When to rack to secondary

I am new to the home brew community so I have found myself reading many books and message boards looking for ways to improve my beer quality. One of the thigs I have seen in many recipes is to rack my beer into the secondary fermenter "when fermentation slows". What does this mean exactly? Can someone define "slow"? I would hate to rack the beer too soon or too late because slow is a relative term.:rockin:

typically i rack between 7 to 10 days after primary. you can also use your hydrometer, once fermentation is complete you can rack. one of the best rules to master is patients!!!! in most cases the longer you wait the better your product will be.....

Patience.


Do not rack to secondary until the BEER IS DONE FERMENTING. airlock activity means nothing. trust thy hyrdometer. 3 separate readings on 3 separate days, all the same, and all at or really close to the expected final gravity.

any other method is pure guess work and will likely come back to haunt you. maybe not this batch, and maybe not for several batches...but it'll happen.

Thanks for the quick responses fellow brewers. I DO rely on my hydrometer to give me the results I am looking for but when some brewers use non-quantitative verbage such as "when fermentation slows" rather than "when fermentaion has reached FG(measurable)", it leaves much to interpretation;especially to new brewers.

Thanks again

FWIW - I don't use a secondary anymore - I just leave the beer for 2-4 weeks in the primary, and bottle. If I were dry hopping, I'd do a secondary, or if I wanted to worry about clearing, or if I wanted to wait longer than 4 weeks...but I don't do these things much, and therefore, no secondary. FWIW, I also use glass carboys, your mileage might vary w/plastic.

Here's some good discussion on when to rack: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=43014

Check that out Yoops, we posted the same thing within seconds.

maybe i should already know this, but how do u devise what the expected final gravity will be? and isnt there a danger in opening the primary over and over again to take readings?

BrewMcGoo said:

maybe i should already know this, but how do u devise what the expected final gravity will be? and isnt there a danger in opening the primary over and over again to take readings?

Click to expand...

expected fg? beersmith tells me. reading time? brew, wait 3 weeks, take reading (unless hefeweizen - 2 weeks), then take reading

BrewMcGoo-Your recipe that came with the kit, or what you imputted in brewing software will tell you an estimated FG.

In homebrewing there is so much that we advise folks not to do, yet the one thing that EVERY book, podcast, magazine and website talks about is gravity readings....

How do you think we get them?

Do you think the advice to take them is a vast conspiracy by us old timers to ruin millions of new brewer's batches, so that they flee the hobby and give it a bad rap? Or so they make crappy beer and we kick your asses in contests?

With simple sanitization practices openning the fermenter to take a reading is perfectly safe. You won't spoil your beer.

I know it's a scary premise, but it is really silly to avoid something scientific like a gravity reading because you're afraid of that and instead rely on something faulty like counting bubbles. You have to man up, grow some stones and get over the idea that openning your fermenter to do something positive like take a gravity reading, is dangerous.

Our beer is much stronger than that.

Here, read this, Revvy's advice for the new brewer in terms of worry. You might find the info and advice helpful....

i appreciate the adivice, and have been taking original and final gravity readings, subtracting, etc...My issue is more of how to predict fg...in more than one brew we've used syrup solids or honey to bring up abv, so I dont feel i can go by what the kit instructions are saying the projected fg would be.

I quit doing a secondary all together. Maybe I'm not doing it "right" but I leave it in the primary for about 2 months. Then go straight to keg. I couldn't imagine my beer would be any clearer than it is.

BrewMcGoo said:

i appreciate the adivice, and have been taking original and final gravity readings, subtracting, etc...My issue is more of how to predict fg...in more than one brew we've used syrup solids or honey to bring up abv, so I dont feel i can go by what the kit instructions are saying the projected fg would be.

Click to expand...

Even if you can "predict" it, so many things can change it. Just take readings two days apart or something, if they don't change, that's probably your FG (unless it's waaaaay off your target, in which case you may have a stuck fermentation... like I have right now, grrr...)

tranceamerica said:

FWIW - I don't use a secondary anymore - I just leave the beer for 2-4 weeks in the primary, and bottle. If I were dry hopping, I'd do a secondary, or if I wanted to worry about clearing, or if I wanted to wait longer than 4 weeks...but I don't do these things much, and therefore, no secondary. FWIW, I also use glass carboys, your mileage might vary w/plastic.

Click to expand...

Two questions unrelated to each other: Do you really need to transfer to secondary container for dry hopping? Is there any problem throwing the hops into the primary container after primary fermentation has finished? My limited experience has produced perfectly decent results dry hopping in the primary fermentation vessel.

Separately, is it safe/ok to leave hydrometer in fermenter through primary? If I sanitize the hydrometer, take reading in my fermenter (6 gallon plastic bucket) could I just leave the hydrometer in for the duration of the fermentation to prevent needing to resanitize more equipment to take samples repeatedly during the process?

SailorTodd said:

Two questions unrelated to each other: Do you really need to transfer to secondary container for dry hopping? Is there any problem throwing the hops into the primary container after primary fermentation has finished? My limited experience has produced perfectly decent results dry hopping in the primary fermentation vessel.

Separately, is it safe/ok to leave hydrometer in fermenter through primary? If I sanitize the hydrometer, take reading in my fermenter (6 gallon plastic bucket) could I just leave the hydrometer in for the duration of the fermentation to prevent needing to resanitize more equipment to take samples repeatedly during the process?

Click to expand...

Many people dry hop in the primary with great results. If that process works for you, keep doing it!

I've heard of people leaving the hydrometer in the fermenter the whole time. I think it's 'safe' from a sanitation, etc., point of view, but I wouldn't do it because a) if it breaks in your fermenter, that's a really bad day; and b) I'd worry iy would get kraeusen and crap on it, and you'd have to take it out to clean it anyway. My two cents, but like I say, people do it...

The krausen crusting on the hyrdometer was my first thought when I was trying to think of the drawbacks, and you're right, very bad day if it breaks. I think I'll avoid the risk of lead contaminated beer and just draw samples off.

umm...how about not racking unless of course you are dry hopping or adding fruit...oak chips...etc. DON'T RACK TO SECONDARY just for clarity...that's what cold crashing/gelatin is for. And don't crash for at least 3 weeks...let the yeast do their job and leave 'em the hell alone!

mcaple1 said:

umm...how about not racking unless of course you are dry hopping or adding fruit...oak chips...etc. DON'T RACK TO SECONDARY just for clarity...that's what cold crashing/gelatin is for. And don't crash for at least 3 weeks...let the yeast do their job and leave 'em the hell alone!

Click to expand...

Tell em' right brotha

mcaple1 said:

umm...how about not racking unless of course you are dry hopping or adding fruit...oak chips...etc.

Click to expand...

Still wondering why you'd want to rack to secondary even for that...haven't seen a good reason yet. IMO, risk of contamination/oxidation > reward.

lumpher said:

expected fg? beersmith tells me. reading time? brew, wait 3 weeks, take reading (unless hefeweizen - 2 weeks), then take reading

Click to expand...

Why only 2 weeks for a hefe?

Boegman said:

Why only 2 weeks for a hefe?

Click to expand...

Zombie thread.

Anyway, wheat beers do ferment out very quickly. But these time lines are all just rules of thumb. It really depends in the OG, yeast strain, temperature, pitch rate, etc as to when the beer is done. There are always exceptions but generally speaking most standard ales are done if you just wait 3 weeks. No hydrometer checks required.

And unless you're lagering or other bulk aging, there is no need to rack to a second fermenter.