Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Racking to secondary is an old school home brewing technique where it was once thought to clear the beer, or to remove the beer off the yeast cake to prevent autolysis. This technique came directly form professional breweries where at the time leaving the beer on the yeast cake really could cause the yeast autolysis.
About ten years ago home brewers began to debate whether racking to secondary was necessary or not. It is now understood to not be necessary, expect for in certain situations such as lagaring, or perhaps dry-hopping (which can be done in the primary).
Nearly all home-brew kits will tell you to rack to secondary, but it is not necessary; and this topic still comes up for debate from time to time in dedicated-homebrewing forums/circles.
I did cider before I got into home brewing beer.
Easy method:
-Obtain five gallons (typically five one gallon jugs) of "pure" apple juice (that is, non-pasturized, no preservatives, no added sugars).
-Place into fermentor, add one (1) pack of dry Champaign yeast. You do not need to rehydrate the yeast, simply dump it in.
-Properly close/seal the fermentor.
-Let ferment. It is done when fermentation is complete ~two weeks tops. Bottle/keg as you like, but you can start drinking it now.
Easier method:
-Obtain roughly 15 lbs of apples, your choice.
-Slice apples, place into five gallon bucket. Fill bucket with water.
-Leave uncovered, it will "spontaneously ferment" (that is, wild yeasts in the air will inoculate the concoction) Let it sit, uncovered, for one month in an out of the way place.
-Try not to look at it much, it tends to get funky.
-After one month, strain. Bottle, keg, or start drinking it.
What is the ferment temp? It could be too low. Or you could have captured some wild yeasts or bacteria.
If anything rivals the grape in easy alcoholic beverages, its the apple. Prohibition ruined us as a cider culture. I really don't have much use for beer unless I would find my own feed stock. The reason I brew wine and cider is because fruit juice is readily available, and all I have to do is adjust the brix and acidity.
I do drink fresh cider but too much makes me gassy. I often let it age 3-6 months under an air lock.
One day I may try malting. The easiest wild ingredient to find is acorn. I was temped on a wet year when I saw a lot of spouted acorns. The problem is with the tannins but I am thinking that acorn stach with tannins removed and then a few of these with the active enzyme might work. It makes me hate my day job....
And then there is the dream of finding a pawpaw patch....When was the last time you had pawpaw beer?
I put a Munton's Connoisseur Wheat into a fermenter 15 days ago. It was supposed to ferment in 4-6 days, but it is still bubbling every few minutes. I'll wait until it stops bubbling to bottle it up, but it does seem odd that it is taking so long. Anybody else ever have one take way too long to ferment?
Quote:
Originally Posted by K-Luv
<snip> What is the ferment temp? It could be too low. Or you could have captured some wild yeasts or bacteria.
Room temp (~70 degrees F). It was siting under the dining room table. It quit bubbling after ~16-17 days, so I bottled it on day 19. I added blueberry flavoring to make it a clone of Sea Dog's Wild Blueberry Wheat Ale. It's really good. I had added a second packet of yeast, so it may simply have taken longer to ferment out. We'll see after it conditions in the bottles for a couple of weeks.
Ive always racked to secondary and everybody in my club has. Its one of those things in general, its just a preference.
I've had a few that recommended racking to a secondary. When I have done that, it DOES seem to leave some solids in the secondary, but I can't say that the beer is any more clear or that there is any less residue left in the bottom of the bottles.
That being said, there are times that a secondary is necessary. One of my friends added cocoa nibs in the secondary because the cocoa was not to be added with the yeast in the fermenter. I don't know if that is right, but it sounds reasonable.
Like glass carboys, kegging, and all-grain brewing, some people think they HAVE to use a secondary on every batch.
I put a Munton's Connoisseur Wheat into a fermenter 15 days ago. It was supposed to ferment in 4-6 days, but it is still bubbling every few minutes. I'll wait until it stops bubbling to bottle it up, but it does seem odd that it is taking so long. Anybody else ever have one take way too long to ferment?
The beer is bad. I'm thinking it skunked in the fermenter. It was a new fermenter. I got a couple pf those big 7.8 gallon bucket fermenters in kits that were cheap on ebay. They had all the other parts inside the bucket when they were shipped to me. There are some rough spots inside the buckets, so I'm thinking something was not quite sanitized well enough.
Along with a little bit of an odd taste, I had a few gushers when I opened the first few bottles. I've also had several that had almost NO carbonation. Very little fizz when I open a bottle and when I pour it into a glass, I can pour the whole bottle in and get almost no head on it at all.
All in all, I'd say I made a skunked batch. 64 bottles of it too.
The beer is bad. I'm thinking it skunked in the fermenter. It was a new fermenter. I got a couple pf those big 7.8 gallon bucket fermenters in kits that were cheap on ebay. They had all the other parts inside the bucket when they were shipped to me. There are some rough spots inside the buckets, so I'm thinking something was not quite sanitized well enough.
Along with a little bit of an odd taste, I had a few gushers when I opened the first few bottles. I've also had several that had almost NO carbonation. Very little fizz when I open a bottle and when I pour it into a glass, I can pour the whole bottle in and get almost no head on it at all.
All in all, I'd say I made a skunked batch. 64 bottles of it too.
That sucks man, I hate to hear that. My friend used plastic carboy's and had to change to glass because of scratches (we presume) holding bacteria or whatever.
I've had a few that recommended racking to a secondary. When I have done that, it DOES seem to leave some solids in the secondary, but I can't say that the beer is any more clear or that there is any less residue left in the bottom of the bottles.
That being said, there are times that a secondary is necessary. One of my friends added cocoa nibs in the secondary because the cocoa was not to be added with the yeast in the fermenter. I don't know if that is right, but it sounds reasonable.
Like glass carboys, kegging, and all-grain brewing, some people think they HAVE to use a secondary on every batch.
I never really did it for clarity but just to help ensure that the gunk doesn't give off flavors. I'm aware that you can get bacteria etc when racking off too so is is a 50/50 its just what I have always done. I dunno about clarity tbh, I never really go for that. The most I did was us Irish Moss which I am sure helped but what I mainly shoot for is flavour. It could look like sewage for all I care (being 90% of what I brew is Hefe and Wheat anyway).
If youre dumping that brew, pour it over plants it works wonders. We had a "slime batch" before. That stuff was so nasty it was like a scene from ghostbusters when we poured it out. I swear it was trying to crawl up the garden wall lol. The plants and veggies did great that year though =)
ALERT! There are some incredible deals on recipe kits at Northern Brewer until midnight on the 14th. $14.92 per recipe if you buy 3 of the 5 on the special. I ordered.
I never really did it for clarity but just to help ensure that the gunk doesn't give off flavors. I'm aware that you can get bacteria etc when racking off too so is is a 50/50 its just what I have always done. I dunno about clarity tbh, I never really go for that. The most I did was us Irish Moss which I am sure helped but what I mainly shoot for is flavour. It could look like sewage for all I care (being 90% of what I brew is Hefe and Wheat anyway).
If youre dumping that brew, pour it over plants it works wonders. We had a "slime batch" before. That stuff was so nasty it was like a scene from ghostbusters when we poured it out. I swear it was trying to crawl up the garden wall lol. The plants and veggies did great that year though =)
I have heard of the "slime" before, but never seen it in person. I heard a guest on one of the home brewing podcasts about sour beers that this happened with one of the batches, and he tasted it. According to him it was not that bad.
I don't think you need to worry about leaving beer on the cake and it producing off flavors. This is more of a concern for professional brewers for reasons that really do not translate to the home brew scale. It is now standard practice amongst home brewers to leave the beer on the cake (that is, in the primary fermentor) for one or two weeks after fermentation is complete. This allows any particulate matter in the beer to fall out to the bottom and some claim it also allows that yeast some time to "clean up" by eating what-ever may be left for them to eat.
I often times forget to use Irish Moss and to be frank I am not sure how well it works as I have not really noticed a difference in clarity. Some people use Knox gelatin in the primary (or secondary if lagering) to clear the beer. I'm like you, I brew to taste. I am not really too concerned with how my beer looks.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It was a new fermenter. I got a couple pf those big 7.8 gallon bucket fermenters in kits that were cheap on ebay. They had all the other parts inside the bucket when they were shipped to me. There are some rough spots inside the buckets, so I'm thinking something was not quite sanitized well enough. 
I've also had several that had almost NO carbonation. 
Very little fizz when I open a bottle and when I pour it into a glass, I can pour the whole bottle in and get almost no head on it at all. 
