rgrim001
Active Member
Does racking to secondary oxidize the beer? Any resulting off-flavors?
I ask because I am planning on racking to secondary to dry hop tonight.
I ask because I am planning on racking to secondary to dry hop tonight.
Secondary
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BoisePorter
Well-Known Member
Depends on how you do it. If you siphon from the bottom up and don't splash when you do so, you should be fine. If you were to just dump it in then yeah, that would be problematic.
Ace_Club
Well-Known Member
No, just do it carefully and minimize splashing in the receiving vessel. If you want, and have the capability, you can purge the secondary with CO2 prior to transferring to further reduce your risk.
wolverinebrewer
Well-Known Member
Why don't you just dry hop in primary? It works and with less worries.
Anytime you move your beer, you increase the POTENTIAL for something like that to happen. It doesn't mean you oxydize you beer by racking if you are careful, it's just that if you don't move your beer, your odds are even more decreased.
Having said that, there's been a shift in belief over the past few years, now most of us leave our beers in primary for a month rather than rack to a secondary, and find our beers are better for being on the yeast that time. And clearer.
Fermenting the beer is just a part of what the yeast do. If you leave the beer alone, they will go back and clean up the byproducts of fermentation that often lead to off flavors. That's why many brewers skip secondary and leave our beers alone in primary for a month. It leaves plenty of time for the yeast to ferment, clean up after themselves and then fall out, leveing our beers crystal clear, with a tight yeast cake.
If you leave the beer alone, they will go back and clean up the byproducts of fermentation that often lead to off flavors. That's why many brewers skip secondary and leave our beers alone in primary for a month. It leaves plenty of time for the yeast to ferment, clean up after themselves and then fall out, leveing our beers crystal clear, with a tight yeast cake.
This is the latest recommendation, it is the same one many of us have been giving for several years on here.
THIS is where the latest discussion and all your questions answered.
We have multiple threads about this all over the place, like this one,so we really don't need to go over it again, all the info you need is here;
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/secondary-not-john-palmer-jamil-zainasheff-weigh-176837/
We basically proved that old theory wrong on here 5 years ago, and now the rest fo the brewing community is catching up. Though a lot of old dogs don't tend to follow the latest news, and perpetuate the old stuff.
The autolysis from prolong yeast contact has fallen by the wayside, in fact yeast contact is now seen as a good thing.
All my beers sit a minimum of 1 month in the primary. And I recently bottled a beer that sat in primary for 5.5 months with no ill effects.....
You'll find that more and more recipes these days do not advocate moving to a secondary at all, but mention primary for a month, which is starting to reflect the shift in brewing culture that has occurred in the last 4 years, MOSTLY because of many of us on here, skipping secondary, opting for longer primaries, and writing about it. Recipes in BYO have begun stating that in their magazine. I remember the "scandal" it caused i the letters to the editor's section a month later, it was just like how it was here when we began discussing it, except a lot more civil than it was here. But after the Byo/Basic brewing experiment, they started reflecting it in their recipes.
But lots of folks do sry hop in primary these days. So the choice is yours.
Having said that, there's been a shift in belief over the past few years, now most of us leave our beers in primary for a month rather than rack to a secondary, and find our beers are better for being on the yeast that time. And clearer.
Fermenting the beer is just a part of what the yeast do. If you leave the beer alone, they will go back and clean up the byproducts of fermentation that often lead to off flavors. That's why many brewers skip secondary and leave our beers alone in primary for a month. It leaves plenty of time for the yeast to ferment, clean up after themselves and then fall out, leveing our beers crystal clear, with a tight yeast cake.
If you leave the beer alone, they will go back and clean up the byproducts of fermentation that often lead to off flavors. That's why many brewers skip secondary and leave our beers alone in primary for a month. It leaves plenty of time for the yeast to ferment, clean up after themselves and then fall out, leveing our beers crystal clear, with a tight yeast cake.
This is the latest recommendation, it is the same one many of us have been giving for several years on here.
John Palmer said:
THIS is where the latest discussion and all your questions answered.
We have multiple threads about this all over the place, like this one,so we really don't need to go over it again, all the info you need is here;
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/secondary-not-john-palmer-jamil-zainasheff-weigh-176837/
We basically proved that old theory wrong on here 5 years ago, and now the rest fo the brewing community is catching up. Though a lot of old dogs don't tend to follow the latest news, and perpetuate the old stuff.
The autolysis from prolong yeast contact has fallen by the wayside, in fact yeast contact is now seen as a good thing.
All my beers sit a minimum of 1 month in the primary. And I recently bottled a beer that sat in primary for 5.5 months with no ill effects.....
You'll find that more and more recipes these days do not advocate moving to a secondary at all, but mention primary for a month, which is starting to reflect the shift in brewing culture that has occurred in the last 4 years, MOSTLY because of many of us on here, skipping secondary, opting for longer primaries, and writing about it. Recipes in BYO have begun stating that in their magazine. I remember the "scandal" it caused i the letters to the editor's section a month later, it was just like how it was here when we began discussing it, except a lot more civil than it was here. But after the Byo/Basic brewing experiment, they started reflecting it in their recipes.
But lots of folks do sry hop in primary these days. So the choice is yours.
Plus One this !
I'd strongly consider this, just tossing hops in what you have going. Unless you have a pressing need for the fermenter for another batch, just toss your hops into your primary.
Oxidation is for sure a possibility, but usually not detectable at entry level home brews.
More of a concern is exposure to additional sources of infection. Easy to avoid with basic sanitation, but easier yet to avoid by not racking the beer around unnecessarily to begin with.
JMHO
Wyrmwood
Well-Known Member
Thanks for that Revvy! That's a very clear explanation to something that has been a source of confusion for me as a beginner brewer. Most of the sources I've read (old John Palmer, C Papazian, recipe kit instructions) are "old information". I knew there was new information, but had not really seen it laid out in one post!
This does raise a few questions though
1. Do you recommend a bucket for a primary or a carboy? I was under the understanding that you want more head space during fermentation, but not during clearing, hence the larger 6.5 gallon bucket (or 7.9 in my case) for primary and 5 gallon carboy for secondary.
2. What size (bucket or carboy) do you recommend for a 5 gallon batch?
3. How do you dry hop in a primary, just drop the hops on top?
4. For clearing, do you just put the primary, trub and all in the cooler?
Thanks for that Revvy! That's a very clear explanation to something that has been a source of confusion for me as a beginner brewer. Most of the sources I've read (old John Palmer, C Papazian, recipe kit instructions) are "old information". I knew there was new information, but had not really seen it laid out in one post!
This does raise a few questions though
1. Do you recommend a bucket for a primary or a carboy? I was under the understanding that you want more head space during fermentation, but not during clearing, hence the larger 6.5 gallon bucket (or 7.9 in my case) for primary and 5 gallon carboy for secondary.
2. What size (bucket or carboy) do you recommend for a 5 gallon batch?
3. How do you dry hop in a primary, just drop the hops on top?
4. For clearing, do you just put the primary, trub and all in the cooler?
All those questions have been answered in the thread I linked in the previous post.
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