So my partner and crime and I have had a few beers that have kicked around in the secondary for a while. Some as long as a month.
This doesn't happen all the time. We've also noticed that some beers that we've made haven't carbonated too well. We don't take proper notes to know if there's any correlation there, so I thought I would lean on the sage advice of you folks to help me out.
Becuase I'm now working on a long term drink: that Apfelwein recipe that's all the rage. I guess traditionally it's flat, and traditionally you're supposed to let it mull around in the fermentor for.. well, a couple of months if your patient enough. And that got me worried - because I want it carbonated.
So my general question is this:
As a general rule when racking a beer into the secondary, should we bring some of the yeast cake over. Just a bit? Or should w avoid it entirely?
And then, on top of that, how long in a secondary is too long for the yeast when it comes down to its effectiveness in bottle conditioning? Does it just go dormant and die in there, to the point where adding sugar won't do any good? Or is it slumbering and easily awakened?
Thanks!
This doesn't happen all the time. We've also noticed that some beers that we've made haven't carbonated too well. We don't take proper notes to know if there's any correlation there, so I thought I would lean on the sage advice of you folks to help me out.
Becuase I'm now working on a long term drink: that Apfelwein recipe that's all the rage. I guess traditionally it's flat, and traditionally you're supposed to let it mull around in the fermentor for.. well, a couple of months if your patient enough. And that got me worried - because I want it carbonated.
So my general question is this:
As a general rule when racking a beer into the secondary, should we bring some of the yeast cake over. Just a bit? Or should w avoid it entirely?
And then, on top of that, how long in a secondary is too long for the yeast when it comes down to its effectiveness in bottle conditioning? Does it just go dormant and die in there, to the point where adding sugar won't do any good? Or is it slumbering and easily awakened?
Thanks!