Aerate Secondary?

Aerate when racking to secondary or not?

My lager has been in the primary fermenter for about 3 days, I am ready to rack it and drop the temperature. Nowhere have I read where it says whether you should aerate again or not.

I am assuming no, because most of the fermentation is over, and the yeast is done multiplying, but I just want to make sure.

That would be an emphatic no. It will taste like wet cardboard.

I wouldn't in fear of oxygenating the beer and producing some weird flavors. Like you said the yeast is done doing its thing already.

You're ready to rack to a secondary after only three days?!??! You do realize that it is normal for yeast not to even start fermenting the beer for 72 hours, don't you? Why would you rack a beer, especially a lager which can be slow to start anyway after only three days? I give my lagers 2 weeks before racking and lagering.

Have you even taken a gravity reading yet to know what's going on with your beer? But heck I wouldn't even do that til at least day 10, or day 12.

Some posts make me want to hop out of my skin.. This is one of them... Read - Search - Read some more... Then read some more... And heed the lessons in this forum...

1. There's is absolutly no way your lager is done in three days.
2. You should not aerate secondary when its finished in about two weeks.

If you hadn't said lager, I would have assumed maybe a really hot saison or something.

Three days is far too short to move to secondary. If you're fully fermented at this point, there's something very wrong with your "beer".

I've had low OG beers with aggressive yeast strains finish and be ready for secondary in a 7 days when left at 72F, but that's even pushing it most of the time.

Slow down and let it become beer.

I don't know if Rack is the right word. I thought I was ready to put it in the secondary to lager in the cold. It has been sitting in my house at about 68 degrees for, actually almost 4 days now I guess.

I was under the impression that you wanted to put it in the secondary after the krausen has dropped; it has. Bad idea?

Edit: I also made a 1 gallon starter, and pitched that into the beer. It had a thick layer of Krausen by the morning (pitched at night). The Krausen dropped about 6 hours ago.

Chemfreak said:

I don't know if Rack is the right word. I'm ready to put it in the secondary to lager in the cold. It has been sitting in my house.

I was under the impression that you wanted to put it in the secondary after the krausen has dropped; it has. Bad idea?

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You really want to determine if fermentation is complete with 2 gravity readings over a 3 day period. An accidental nudge can knock a krausen down. And at the other extreme a krausen can stay up long after fermentation is complete...No change in gravity over a several day period is hw you determine if fermentation is complete before doing anything. But really give it at least a weak before you even contemplate this. Let the yeast do some cleaning up after itself before you move it along. This is a craft that benefits from a degree of patience. Like Thad said, let it become beer.

K I will wait the full week before taking the first gravity reading. This is why I ask questions, I was under the impression that is part of this board brewinchef_fairfax?

I have spent days and days reading up on how to lager, guess my comprehension is bad (I just went over the websites and book I have, and now I can't find where it said 3-4 days, but I could have swore I read that).

Thank you very much for helping me overcome the ignorance.

Certainly it is. I've asked plenty of dumb questions.

Don't take it personally. The same questions come up week after week, and are answered just the same. Every once in a while, a little steam is let off. It's not intentional, but it is healthy.

You can avoid this in the future with a little searching. Both the search function on the board and Google search using "site:www.homebrewtalk.com" work wonderfully. Or you can just ask... just be prepared for a little blowback with your answer if it's very commonly asked.

tl;dr

Thanks, I will do more research next time (and on this board). Honestly, I thought I had done ample research, I literally have read over 8 or 9 "lagering guides". I have read Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian cover to cover, and went back to several parts for reference in my first 4 brews. Obviously it didn't stick though...

And READ! Just about all the basic home brewing books out there would have answered your question. 68 room temperature for primary of an ALE is warmish, it's hot hot HOT for a lager. I doubt you're going to get much lager-like flavors at such a warm temperature. That's why your kruesen fell so quickly...

Lager yeast strains ferment at 48-53 degrees. It should be done fermenting, or nearly so, in 7-10 days. At that point, many lager brewers do a "diacetyl rest", raising the temperature 10 degrees for 24 hours, and ensure that the beer is finished as well has having no signs of diacetyl.

After that, it can be racked and the lagering process begin. I like to lager at 34 degrees for about 8 weeks, depending on the beer.

I'm confused that we seem to be discussing lagers, but with a fermentation temperature of 68 degrees, this beer is not a lager. Was an ale yeast strain used, or a lager strain? If we know that, we can give better advise.

Chemfreak said:

Thanks, I will do more research next time (and on this board). Honestly, I thought I had done ample research, I literally have read over 8 or 9 "lagering guides". I have read Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian cover to cover, and went back to several parts for reference in my first 4 brews. Obviously it didn't stick though...

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They say failure is the best teacher so don't be afraid to fail either. It helps to know how/why you failed though and that's what we're here for. If I don't have anything nice to say I won't say it. The incessant posts about airlocks not bubbling drives me batty however. I honestly think there's a conspiracy of Internet trolls that have gotten together and just post the same question about 5-10 times a day to kill all the regulars on this board off from increased blood pressure.

PS - I actually don't know spit about lagering and I learned something from reading this thread so no worries!

I'm wondering if he's not actually doing one of those pseudo lager kit beers, that actually has ale yeast in it?

Chemfreak said:

I don't know if Rack is the right word. I thought I was ready to put it in the secondary to lager in the cold. It has been sitting in my house at about 68 degrees for, actually almost 4 days now I guess.

I was under the impression that you wanted to put it in the secondary after the krausen has dropped; it has. Bad idea?

Edit: I also made a 1 gallon starter, and pitched that into the beer. It had a thick layer of Krausen by the morning (pitched at night). The Krausen dropped about 6 hours ago.

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I don't do lagers because of the temperature control problems at my place. However, are you saying you have been fermenting the lager at 68 deg? Are you sure this isn't an ale? I know some people use lager yeast at higher temperatures but that is usually when they want certain flavor profiles outside of the normal lager. Did you check the preferred temperature range for your yeast?

This will be a great lesson for the OP. The single most important factor in producing good beer is (IMHO) temperature control. He's about to learn why. Experience is the best teacher.

Chemfreak said:

It has been sitting in my house at about 68 degrees for, actually almost 4 days now I guess.

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Not a lager. You could still lager it, in fact you might need to for a couple months... cheers!

Revvy said:

You do realize that it is normal for yeast not to even start fermenting the beer for 72 hours, don't you?

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You are doing something drastically wrong if your beers are taking 72 hours to start fermenting.

g-star said:

You are doing something drastically wrong if your beers are taking 72 hours to start fermenting.

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No.....As the sticky we have shows, it can take up to that much for the yeast to exit the reproduction phase and start doing their thing. We see it happen on here over and over and over...

Revvy said:

No.....As the sticky we have shows, it can take up to that much for the yeast to exit the reproduction phase and start doing their thing. We see it happen on here over and over and over...

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We see it happen here over and over again, because a lot of people are new/uneducated brewers and under-pitch, pitch at the wrong temp, and/or under-aerate/oxygenate. That doesn't mean there aren't serious flaws with that approach.

The only time I've ever had a beer take 72hrs to start fermenting was when I was a brand new brewer, and directly pitched one tube into 1.055 wort that had been shipped across the country in the dead of summer. Beer was made, but the flaws were readily apparent...it tasted like mediocre homebrew.

Even the most challenging fermentations (cold pitched, high gravity lagers) will show clear signs of activity at 12hrs with proper yeast practices.

3 day lag times indicate a problematic fermentation....period.

Sorry for being less than smiling and supportive.. Didn't mean to jump on anybody... +1 for being a dick I guess. It was probably just better left unsaid..