Yeast in secondary = failed racking? aging risk? (with pix)

heya hivemind,

last night i transferred my strong belgian ale from primary to secondary. it had been in primary for 5 weeks, so i thought it was time to move it to secondary for bulk aging.

however, i fear that my racking skills didn't show through last night: as per the picture below, a layer of yeast (or trub?) came across too. the sediment appeared immediately after i transferred so i must have kicked up some yeast while sucking the last off the beer out of the bottom of primary.

the sediment layer is about a quarter inch thick, a definite improvement over the 1-1/4 inch layer it was sitting on previously.

question: will this layer cause issues with bulk aging? the reason i racked was to get it off the yeast cake, yet here is one all over again. is autolysis still a risk if i keep the beer in there for a month or two?

p.s the second pic is a "bottom-up" pic (carboy upskirt?!?)

No. Stop worrying. There's always a little yeast that falls out of suspension into the secondary even with the best transfer technique. But here's something else: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/question-those-who-worry-about-yeast-cakes-autolysis-18928/

Double_D said:

No. Stop worrying.

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i tell myself that all the time. rarely works, unfortunately. homebrew helps.

Double_D said:

There's always a little yeast that falls out of suspension into the secondary even with the best transfer technique.

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right, but that builds up after some time. this layer showed up during transfer, so doubtful that this is yeast that fell out. it has to be yeast that was sucked up from primary by the siphon during transfer. i just wasn't sure if that was anything to be concerned about.

Double_D said:

But here's something else: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/question-those-who-worry-about-yeast-cakes-autolysis-18928/

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yup, i'm aware of the autolysis-is-a-boogeyman debate, and i'm on Palmer's side: don't worrying about it... up to a point. for short primaries, like less than a month, autolysis is definitely not a concern. palmer even mentions 8 weeks in that link - but that's for lagers (the cold storage likely helps), and i'm looking at potentially more than 8 weeks. i suspect i'll be just fine, but i was looking for others' opinions. thanks for sharing yours!

I did a double chocolate porter last winter. It was in primary for 3 weeks. Then I aged it on cocoa nibs for 6. Not a problem. I can understand the autolysis thing. When there's 500 gallons exerting like a ton of pressure per square inch on yeast in a commercial fermenter it could possible be a problem. But in our volumes, nothing to worry about. Plus I'd expect yeast to be more resilient than that. If Sam Caligione and all those goof balls can make a beer from yeast that they found in an Egyptian tomb I'd say it's hearty enough to sit at the bottom of your fermenter for a couple extra weeks.

Bah! That's nothing. I'm pretty stingy and don't want to leave any delicious, delicious beer behind when I rack, so I always get that. I've never had a single problem.

No problem at all with the end result or your racking technique. That's why I rack beers to secondary when I want them clear. Most of the clearing happens within 24 hours of racking. Something about the transfer itself causes those little critters to floc out. It would have taken much longer to happen in the bottle.

thanks folks. will try to relax, not worry, and have a brew - i have growler of Harpoon's Tritical Imperial Ale, aged in bourbon barrels (available only directly from the brewery)... so homebrews take a back seat tonight.

You are fine. There is always going to be yeast in the beer until you filter it out. Even then, there is likely to be some.

Autolysis is only a concern when something happens to kills yeast en-mass, chemical or temperature change is the biggest threat to the home brewer. Pro brewers have to deal with the pressure at the bottom of huge fermenters causing stress. Yeast will naturally go dormant, not die. That's why we can wash it, store it, freeze it, dry it, and get it mailed to us.

Your little bit of sediment is a bunch of happy yeast sleeping away.

beerkrump said:

Your little bit of sediment is a bunch of happy yeast sleeping away.

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dunno why but that sentence made me happy

sleep tight little yeasties, i'll be drinking you soon enough.