Brewer's Best English Brown Ale Secondary Fermentation Q

[BrewToHeugh]

Hello! This is my first time brewing and from the reviews I read I decided to go with BRewers Best English Brown Ale kit.

I also purchased their delux brewing kit so ill be using a secondary fermentation process.

When should i switch secondary fermentation? What is a good SG? They recommend 5-7 days, before the fermentation completes... not exactly precise directions.

Also...

What is a good FG before bottling?

thanks all!

 

[richlong8020]

Honestly I can't tell ya what the OG and FG may be. But the way I have been brewing my OGs start at 1.040 to 1.060 across all of my brews. I only use a FG number when I get the same reading for 3 consecutive days. I haven't brewed long, only on my 7th brew and 2nd cider, so I'm not a pro 😉. Hope that helped.

 

[Captain Damage]

Secondary really isn't necessary for ales unless you're aging a barley wine, racking onto fruit, or dry hopping- and even then, many of us dry hop in the primary. It will not magically make your beer clear (gravity takes care of that). And it's an opportunity for contamination and oxygen to get into your beer. If you want to secondary anyway, wait until until fermentation has stopped, i.e., you get the same hydrometer reading 3 times at least a day apart. Without a recipe we can't even give you a ballpark of what gravity reading to look for.

The term "secondary fermentation" is a bit of a misnomer. Unless you're adding fermentables such as fruit, sugar honey etc., there is no fermentation going on. Years ago it was advised that you secondary all beers to "get it off the yeast" out of fear that the then-common poorly handled and unhealthy yeast would autolyse and ruin the beer. This really isn't a concern nowadays. The yeasts we have access to are much healthier, and many of us are now in the practice of keeping all of our beers in primary for 3-4 weeks, sometimes more, and find that the beer is actually improved from this "long primary." In fact we frequently see posts on this board from brewers who have left their beers in primary for two or more months with no detriment to the beer. The "long primary" method is still only a few years old and a little bit controversial so many kit manufacturers and brewing books are still recommending secondary for all beers.

 

[Grannyknot]

I brewed that kit a few months ago...still drinking it actually.
The secondary isn't necessary, but I did rack mine to a secondary after 10 days in the primary.
I added a few things to this kit....more hops & brown sugar, so my gravities are going to be way different than yours.

One thing to note, give this beer a good 14 days to bottle condition.

 

[GMiller64]

Just did this exact kit Saturday. My OG was 1.040, though I think I might have been a little light not sure if I mixed the water and wort enough. It's only my second brew.

 

[dkeller12]

When should i switch secondary fermentation? What is a good SG? They recommend 5-7 days, before the fermentation completes... not exactly precise directions.

Also...

What is a good FG before bottling?

thanks all!

Did the kit not include the instructions? The OG and FG are on the instruction sheet. Having done that kit the OG is expected to be between 1.045 to 1.049. The FG should be between 1.011 to 1.015. If you take 2 or 3 gravity readings and they are stable you are reading to bottle.

I agree with the others about not needing to put this in secondary. Just give it a minimum of 3 weeks in the primary then bottle.

 

[BrewToHeugh]

Did the kit not include the instructions? The OG and FG are on the instruction sheet. Having done that kit the OG is expected to be between 1.045 to 1.049. The FG should be between 1.011 to 1.015. If you take 2 or 3 gravity readings and they are stable you are reading to bottle.

I agree with the others about not needing to put this in secondary. Just give it a minimum of 3 weeks in the primary then bottle.

It came with an instructional sheet which i followed to the 't' but it had little to say about SG's and when to bottle or when to move to secondary (i was looking for gravity numbers rather a # days). It did mention an OG which i read at just about 1.045 before I air locked it.

Yeah I've been reading alot about skipping secondary which ill eventually do but like the perfectionist i am, i still want to try secondary before i start doing month long primary fermentations (compare and contrast).

The kit recommends to move to secondary when fermentation slows but before it ends (5-7 days), then to complete fermentation there.

Does the sugar priming affect primary fermentation (month long vs. recommend 5-7 days)?

here is the instructional sheet
http://www.brewersbestkits.com/pdf/1016%20English%20Brown%20Ale.pdf

thanks yall!

 

[BrewToHeugh]

Secondary really isn't necessary for ales unless you're aging a barley wine, racking onto fruit, or dry hopping- and even then, many of us dry hop in the primary. It will not magically make your beer clear (gravity takes care of that). And it's an opportunity for contamination and oxygen to get into your beer. If you want to secondary anyway, wait until until fermentation has stopped, i.e., you get the same hydrometer reading 3 times at least a day apart. Without a recipe we can't even give you a ballpark of what gravity reading to look for.

The term "secondary fermentation" is a bit of a misnomer. Unless you're adding fermentables such as fruit, sugar honey etc., there is no fermentation going on. Years ago it was advised that you secondary all beers to "get it off the yeast" out of fear that the then-common poorly handled and unhealthy yeast would autolyse and ruin the beer. This really isn't a concern nowadays. The yeasts we have access to are much healthier, and many of us are now in the practice of keeping all of our beers in primary for 3-4 weeks, sometimes more, and find that the beer is actually improved from this "long primary." In fact we frequently see posts on this board from brewers who have left their beers in primary for two or more months with no detriment to the beer. The "long primary" method is still only a few years old and a little bit controversial so many kit manufacturers and brewing books are still recommending secondary for all beers.

yup - I've been reading about this all over this forum. great insight though. thanks.

I've asked this already on another reply but would the sugar priming process be different if i were to go with a 3-4 week ferm. in primary? ::such a noob::

thanks!!

 

[BrewToHeugh]

Honestly I can't tell ya what the OG and FG may be. But the way I have been brewing my OGs start at 1.040 to 1.060 across all of my brews. I only use a FG number when I get the same reading for 3 consecutive days. I haven't brewed long, only on my 7th brew and 2nd cider, so I'm not a pro ��. Hope that helped.

how long did you leave in it the bottles before you cracked them open?

 

[robertus]

I've asked this already on another reply but would the sugar priming process be different if i were to go with a 3-4 week ferm. in primary? ::such a noob::

thanks!!

Nope! As I understand it, there should still be enough yeast floating around to carb the beer even after the extended primary.

I did four-week primaries on my last two brews (a mocktoberfest and Yooper's California Common), and both carbed up just fine with the usual amount of priming sugar.

 

[dkeller12]

It came with an instructional sheet which i followed to the 't' but it had little to say about SG's and when to bottle or when to move to secondary (i was looking for gravity numbers rather a # days). It did mention an OG which i read at just about 1.045 before I air locked it.

Yeah I've been reading alot about skipping secondary which ill eventually do but like the perfectionist i am, i still want to try secondary before i start doing month long primary fermentations (compare and contrast).

The kit recommends to move to secondary when fermentation slows but before it ends (5-7 days), then to complete fermentation there.

Does the sugar priming affect primary fermentation (month long vs. recommend 5-7 days)?

here is the instructional sheet
http://www.brewersbestkits.com/pdf/1016%20English%20Brown%20Ale.pdf

thanks yall!

Totally understand the desire to want to experiment. Just in case you are into Podcasts you may want to listen to the Basic Brewing podcast regarding their primary vs secondary experiment, very interesting results. And of course do one on you own so you can see the difference.

What you will learn if you continue to research brewing is that you should ignore the instructions you get in the kits to a certain degree and go by info from the forum or other sources like How to Brew - Palmer. Most kits have you bottling way too quick so that you free up the primary for the purchase of another kit. The additional rest time beyond the 5-7 days helps clear up any off flavors that may have occurred during fermentation and will also help clear things up.

The priming sugar has nothing to do with primary fermentation as this is added after fermentation right before you bottle. Nothing changes with how much you use after extended time in the primary. You would use the same amount to prime with whether you fermented for a week or longer.

 

[STL_Lucas]

I'm also about halfway through my first batch and I'm using this kit. My OG was around 1.045. Took about 48 hours for the FG to reach 1.08 - 1.010 and on day 7 I racked it to a secondary fermenter.

I see everyone here recommends not using secondary but between podcasts, books, talking to people, reading forums, etc. it seems like a mixed review on what to do. I'm going to try a few batches both ways and see what works best for me. I tasted at this time as well and both taste and smell were very good, but the beer was still very hazy. I plan on leaving this in secondary for 2 weeks and then bottling for 2 as well. Let us know how it turns out!