how soon can i transfer from primary to secondary?

Did my first brew yesterday from extract. None of the directions I read said to strain the hops when putting the wort into the carboy. As a result when fermentation began hops have gotten stuck on the upper part of the inside of the carboy and just wondering whether this is bad and if so should I got ahead and transfer into another fermentor or do I need to wait a couple days? Thanks

-Lucas

You need to wait. You do not want to remove the beer from the yeast until fermentation is complete. The hops won't hurt you. It is not ideal, but being your first batch, that is an extremely minor thing in my opinion.

You'll need to wait until the beer is done fermenting to move it. Check the gravity after 5 days. There's no point in checking it if the top (krausen) is actively bubbling, because it certainly isn't done. Once you've hit the desired FG then go ahead and rack to secondary. But not before.

Personally. I do not secondary my ales. I just leave them in primary for 2 or so weeks. However, because of the hops in your primary, I would recommend that you absolutely secondary this batch.

something i have been wondering is what is the easiest way to check gravity? it seems there must be an easier way than lifting a carboy full of wort and pouring a little bit into my hydrometer flask.

wine thief...Don't pick up that carboy and try to pour anything!

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sorry, that picture was HUGE....

lnb001 said:

something i have been wondering is what is the easiest way to check gravity? it seems there must be an easier way than lifting a carboy full of wort and pouring a little bit into my hydrometer flask.

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Yes. There certainly is!

A "Wine Theif" or a Turkey Baster, which is what I use, can just be sanitized and dipped into the opening. The wine theif is bigger and it only takes one 'dip', and the hydrometer can go right into it - however it's harder to clean ans sanitize.

The Turkey Baster takes 3-5 dips depening on the size, but it is alot easier to clean and sanitize.

Both work well though.

Don't transfer to secondary until 5 - 7 days or as someone else said, just leave it in primary for a couple of weeks. In order to fix the problem with stuff stuck in the airlock, rig a blow off tube.

Basically, remove the airlock and put your racking hose into the hole where the airlock was. Put the other end into a small tub of water with some sanitizer in it.

The hops in the primary are not hurting anything at all. Plenty of us don't strain our wort from the kettle into the fermenter. Having hops in the fermenter is not "less than ideal" or negative in any way and certainly doesn't necessitate using a secondary.

+1 on not picking up the carboy and pouring...

Good luck with your first batch and remember, RDWHAHB.

Lou said:

The hops in the primary are not hurting anything at all. Plenty of us don't strain our wort from the kettle into the fermenter. Having hops in the fermenter is not "less than ideal" or negative in any way and certainly doesn't necessitate using a secondary.

+1 on not picking up the carboy and pouring...

Good luck with your first batch and remember, RDWHAHB.

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I have left the hops in my batches and let the primary for 2 or 3 weeks before racking to secondary. Two of my hefe batches I did'nt even use a secondary and racked straight to the keg. They came out fine.

That being said I've only finished 5 batches so far so take my words with a grain of salt.


Again +1 on not picking up the carboy. Get a milk carton to put it in and lift with. It makes a world of diffrence and could save you from a terrible mess, if not injury.

The better question should be, "how long can I stand to wait before transferring to secondary?"

Many directions instruct you to rack into secondary after 5-7 days, but your beer is much better off if you wait 10-14 days, then check for a stable final gravity before moving your beer. If you move it to secondary too early you take the risk of not having enough yeast to completely finish fermentation, plus that extra week gives the yeast more time to clean up by-products that can cause undesirable flavors. As was said, many folks here skip the secondary altogether in favor of a 3-4 week long primary.

I'm new to this too, but I would say the longer you leave it in primary the better. As I understand it, the yeast will "clean up" after themselves as long as you leave them there. The beer will clear up a good bit too, given time.

I just finished my first extract batch, and it was in primary for 3 weeks. After tasting it, I think next time I'll leave it even longer. Good luck.