Secondary Fermentation When?

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dhaas66

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I have read the Whys and the Why nots...

I have heard numerous opinions on when.. 5-7 days.. When the airlock bubbling has slowed... When the krausen (sp?) falls to the bottom of the primary...

I have read you can leave in primary. OK understand both arguements. Just very confused about when...

I have searched this forum and others and have not come up with anything concrete...

David Haas
 
dhaas66 said:
I have read you can leave in primary. OK understand both arguements. Just very confused about when...

When you have time after 7 to 10 days. If it takes a couple to 3 weeks don't sweat it.
 
The only "don't" I can think of is don't rack too early. You want to have fermentation basically finished when you rack to secondary. The purpose of the secondary is really not "secondary fermentation", like for wine. The secondary for beer is better referred to as the "bright tank" or clearing tank. The whole point of this is to allow more yeast to drop out of suspension and for the beer to clarify. Some people just use a primary for a couple of weeks and then bottle. I always use a secondary, and I like having cleaner, clearer beers with little sediment.

But as for the timing- most of us around here refer to the 1-2-3 "rule". 1 week in primary, 2 weeks in secondary, 3 in the bottle. But I almost always use the primary for about 10 days, just because of my work schedule and to ensure fermentation is finished.
 
I like to leave it in primary until fermentation is done or near done. This means different things to different people. For me, I want the gravity about where I expected it to be, krausen will have fallen by then and if you go by airlock bubbles, it basically won't be bubbling or very infrequently.

You want to leave as much trub/flocculated yeast at the bottom of the primary. If it's still fermenting at all, the CO2 rising through the column of beer will keep it from settling out nicely.

Honestly, there's a little wiggle room here. The key is that you don't want a ton of fermenting continuing in secondary because you'll end up with a lot of dead yeast sitting on the bottom which is not cool for long term aging/clearing in secondary.
 
Interesting posts. I've felt or suspected that I get more of a yeast taste due to too long a primary ferment (10 days), or not re-racking on an extended secondary fermentation (10-14 days) and leaving the beer in contact with the yeast at the bottom of the carboy for too long. I just bought a "brown box" Heineken clone that recommends only 3 days primary, then 2 weeks secondary at 60 degrees. I will try the recommended time frame, but will probably re-rack after 1 week largering
 
If you are looking for one answer, I recommend trying a church. Although some homebrew are religious about the hobby, there are few absolutes in homebrewing. Yooper Chick hit the main one for racking from the fermenter. Too soon is almost always a source of trouble.

If you hit at least two of the three guidelines: 1. at least a week, 2. the krausen has fallen, 3. the SG has been constant for three days, you'll have good results.

As always, your styles may vary.
 
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