack for lagering your brew, and drop the temperature to about 2ºC for as long as you can stand it.

[billybushcook]

I wouldn't rack just yet.
Are you using a proper lager yeast?
If so, now is the time to raise the temperature of your brew to about 18ºC for a couple of days for a diacetyl rest.
I wouldn't bother racking until after 3 to 4 weeks in primary. Allow the yeast to clean up after itself.
Then rack for lagering your brew, and drop the temperature to about 2ºC for as long as you can stand it.

Warra,
Is this method standard for all "proper" lagers?

Iv'e been doing AG Ausie style lagers, using S-23, mashing at 63-64, primary for a week & racking for another week then bottle on the first one.
I have been wanting to cold condition but stocks needed to be kept up at the time of the first one, now I have three fermenters in circulation so I can afford to leave one a little longer, the biggest problem is that they will tie my brew box with the tempmate up for that long so I aquired another old deep freezer to keep the ales rolling at the same time using the submersion heater.

Is the diacetyl rest a standard for all lagers??

By the way, I noticed a bottle of your Dunklewatsamacallit on the counter at Marks home brew the other day, planting a seed??

Cheers, Mick.

[warra48]

This method is a sort of textbook method of doing lagers.

A diacetyl rest is not necessarily required in all cases. It depends on the yeast strain used, the pitching rate, and pitching temperature.
If you pitch a large starter at your fermenting temperature, it may not be required, but it won't do any harm.
I think most brewers would do one (drsmurto doesn't AFAIK, but he pitches large and cold).

2 to 3 weeks is probably the average fermentation time in primary for lagers. Longer doesn't hurt. At proper lager temperatures, the yeasts work much slower than an ale yeast at ale temperatures.

Lagering is really up to you, but it is traditional to do it, and it helps to mature the beer and clean it up.

Ah yeah, I left a bottle of my Dunkelweizenbock (based on Trough Lolly's Dunkler Weizenbock, ie a Pikantus clone, do a search on here).
I also left a Brown Ale.
I just wanted to leave them with him, and possibly get some feedback when I see him next. He kindly gave me a bottle of the Baltic Porter (you can get the details of this on AHB in the HAG club thread).

[goq11k_76]

largering is a good thing to if you want to clear up the beer and get a more mature flavour.

I had a fresh wort czech lager in the keg, drank it cloudy for a week, went to hospital for a week then never drank for another, so 2 weeks later I cracked her again, clear as bought beer and a far more mature flavour, I will now cold condition all my beers in the keg, I dont know if bottle brewing will give the same results, my advice to anyone getting involved in brewing is go kegs, I gave up bottles years ago

another part of great beer making learnt on this most awesome of forums

[Sweeney Tod]

Thanks for the great response.

I think I will take your advise Warra after googling diacetyl rest, so I think I will need to bring it inside for a couple of days to bring the temp up, then take it back to the shed to finish before transferring to the secondary fermenter for a week before bottling.

I'm using Saflager S-23 yeast; I still haven't ventured in to the realm of liquid yeast yet might start using them next winter I think.

Thanks again Steven