Secondary How High to fill???

Im about to move my batch to secondary.....Its a 5 gal carboy......do i fill it to the neck??? Thanks in advance!!!


Mike H

Yup. If you can. And if not, don't worry about it.

I've filled a 5 gallon carboy almost up into the neck before in secondary and didn't have a problem. But then again, I had it in primary for about 10 days and most of the active fermentation was done. You should be fine.

I blew it on my most recent rack losing almost a gallon of beer I thought all that was left was sediment but it turned out to be a load of beer. Next time I'll be less concerned about transferring sediment which should settle to the bottom of the secondary and more concerned with getting all of the liquid. How do you all get all of the beer and less sludge?

psymonkey said:

I blew it on my most recent rack losing almost a gallon of beer I thought all that was left was sediment but it turned out to be a load of beer. Next time I'll be less concerned about transferring sediment which should settle to the bottom of the secondary and more concerned with getting all of the liquid. How do you all get all of the beer and less sludge?

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Use a racking cane and pay attention to what's flowing through the hose. Push it toward the bottom and at the first sign of sediment in the hose lift it up a tiny bit. Once it's set up just leave it alone and the siphon will tend itself.

SJMIKEUS said:

Im about to move my batch to secondary.....Its a 5 gal carboy......do i fill it to the neck??? Thanks in advance!!!


Mike H

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I just wanted to point out that I seem to have understood this post differently than everybody else that responded....

are you racking the beer to the secondary and want to know if you should add more WATER to it to fill the carboy? In this case, I would avoid adding water to it. It is already beer, and (if you followed the recipe correctly) it is exactly as concentrated as it should be. Adding water will dilute it and make it weaker in taste and ABV.

However, if you happen to have more beer in your primary than will fit into your secondary... fill the secondary to the top and drink the rest.

-walker

I had enough beer to overflow if i wanted to..lol...but i kept it to an inch below the bottom of the rubber stopper....

Im not gettting anymore gases that i can tell...and I have positive pressure in my lock...

Now its just the waiting game......

I imagine im just waiting for the beer to clear....I was told about 2 weeks.....

Im gonna Pig half of it and bottle the rest Im using a case of 16 oz flip tops and some other bottles ive collected if any remains...

Thanks again all!!

Mike

So, what did you do with the excess?

I usually drink mine flat, which is why kegging day can also end up being very, very drunken day

Always wondered why you brewed 8 gallons for a 5 gallon keg, Janx. Now I know. :fro:

I was told to go a couple inches above the 5 gal mark on the ale pale so u have enough....

Worked like a charm so far...


Mike

SJMIKEUS said:

I was told to go a couple inches above the 5 gal mark on the ale pale so u have enough....

Worked like a charm so far...


Mike

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In doing that did you exceed the volume of water for your brew recipie? I brew what the recipie calls for and then let it brew out. I get what I get when I rack and don't add any water to my brew. The brew will usually have enough co2 left in solution to keep the wort from o2. Leave as much of the trub behind in the primary as possible as your fermentation has finished anyway and it is not needed. The secondary will settle out any yeast left and condition your beer for a better flavor. Cheers.