newbeerfan

Recipes 

I am new to the home brew community so I have found myself reading many books and message boards looking for ways to improve my beer quality. One of the thigs I have seen in many recipes is to rack my beer into the secondary fermenter "when fermentation slows". What does this mean exactly? Can someone define "slow"? I would hate to rack the beer too soon or too late because slow is a relative term.

thenatibrewer

Recipes 

typically i rack between 7 to 10 days after primary. you can also use your hydrometer, once fermentation is complete you can rack. one of the best rules to master is patients!!!! in most cases the longer you wait the better your product will be.....

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malkore

Recipes 

Patience.


Do not rack to secondary until the BEER IS DONE FERMENTING. airlock activity means nothing. trust thy hyrdometer. 3 separate readings on 3 separate days, all the same, and all at or really close to the expected final gravity.

any other method is pure guess work and will likely come back to haunt you. maybe not this batch, and maybe not for several batches...but it'll happen.

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Malkore
Primary: English Mild
On tap: Pale Ale, Lancelot's Wheat, English Brown Ale, Steam Beer, HoovNuts IPA
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newbeerfan

Recipes 

Thanks for the quick responses fellow brewers. I DO rely on my hydrometer to give me the results I am looking for but when some brewers use non-quantitative verbage such as "when fermentation slows" rather than "when fermentaion has reached FG(measurable)", it leaves much to interpretation;especially to new brewers.

Thanks again

tranceamerica

Recipes 

FWIW - I don't use a secondary anymore - I just leave the beer for 2-4 weeks in the primary, and bottle. If I were dry hopping, I'd do a secondary, or if I wanted to worry about clearing, or if I wanted to wait longer than 4 weeks...but I don't do these things much, and therefore, no secondary. FWIW, I also use glass carboys, your mileage might vary w/plastic.

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Zion Nanobrews

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McKBrew

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Yooper

Recipes 

Here's some good discussion on when to rack: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=43014

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McKBrew

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Check that out Yoops, we posted the same thing within seconds.

BrewMcGoo

Recipes 

maybe i should already know this, but how do u devise what the expected final gravity will be? and isnt there a danger in opening the primary over and over again to take readings?

lumpher

Recipes 

expected fg? beersmith tells me. reading time? brew, wait 3 weeks, take reading (unless hefeweizen - 2 weeks), then take reading

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