OdinsBrew
Well-Known Member
I've got a "big honkin' brew" in my primary. OG was 1.094 and I hope to get it down to 1.020ish. It's coming along fine, still bubbling about every 45 seconds. It's been in there for over 3 weeks. I'm eager to brew a different batch, but it's my only 6.5 gallon carboy, so I'm thinking about racking it to the secondary. This would 1, get it away from the leaf hops which I don't want in there too much longer, 2, make my carboy available to start a new batch, and of course 3 make my carboy available to start a new batch. I'm reading in Radical Brewing that fermentation can take up to 6 months... and I'm out of house beer and need to make some soon!
My question is, will all the yeast carry over into the secondary or do I risk loosing some and disrupting fermentation? Is the active yeast the very thin creamy top layer of white on top of the trub? Do I aim to siphon that along into the secondary?
I'm on the fence about buying another new 6.5 carboy and so I'm trying to cut corners. I'd rather not fork out the cash, though in the long run I probably will brew big brews once or twice a year. Well scratch that. If i had a secondary I think I'd always have a big brew going. (So maybe I just answered my own question.) Part of me thinks I should buy another carboy and leave brew alone, take hydrometer readings to know that it's finished, and then rack it to clarify.
So, to rack or not to rack? Thoughts gentlemen?
- I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy another carboy after typing this all out. But I'm still interested in anyone's knowledge on the topics.
My question is, will all the yeast carry over into the secondary or do I risk loosing some and disrupting fermentation? Is the active yeast the very thin creamy top layer of white on top of the trub? Do I aim to siphon that along into the secondary?
I'm on the fence about buying another new 6.5 carboy and so I'm trying to cut corners. I'd rather not fork out the cash, though in the long run I probably will brew big brews once or twice a year. Well scratch that. If i had a secondary I think I'd always have a big brew going. (So maybe I just answered my own question.) Part of me thinks I should buy another carboy and leave brew alone, take hydrometer readings to know that it's finished, and then rack it to clarify.
So, to rack or not to rack? Thoughts gentlemen?
- I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy another carboy after typing this all out. But I'm still interested in anyone's knowledge on the topics.