Primary to Secondary

First post. First batch in the primary currently. It has been there for four days. Should I wait for the hydrometer to read a constant reading before I move the brew to the secondary? Or is it okay to put in in the secondary after about a week?

Wait another few days before taking a hydrometer reading (and then think about transferring)

Welcome to HBT! You want to wait for the beer to reach its final gravity before moving to secondary. If you move it early, you may cause your fermentation to stall.

Better to leave it in the primary longer than try to rush it to secondary. The bonus to leaving it in the primary longer is better tasting beer. After main fermentation the yeast gets to work on cleaning up after the party. Since the yeast has processed the simple sugars, it will then process its waste and remove off flavors. This usually takes 10 days to 2 weeks.

Thank you for the replies. Another question I have is when I take a sample from the glass carboy, and test the beer with the hydrometer, do I just pitch the beer sample? Or can I keep the sample in an empty bottle to take a test the following day? If yes, for in the bottle, then does the bottle need to bee sealed or have a cover on it?

Do like the rest of us do. Drink it.


Loop

You will find that many of us leave our beers in primary for 3-4 weeks, skip secondary and bottle. Just search for the 10,000 threads under "long Primary" or "no secondary" and you will see all the resaons why we do it, and the explanations behind...There's at least one thread a day on the topic, so it's really not hard to find the discussion pretty much hashed to death.

but if you choose to secondary you should wait til your Hydrometer tells you fermentation is complete.

Usually on the 7th day you take a hydro reading, and again on the 10th day, if the reading is the same, then you can rack it...

If I do secondary (which is only when I am adding fruit or oak) I wait 14 days then rack for another 2 weeks...then I bottle.

But that's only if I am dry hopping or adding oak or fruit, whicnh I rarely do, so for me it's a month than bottle,

Honestly you will find your beer will be the best if you ignore the kit instructions, and don't rush it.

But Even Palmer says you should wait with kits...

How To Brew said:

Leaving an ale beer in the primary fermentor for a total of 2-3 weeks (instead of just the one week most canned kits recommend), will provide time for the conditioning reactions and improve the beer. This extra time will also let more sediment settle out before bottling, resulting in a clearer beer and easier pouring. And, three weeks in the primary fermentor is usually not enough time for off-flavors to occur.

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Your beer will thank you for waiting....

Julohan said:

Thank you for the replies. Another question I have is when I take a sample from the glass carboy, and test the beer with the hydrometer, do I just pitch the beer sample? Or can I keep the sample in an empty bottle to take a test the following day? If yes, for in the bottle, then does the bottle need to bee sealed or have a cover on it?

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Most of us drink it...but realize it will NOT taste like your finsihed beer, you will either like it or hate it, but it won't mean anything to how the BEER will taste when it's carbed and conditioned.

You really do not need a secondary!

Read: this

Post # 3

I didn't see this in the pro/con post: If you are bottling, I recommend a secondary because there is less yeast trub in the bottle when you use a secondary. If you are kegging, I would skip the secondary because you can clear the beer in your keg by cutting the dip tube, racking to a second keg, or filtering.

gointomexico said:

I didn't see this in the pro/con post: If you are bottling, I recommend a secondary because there is less yeast trub in the bottle when you use a secondary.

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Actually I beg to differ, I have Less yeast trub in my bottles from a month primary than when I used to secondary. The yeast compacts much more heavily on the bottom of my primary and doesn't transfer over when I rack to bottling bucket. Many of us who long primary notice our beers are CLEARER that when we went the other route.

And like I said in my original post, you will find a ton of threads discussion WHY we choose to do it, and most of them run contrary to your argument here.....

And it's a pro/con issue ONLY books like the other topics in that sticky...New rewers have started threads (like this) on the topic, often using the title "long Primay -vs- secondary," or "Secondary -vs- No secondary/" Just like all those Pro/con topics...The thread was a way to address the countless VERSUS threads that come up on a daily basis here/

So leaving the brew in the primary may give me even clearer beer. Also, Do I bottle straight from the primary fermenter? Or do I transfer it into the bottling bucket to bottle?

Bottling bucket. If you bottle from the primary, you'll stir up all the trub you spent the last weeks settling out when you mix in your bottling sugar.

Do I need to have to brew sit for any length of time in the bottling bucket? Or am I good to bottle right away?

Boil your sugar then let it cool. Sanitize everything while it's cooling. Pour that into the bottom of your bottling bucket. Siphon your beer on top of the sugar water, trying to get it to swirl gently. Give it a gentle stir to make sure it's mixed well, then immediately bottle.

Here's my bottling thread...it will give you an idea of the bottling process. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/revvys-tips-bottler-first-time-otherwise-94812/

woollybugger2 said:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/revvys-tips-bottler-first-time-otherwise-94812/

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Lol.....Great minds! Thanks!!

LOL... Revvy got beat to the punch with his own link.

ChshreCat said:

LOL... Revvy got beat to the punch with his own link.

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I LOVE IT!!!!!

(It means people think it's a helpful thread.)

Revy, I was a big fan of the bird. Shocked to hear he died recently. I live in FL now but I was near detroit (funeral) when he died.

So cool you have his pic as an avatar.

- we return you now to you regularly scheduled program -

passedpawn said:

Revy, I was a big fan of the bird. Shocked to hear he died recently. I live in FL now but I was near detroit (funeral) when he died.

So cool you have his pic as an avatar.

- we return you now to you regularly scheduled program -

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Yeah he was my boyhood sports hero....