Racking to secondary questions

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BADS197

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I looked at my rasberry red ale this morning and the pigment is gone out of the rasberies.

It looks like someone's brain exploded in my fermenter and there is brain matter everywhere.

It's been 6 days...

Is it ok to rack to secondary and let the fermentation continue? I would think all the juice is out of the berries and all that is left is a mess on the top.

Will the fermentation continue in the secondary as in will the yeast be abundant to finish up?


??

thanks
 
I just saw this- and I have to disagree. You should never rack off of the yeast cake until fermentation is finished, and until the yeast have had a chance to "clean up" after themselves. The "secondary" is more properly called a clearing vessel, and in the breweries it's called a "bright tank". That is just a step in clearing and conditioning the beer- no actual fermentation takes place. Some of the older wisdom is to remove the beer from the yeast cake ASAP, to prevent autolysis. But the current practices show that autolysis is not really an issue, and not really a concern for homebrewers who leave their beer up to a month in the primary.

Usually, the beer will drop a point or two after being racked, but you can't count on that.
 
I just saw this- and I have to disagree. You should never rack off of the yeast cake until fermentation is finished, and until the yeast have had a chance to "clean up" after themselves. The "secondary" is more properly called a clearing vessel, and in the breweries it's called a "bright tank". That is just a step in clearing and conditioning the beer- no actual fermentation takes place. Some of the older wisdom is to remove the beer from the yeast cake ASAP, to prevent autolysis. But the current practices show that autolysis is not really an issue, and not really a concern for homebrewers who leave their beer up to a month in the primary.

Usually, the beer will drop a point or two after being racked, but you can't count on that.

I agree with Yoop on this. And you really can't judge your finished color until it's finished everything, including bottle conditioning, and the beer is happilly sitting in your glass. Even trying to gauge color in the Bright tank, is difficult, since the light refraction of the glass or plastic affects it...in other owrds, walk away from the beer, it is fine.
 
I agree with Yooper here.
I'm no expert, and I don't want to start a "Secondary or No Secondary" debate, but I leave all of mine in the primary for 3 weeks before I check gravity and bottle. My beers just taste better this way...and they're clearer too. :mug:
 
Sorry - I agree with y'all too...

I had read BADS197's post really quickly, and I thought the question was just in regards to whether there would be enough yeast leftover to "finish up," which in my quick glance equated to bottle carbonate.

Wait until your entire fermentation has finished in your primary, and then wait a little longer. Only then decide what to do next, ie go toa secondary if that's your thing, or bottle/keg. (And, at that point, if you choose to bottle, no matter how clear your beer is and no matter how large the yeast cake on the bottom of your primary is, there will more likely than not be more than enough yeast left in solution to carbonate!:) )
 
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