No bubbles or Krausen in the secondary?
- Thread starter hwangnyc
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Brewsmith
Home brewing moogerfooger
Yup. Secondary "fermentation" is a little of a misnomer. The beer is clearing and aging, but nor really fermenting. If you do see activity, it's usually because you racked too soon. The only time where an actual fermentation happens in the secondary is when you add fruit, or some other fermentable to the secondary.
Brewsmith
Home brewing moogerfooger
If all you're doing is watching it!drouillp said:
The secondary is where you can also dry hop your beer forr moore hop aroma.
Evets
Well-Known Member
The secondary is also where you free up your primary for another brew. Nothing lame about that!
dcbrewmeister
Well-Known Member
Yup - just leave it in there for 2 weeks. If your watching/waiting for something to happen, you're going to be waiting for a whole lot of nothin'.
Rack to secondary = "set-it & forget-it" (for 2 weeks)
Rack to secondary = "set-it & forget-it" (for 2 weeks)
Wables
Well-Known Member
Looks like I am bucking the trend here. I usually rack whem I am seeing 2 bbl/min or so, so I get some fermentation in the secondary. I want a day or two on slow fermentation to happen to build a CO2 layer on top of the beer.
Secondary is a hold-over from wine making, where you (for reds) do a ferment on the skins and then rack it to complete the ferment. In brewing, you rack from the fermenter to a clearing (bright) tank after the ferment is complete. So, it's rare (but not unheard of) to see any fermentation in the clearing tank.
However, I don't think we will ever get rid of this confusing term.
However, I don't think we will ever get rid of this confusing term.
