Secondary Fermentation

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bigkevj

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Another question I have....and remember i'm a noobie....what advantages do you get with secondary fermentation?

I have a glass carboy and a bucket, and have done only 1 fermentation on my beers so far. Do you start in the carboy and go to the bucket for the second fermentation? vice versa? does it matter? After the second fermentation, do you typically bottle it from that container? Or is there more floaties to get out by transferring it again before bottling?

I just want to make the best beer I can!
 
Using a secondary lets your bear clear up some before you bottle it, and also it frees up your primary so you can make a new batch.
 
The typical set-up is to do primary fermentation in the bucket, for about 7-10 days, then transfer to the glass carboy for the secondary, for clearing, etc.. What size is the carboy? You can do primary fermentation in the carboy, but if it is 5 gallons and you squeeze 5 gallons in there you will need a blow off tube since the krausen will probably push out of the carboy. Also, don't feel like you have to do a secondary. Many people advocate only using a primary, for about 3-4 weeks then straight to bottles or keg. I like using the secondary since I bottle and I can get a little less sediment in the bottles by using the secondary.
 
First off, welcome.

Second, there really isn't an animal called "second(ary) fermentation". It's really called two-stage brewing", where the carboy is the second stage.

All or most of the fermentation should be completed before racking.

Before you rack (transfer) your brew to a secondary you should take a hydrometer reading to see if your brew is done.

This is usually a gravity drop of 75%. Example: your brew OG is 1.040. Divide the 40 by 4 (40 / 4 = 10). You projected FG should be 10.

If your bew is 1.010 then it's ready to rack. :D

Don't worry about the floaties, they'll drop out, but you can't eliminate them completely. Nothing to worry about.


There are others on-line who don't do a secondary. It's a matter of choice really.

A big benefit to a secondary is you can harvest your yeast from the primary sooner and have more yeast on-hand for the next batch (should you repeat the recipe).

Do a search on yeast washing if you're interested.


When you rack to the carboy for clearing you may notice the top half of the beer will begin to get darker. In actuality it is getting clearer as the yeast falls out.

When you rack to the bottling bucket be sure not to disturb the yeast since you want to serve clear beer. :D
 
This topic has come up quite a bit recently. Here is a self-quote from this thread regarding benefits of a secondary:
FlyGuy said:
1. Bright (clearing) vessel -- if you are concerned about making very clear beer, and secondary is very useful. However, if you are careful racking from the primary, and especially if you keg or store your bottles for extended periods, then using a secondary vessel probably isn't required to fulfill this purpose. (Note: alternatively, one could also use finings to clear beer, too.)

2. Bulk conditioning -- many higher gravity beers and/or dark beers (like porters and stouts) benefit from extended aging. Many people have noticed that leaving the beer on a yeast cake in the secondary is beneficial. If you are bottling, there is less yeast per unit volume of beer, which may slow down the process or fundamentally change the conditioning process, so a secondary vessel (could also be a keg) could be desirable.

3. Storage -- if you need to store your beer prior to kegging or bottling (say none are free), secondaries are useful places to store your beer. The risk of contamination when racking to a secondary may often outweigh the risk of off flavours from spoiled yeast/trub (autolysis and related concerns).

4. Beer style -- some beer styles (e.g., wits or hefes) require yeast in suspension to add to the flavour profile. In these cases, it would not be beneficial to do any of the above, and a secondary should be avoided.

There are probably some other considerations I have missed, but those are the main ones I could come up with.

5. Post-ferment additions -- secondaries are a convenient place to dry hop, add oak chips, fruit additions, etc.
Click to expand...
 
its true that secondary 'fermentation' isn't an accurate term...but I do have a book that uses it frequently. really its more of an aging process to get yeast to sediment out, giving you a more clear beer.

obviously, not every style benefits from the clearing of a secondary, like stouts and porters, and some styles are designed to be cloudy (hefweizens, etc).

since nobody's mentioned the 'rule of thumb', I'll go ahead...

many like to do a 1-2-3 rule: 1 week in primary, 2 weeks in secondary, 3 weeks in the bottle/keg...then start drinking it (or age longer...varies on the style/recipe).

I've been doing 1 week primary, 10 days in secondary, and then conditioning in the keg for these first few batches back into brewing. so far its going great.
 
I recently started an identical thread titled "secondary fermentation???" Check it out for a bunch of very good responses to the question.
 

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