Educated beginner looking for secondary fermentation help.

Okay so like the title says I am an educated beginner. I have a few brews under my belt and am working on refining tastes and technique. ill say first I am a fan of secondary fermintation. So my question is does messing with the temperature of the beer when you move it from primary into secondary fermintation change tastes good or bad or improve or harm in any ways. i.e. if i cool it as I siphon it into my glass carboy.

I often store my secondary a little cooler than my primary just to help more of the yeast drop out and bulk condition for a while. I'm not sure what you mean by cooling it as you siphon... I wouldn't do anything to the beer while it is siphoning into the secondary because of the risk of oxidation.

i meant would running it trough a wort cooler would that affect in a eay. when you say that you store your secondary cooler. i keep the temp around 65-68 depending on recipe during primary. what would you recommend the temp being during the seconday.

I wouldn't because of possible oxidation (it's better to keep any movement to a minimum) and if your bottle conditioning this beer I would be concerned about shocking the yeast (not sure about that or not though). For my lagers secondary is usually the time I start the lager phase and step the temp down to 32*F. For my ales I usually drop 5-10*F from ferment. Usually ferment ales at 62-65*F depending on style and secondary 55*F.

Okay i have two in primary now. the first that i will need to transfer the soonest is an Irish Stout, is there a temp ranger for stouts. Then i have a kit lager. the instructions dont really say a temp for secondary. also other then in the fridge or freezer i dont really have a way to cool the lager down to 32. for a kit this will be okay right but for original recipe and better flavor getting down that low would be best.

Also i have an amber about to start tommorow too. so is there a temp ranger for secondary on that one too.

All beer (all fermentable beverages) will do well with bulk aging at 50-65 deg. F. Look up the temp range for your yeast. I would not go more than 5 deg. below that until after 3 weeks of total time.

It depends if your using ale or lager yeast. Secondary on ales don't have to have a temperature difference, but you can if you wish. Ale yeast normally ferment 60-70*F and primary fermentation temp for lager yeast is some where around 50-55*F. With a lager you need to be able to control fermentation temperatures if not you won't produce the flavor profile of a lager.

Once done, colder temperatures will help the yeast drop. I don't think it will do much for the taste; if anything, it will slow down aging.

Cooling it going into secondary will not hurt (assuming it is done), but seems way too much effort for limited (or no) returns.

thanks for all the help stout is down to 4bpm will be switching it to secondary this morning sometime

mecox said:

thanks for all the help stout is down to 4bpm will be switching it to secondary this morning sometime

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Sounds like it is still fermenting. Leave it right where it is, at least until it is finished. If you really want to Secondary, leave it in the Primary until it is mostly clear, that way you will not carry over much of the flocculating yeast.

yeah I primary at least for 1.5 weeks (most of the time 2). the beer needs to sit on the yeast cake for sometime to let the yeast clean up after themselves before moving to the secondary.

It sounds like you guys are using a secondary for every brew. What would be your reason for that?

My input concerning secondary would be to use it infrequently. I only secondary for big beers, or ones I want to clear up more. I have also transferred to secondary to free up a primary. I need another carboy.....

Many published tests -and the experiences of brewers on this forum- shows that most beers do not benefit from transferring to a secondary vessel.

Plus, you save the time and effort sanitizing (and then cleaning) yet another fermentor.

Also, transferring to secondary in and of itself is yet another opportunity for oxidation or infection to occur.

I would recommend against secondary as standard proceedure, and only use it for a specific purpose.

Pez.

actually ended up racking irish stout to seconday at 8:30 pm. about 7ish hours ago. and so the waiting begins. i waited till it was one bubble a minute. came back and saw it bubble one a min in carboy. remembered to drop in hydrometer in to check alchol in a bit. set the temp and now the first leg begins. 2 weeks in secondary 2 weeks in bottles. then tall the work finally pays off.