Big yeast cake- go to secondary?

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Tall_Yotie

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Howdy all.

So, my yeast was VERY happy on my 1.082 OG beer, after 5 days there is a yeast cake just barely below the spigot of the fermenting bucket. Should I rack this to a secondary so as to let the beer to continue clearing, and so I don't suck dregs into the bottling bucket? Or should I keep it in the primary as I usually do and slowly let it into the bottling bucket in two weeks? The beer I pulled out to test for the SG was very, very murky, and I want it to clear up big time. Fermentation is pretty much done.

Thanks for any suggestions!
 
I'll chime in since I pretty much just went through the same batch of questions..

My 1.081 dubbel got to about 1.01 in a week. It was still a bit murky, and I didn't have the time to fuss with racking it.

Then I got into the whole internal debate about whether to set it to bottle condition long term, or let it slumber in a secondary... and then I went on vacation for a week :)

After 3 weeks in the primary there's a nice thick layer of goop at the bottom of the carboy, and the beer is MUCH clearer than it was before I went on vacation.

I'm going to rack it to a secondary tomorrow and tuck it away for another 6 weeks until the biggest risk of heat-related funk has passed (easier to mind the temp on 1 carboy than a box full of bottles).

Everyone says "give it more time, the yeast like to have time to clean up after themselves" and it really does ring true.

After 3 weeks or so your beer might actually clear/settle more and be better off in the long run.
 
Thank for the note on that. I was a bit apprehensive to start a thread about primary vs secondary, though it is a different condition that the standard due to the cake next to nozzle concern.

I think I am just going to rank into a secondary, and then let it settle more. Unless of course my wife talks me out of it because she has a lot of sense in these parts.
 
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