MedicMike

Recipes 

Good morning all. I have a question about secondary fermentation temps. Two weeks ago tomorrow I brewed the Northern Brewer Black IPA kit. The brew went well and I pitched a yeast starter with Safale US-05. Things are progressing well. I have the temp set in the fermentation chamber to 66*. Tomorrow I plan to transfer to a secondary for 2-4 more weeks. My question is do I keep the temp set at 66* or do I need to change it at all. This is my first time that I need to transfer to secondary and don't want to screw it up. Thanks.

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Stars & Bars Brewing Club
Oakville, CT


www.starsbarsbrewing.blogspot.com

usfmikeb

Recipes 

What's your goal in transferring to secondary? Unless there's a specific reason for doing so, like adding fruit or something, you don't need to do so. You can leave it in the primary for a couple more weeks. I generally leave my beer on the yeast cake for at least 4 weeks before doing anything with it.

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Primary: Apfelwein 6/12, Peach Pyment 2/12, Cherry Melomel 9/12
Secondary: Douglah Capsicumel 10/11, Chocolate Mead 10/11, Bochet Mead 11/11, Cranberry Mead 11/11, Elderbarrel Flanders Kriek 9/12, Skeeter Pee 6/12
Bottle Conditioning: Spiced Mead 5/11, Peach Mango Mead 7/11, Spiced Cherry Dubbel 8/11
Kegged: English Barleywine 11/11, Chocolate Stout 2/12, Apfelwein 2/12
On Tap: Porter 10/12, Cherry Dubbel 9/12, Yooper's Pale Ale 11/12
Gallons in 2012: 88

MedicMike

Recipes 

I plan on dry hopping. Plus, reading the instructions from NB say to rack to a secondary after two weeks in the primary.

__________________
Stars & Bars Brewing Club
Oakville, CT


www.starsbarsbrewing.blogspot.com

usfmikeb

Recipes 

You can dry hop in the primary, so long as the krausen has completely dropped. The directions on brew kits aren't always correct...

__________________
Primary: Apfelwein 6/12, Peach Pyment 2/12, Cherry Melomel 9/12
Secondary: Douglah Capsicumel 10/11, Chocolate Mead 10/11, Bochet Mead 11/11, Cranberry Mead 11/11, Elderbarrel Flanders Kriek 9/12, Skeeter Pee 6/12
Bottle Conditioning: Spiced Mead 5/11, Peach Mango Mead 7/11, Spiced Cherry Dubbel 8/11
Kegged: English Barleywine 11/11, Chocolate Stout 2/12, Apfelwein 2/12
On Tap: Porter 10/12, Cherry Dubbel 9/12, Yooper's Pale Ale 11/12
Gallons in 2012: 88

Franco

Recipes 

Subscribing - I've wondered how important temperature is once the most active part of fermentation is done also.

DarthMalt

Recipes 

To answer OP's question:

Ideally, you would leave the beer in Secondary at your target fermentation temperature ie. the same temperature it was in Primary. While Secondary fermenter temp isn't exactly critical, keeping the beer at a regulated temperature (within the range of the yeast) is always beneficial. If you can keep it perfectly consistent the entire time from Primary to Secondary: even better.

RM-MN

Recipes 

I'll disagree with that. While the temperature is critical during the initial part of the ferment while the yeast are gorging themselves on the great amount of sugars, once this period is complete the flavor of your beer is mostly set and a different temperature will have little effect on the beer. I try to keep the temperature near the bottom of the yeast's preferred range for a week and then let it rise to room temperature for the next 2 weeks. Starting cooler controls the speed at which the yeast propagate and produce alcohol which limits the compounds that produce off flavors but when the maltose is gone, the yeast need a little encouragement to complete the cleanup. Wild temperature swings should be avoided because they can stress the yeast or cause it to go dormant before they complete the ferment.