So... why rack?

msabin · 05-05-2009, 02:42 AM

I've been brewing for a while, but I've always been too worried about accidentally infecting my beer so I've never racked.

What am I missing in my beer?
What does racking provide?

--Matthew

SkewedBrewing · 05-05-2009, 02:45 AM

Do you mean racking to secondary?

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/racking-secondary-really-110433/

EvilTOJ · 05-05-2009, 02:50 AM

You rack whenever you transfer your beer from one vessel to another. So, to be pedantic, unless you ferment in the keg you serve from, you're going to rack at least once. You're worrying too much about infection. As long as you sanitize anything that comes in contact with your beer you'll be fine.

**joety** · 05-05-2009, 03:08 AM

+1, I'd add that avoiding "splashing" and thus oxidation is also important when racking.

Dougan · 05-05-2009, 03:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by msabin

I've been brewing for a while, but I've always been too worried about accidentally infecting my beer so I've never racked.

What am I missing in my beer?
What does racking provide?

--Matthew

Always a debate over whether it's necessary or not. I sometimes do it, sometimes don't. Mostly no rhyme or reason except maybe business/laziness. I do always secondary my hoppier beers because I just don't like the idea of my beer sitting on that big ugly trub. I think it's (generally) agreed upon that autolysis isn't a big concern unless you are aging for a long (> 1.5 month) time. I think the argument is that it clears your beer better. I sometimes think I notice it being clearer, but that might be me overanalyzing things.

I really suggest you try it one or two times to see how you feel about it. I can't deny that it adds another interaction with your beer that you can infect it with, but remember that your risk for infection decreases significantly once your fermentation is done because the really tasty nutrients are gone, and there's sanitary alcohol floating around. Not saying you can't get post-fermentation infections (It's where my only dumped batch got infected) but still.

I personally do find that using a secondary cuts down on the trub that makes it into your bottles which is great for me, because most of my homebrew gets drank while fishing or something similar that prevents me from having a fancy glass to drink out of.

msabin · 05-05-2009, 04:36 AM

I hadn't realized I was opening such a can of worms!

Thanks for all the input.

I'll try going to secondary next time I think the beer isn't clearing fast enough.

--Matthew

boydak · 05-05-2009, 09:51 AM

[QUOTE=Dougan;1303239]
I can't deny that it adds another interaction with your beer that you can infect it with, but remember that your risk for infection decreases significantly once your fermentation is done because the really tasty nutrients are gone, and there's sanitary alcohol floating around. Not saying you can't get post-fermentation infections (It's where my only dumped batch got infected) but still.

QUOTE]

And another interaction with your beer means another oppurtunity to sample!!

cactusgarrett · 05-05-2009, 11:50 AM

I'll always rack when dealing with fruit beer - primary ferment -> fuit in secondary -> tertiary to clear.

Sometimes i rack to intentionally introduce a little O2 for flavor (in big stouts, for example, it give a complex sherry flavor).

Otherwise, i rack to speed up the clarification process when i'm too impatient to wait for cold & time to do their thing.

llazy_llama · 05-05-2009, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dougan

I think it's (generally) agreed upon that autolysis isn't a big concern unless you are aging for a long (> 1.5 month) time. I think the argument is that it clears your beer better. I sometimes think I notice it being clearer, but that might be me overanalyzing things.

Autolysis doesn't even come close to being a concern until at least 3 months, if not longer. At 1.5 months, it's not even a twinkle in the yeasties eyes. 4-6 weeks is the minimum amount of time my beer spends in primary, as the longer it sits on the yeast cake, the more compact it becomes and the clearer the finished beer will be.

Quote:

Originally Posted by msabin

I'll try going to secondary next time I think the beer isn't clearing fast enough.

Rushing the beer into secondary isn't going to help the beer clear faster, if anything it can hurt to move to secondary too soon. Moving the beer to secondary before fermentation is complete can cause "stuck fermentation," where the yeast just crap out early and stop fermenting. Add to that the fact that the longer the yeast sit on the trub, the more compressed it becomes, and the harder it is to stir it up when you rack to your bottling bucket, and you may start to see why extended time in the primary leads to a clearer finished product.

I'll only rack to secondary if I'm bulk aging for over 3 months, adding fruit, oak, souring cultures, or if I just have to free up a fermenter which becomes more and more rare as my carboy collection expands.

**Revvy** · 05-05-2009, 12:02 PM

I don't care whether or not you choose to rack to secondary, that's your choice, you will find daily discussions about why those of us who choose to skip secondary and opt for long primary, in fact I just answered in another thread...all you have to do is look or search and it won't be hard to find....

We don't need to keep re-inventing the wheel on this secondary or not secondary discussion 5 threads a day.....the answers are all here.

BUT the reason not to do it has nothing to do with an unreasonable fear of harming our beers...Saying that is just like those people who don't take a hydrometer reading because they are afraid of harming it...

Following proper sanitization methods, and beig careful, racking or taking a hydrometer reading will do no harm to your beer!!!

Our beer is much stronger than that.......

It takes a lot of splashing and other things to do any damage to our beer, someone on basic brewing years ago, (Palmer, or Chris Colby of BYO) said that in order to truly provide enough O2 to oxydize our beers it would take pumping and entire one of our red oxygen bottle/airstones into our beer AFTER fermentation is complete.

Most of the splashing intentional or accidental that we do in the course of our brewing will not harm it...and that includes racking you beer,,,,

If it, like taking a hydro-reading were that detrimental to brewing, do you think books and websites would advocate those practices so much?

If you are worried about racking your beers, then practice with a bucket or carboy of water, or sanitizer. The point of using a racking cane, hose, or autosiphon, is that by using it properly, you eliminate the risk of oxydizing your beer. You are using a vacuum (no air after the suction pulls it out) and filling from the bottom to top (which is voiding the oxygen as the liquid with it's co2 cushion rises.)

You have a typical new brewer fear that your beer is somehow weak, like a new born baby..and will be ruined or die of you look at it wrong...I want to put it into perspective for you, and save you a lot of new bewer nerves...

Beer has been made for over 5,000 years in some horrific conditions, and still it managed to survive and be popular....It was even made before Louis Pasteur understood germ theory....

If beer turned out bad back then more than it turned out good..then beer would have gone the way of the dodo bird, New Coke, or Pepsi Clear...

It is very very very hard to ruin your beer....it surprises us and manages to survive despite what we do to it...

I want you to read these threads and see..

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/what-some-mistakes-you-made-where-your-beer-still-turned-out-great-96780/

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/has-anyone-ever-messed-up-batch-96644/

ANd this thread to show you how often even a beer we thnk is ruined, ends up being the best beer you ever made, if you have patience....
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/never-dump-your-beer-patience-virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/

There is a saying we have in the homebrewing community...RDWHAHB...make that your mantra and you will be a successful homebrewer...

Oh this thread is really good too...if you adopt the mindset in here you will do well...http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/youre-no-longer-n00b-when-24540/