Racking consensus

When do most of you guys rack? I've heard/read two different schools of thought; A) When airlock activity stops, or B) When the krausen collapses.
I've tried both and it didn't seem to make much difference in the final product.
Discuss.

I rack to secondary 2 days after the bubble rate slows to less than 1 per minute. I've never done it any other way, so have nothing to compare to. lol.

to be 100% certain, take a SG reading. some do both ways you descibed above.

i wait until the kraeusen has fallen and i see no activity for several minutes, then i rack to secondary.

I usually wait for both A & B. Overall, it seems safer to let it sit for a day or two more then to rack it a day or two early.

Walker's 'Holy Trinity' of Racking:

(1) 7 days have passes since fermentation began
(2) krausen has collapsed
(3) bubbles in airlock are coming less than 1 every 90 seconds

I am made fun of for this set of requirements by my buddies, but I don't care. I make better beer than they do.

-walker

Well, I want to make better beer than your buddies too, Walker, so I had better do it that way!

When I don't see any airlock activity I take a gravity reading.

If the gravity is low enough (fermented out greater than 50-75% of the OG (1.050 would be in the 1.025-1.012 range)) then I rack to the secondary.

I bottle when the FG is within the range for the style.

I never bottle early. Most of the time I usually bottle a week or so after the beer is ready.

Using the 1-2-3 method works most of the time if you are doing "normal" brews. If you are doing something else; barleywine (duh), stout, porter, etc., then I would definitely rack and bottle based on the hydrometer readings.

I rack on no SG change in three days.

I do the 1..2..3 method. One week in the primary, 2 weeks in the secondary, and three weeks to carbonate. But this is my method.

I strongly suspect that + or - a week, it doesn't matter a rat's ass when you rack.

Sasquatch said:

I strongly suspect that + or - a week, it doesn't matter a rat's ass when you rack.

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...I would have to agree with you if you are fond of a cloudy rats ass brew!

However, if your yeast is still active, your gravity too high then you prime and bottle - you can expect bottle grenades.

i agree w/ HB99. racking too early can result in under-atenuation. a sweet, cloying beer w/ a potential for bottle-bombs! :~)

I generally follow the 1-2-3 rule, but there are times where week 1 turns into 10 days just because it's convenient. The higher gravity beers are an obvious exception.

I can't see how racking early can result in bottle bombs. Bottling to early.. yes.

If you rack to early to the secondary then you'll have more sediment in the secondary, that's about it. At least that's all I've ever noticed.

Off topic. Why the H'll do they stick the bloddy capslock so close the shift key. For us who type looking at the keyboard I look up and realize have the post was in caps..DOH! Retype...

Denny's Brew said:

I can't see how racking early can result in bottle bombs. Bottling to early.. yes.

If you rack to early to the secondary then you'll have more sediment in the secondary, that's about it. At least that's all I've ever noticed.

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I agree. I rack 7-10 days or when krausen has fallen, whichever is last no matter how much its bubbling.

Wild

For racking from the primary to the secondary, I go for at least 7 complete days, and airlock activity. For the secondary, I normally set a time, for instance 2.5 weeks for my red. I take a reading when I rack to sec, after 1/2 the time has past, and then at the end. As long as the activity is proceeding as planned, it is normally ready to bottle at that point. My stout was in the sec for 6 weeks, though, as it was super heavy, and was still getting activity after a month.

I typically rack after krausen fall or 2 weeks max in primary and ignore the airlock.

I racked two batches last night after nine days in primary. The krausen was thin but the airlock activity was about every 5-10 seconds. When I tested gravity both were down to 1.008 (I expected higher). Now that they're in the secondary the airlock has slowed dramatically. I guess the trub can hold its share of co2 to give the false impression that your still fermenting...

Why are people saying the racking early can cause attenuation and or bottle bombs?

I rack when the krausen falls back and usually 2/3 of the sugar has fermented. I have not had a early attenuating beer or bottle bombs (when I bottle conditioning). The majority of the fermentation occurs by suspended yeast so racking "early" should not affect fermentation rate and may aid it by rousing the yeast.

I'm really of the opinion that it really doesn't matter when you rack as long as its after high krausen and you get the yeast off the trub.

-Eric

eolle said:

Why are people saying the racking early can cause attenuation and or bottle bombs?
-Eric

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we said under-attenuation can be caused by racking too early and not letting the wort ferment out. if someone is racking to early and not letting the brew do it's thing, they are more than likely bottling to early. too much yeast in suspension when bottled early = bottle bomb.

I rack to the secondary after the krausen collapses, the air lock looks pretty much dead and when ever I get to it. I'm not really worried about racking early since I usualy have to make time to do it.

From the secondary I wait 2 weeks, but again it's whenever I get to it.

Heck my blueberry wheat has been in a carboy for almost 2 months now, and I'm just getting ready to bottle it, but that went to a 3rd fermentor

although the exestentialist might have trouble dealing with such questions, i rack when feels it right. you ansewred your own question when you said "i tried it both ways with similar results". i usually shoot for 1 week primary, 2 weeks seconday, 4 weeks bottle. unless its a lager of course, then its total anarchy.

cgravier said:

...the existentialist...unless its a lager of course, then its total anarchy.

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Let's hear it for longterm anacraphobia everywhere!

Like most here i watch the airlock and test the gravity before moving to secondary and i don't worry too much if it sits a little longer after being racked before it's bottled. I check temperatures too and use this when looking at how the yeast is performing - A 'One Week in Primary - It's done' rule of thumb is okay in the best conditions but a hydrometer will tell you a fuller picture.

Thanks for clearing this all up guys! Ironically, since I posted this I had a Cooper's nut brown kit with 500g amber DME, 500g Dark DME and 375g Clover/alfalfa Honey ferment from 1.048 to 1.015 and no krausen or airlock activity.
So, I racked it.
Cheers.

I'll rack when the crusty goop at the top of the carboy and the thick glop at the bottom start to skeeve me out.

Put yourself in your beer's shoes. When it seems to say 'get me out of here. it's gross,' rack.

I rack when the moon is in the seventh house and Jupiter aligns with Mars.

Rhoobarb said:

I rack when the moon is in the seventh house and Jupiter aligns with Mars.

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NASA taken over drunken astrologists?

Seventh house! Are you crazy!?! You'll bring the apocalypse on us all!!!

I think the government's taking care of that for us.

God bless 'em.

He's been listening to his parents records again....Aquarius from the musical "Hair".
At least they aren't "rollin numbers with your Kiss records out...."

Hot damn... I totally derailed a thread. I love it. There's no relation between bottling and racking. I can rack 5 or 6 times and still not have beer in bottles. My earlier post was merely suggesting that you need to rack more or less when the beer is "ready" by whatever standard you use, but that it really isn't hugely critical that you get it at exactly "the moment". Beer isn't like a woman... if you're a couple of minutes early, it doesn't freak out.

So... when DO you rack a lager? When it stops smelling like rotten eggs?

When I brew a lager I let it get active overnight then put it in the garage to chill out for about a week.

After I rack into the secondary (carboy) I leave it for 2 months.

Right now I have 1 in the primary and 1 in the secondary. Both are at 46F.

homebrewer_99 said:

... At least they aren't "rollin numbers with your Kiss records out...."

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Naw, they're alright. They just seem a little weird.

For ales, I just count bubbles in the airlock until they're down to one a minute - usually about 5-7 days. I rack it to secondary and let it sit for around 14 days, sometimes longer if I get too busy to bottle.

I've only done two lagers, both Bocks. I have one in primary right now. For lagers, I seem to have to rely on SG readings. My first went 8 weeks in primary and six in secondary. I took an SG reading last week and this current one looks like it's going to repeat that cycle.

Rhoobarb said:

Naw, they're alright. They just seem a little weird.

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Just don't Surrender!

I was listening to Basic Brewing Radio and it was mentioned the lagers really suffer from off-tastes if they sit on the yeast and trub any extra time whatsoever. Is that generally true?

That may have more to do with the temperature at which they sit AFAIK.