Fermentation appears finished, any point in racking to secondary?

[sailipo]

My last brew finished bubbling in 4 days. Racked to secondary on 5th day, still no activity after 4 days in secondary. Any point to leaving it in secondary for two weeks? Should I just bottle it now?

OG 1050, Racked it at 1018. Danstar Nottingham yeast. 9.75 lbs fermentables.

Does secondary fermentation do things that won't happen in the bottle?

Just curious.

 

[duboman]

You are only at 65% apparent attenuation and that is pretty low, have you tasted a sample? My guess is it will taste a bit sweet and not done fermenting yet.

Why did you rack off the yeast after only four days? Now that there is a lot less yeast in the secondary vessel you reduced the ability of the beer to fully ferment. In most cases there is no need for a secondary, you can do a search and read all about it

What temperature is the beer sitting at and do you see a yest cake on the bottom? If so, raise the temp and rouse the yeast by gently agitating the vessel and see if you can get it to finish.

To directly answer your question....I would not bottle until you can verify that it is in fact done fermenting, otherwise you risk it taking off in a sealed bottle and exploding.

 

[TheZymurgist]

My last brew finished bubbling in 4 days. Racked to secondary on 5th day, still no activity after 4 days in secondary. Any point to leaving it in secondary for two weeks? Should I just bottle it now?

OG 1050, Racked it at 1018. Danstar Nottingham yeast. 9.75 lbs fermentables.

Does secondary fermentation do things that won't happen in the bottle?

Just curious.

You'll find a lot of threads on this. The general consensus is, don't rack to secondary unless you're dry hopping/adding fruit, or unless you're aging for months and months and months.

And I don't even rack if I'm dry hopping. I used to when I was harvesting yeast, but now I harvest the yeast straight from the starter, rather than from fermented beer.

 

[dhallman619]

What was your target FG?? Right now you are sitting around 4.2% Depending on what your target ABV/FG was supposed to be, it sounds like you may have racked it early.

From much research on here, lack of bubbling activity doesn't necessarily mean that fermentation is complete. It just means that there is not enough CO2 being pushed out to make bubbles...

Racking to secondary allows the beer to settle and the residual yeast to clean up the brew. There are alot of discussions on here about whether to rack to secondary, or just to bottle straight from primary. it seems to me it is more personal preference than anything.

My opinion-- just bottle it and get ready for your next brew

Hope this helps. Either way, look at the bright side--You have home brew to bottle and enjoy.

-Dan

 

[hunter_le five]

"Secondary fermentation" is a common misnomer; unless you are actually adding more fermentables to the beer, it's really just a clearing stage. No, it's not actually "doing" anything other than allowing the beer to clear a bit before you bottle.

Many of us these days don't even bother transferring to a secondary vessel, opting instead for an "extended primary" for clearing the beer. There are valid arguments for and against that approach. Using a secondary isn't "wrong" either, but does create some additional potential for oxidation or infection if you are not careful about it.

Alternatively you could just bottle as soon as fermentation stops, and allow the beer to clear in the bottle. You will end up with more sediment in the bottom of the bottle this way, though.

 

[worlddivides]

I have used secondary a few times now, but only when adding something to the beer (most recently cherries. A couple months ago, spices). There have also been times where I did add something, but did so in the primary without even doing a secondary (After 1.5 weeks in primary, I added cacao nibs in vodka and vanilla beans in whiskey directly to the primary).

The earliest I have ever racked to secondary, though, was after 8 days. I can't even imagine racking after 4 days.

Personally I would wait another week or so for the gravity to drop further. Since it sounds like you racked off the yeast before the fermentation had completed, it could take a while, though.

 

[sailipo]

Thanks all. I may have rushed this a bit. Yes the beer has a slight sweetish flavor but not overly so. After 3 days in secondary, gravity was steady @ 1015 for the last 5 days. Eight total days in secondary. I went ahead and bottled it.

I was trying for a dryish blond brew for general consumption by my BMC drinking buddies.

I hit all my temps fairly well I think:

120-124 - 30 mins target 122
150-155 - 60 mins target 150
boil time - 90 mins. (not a really vigorous boil all the time)
pitched rehydrated yeast @ 82 degrees
primary temp 71 - 65
secondary 68 -70 degrees
bottled 5 gal w/ 5 oz dextrose

OG 1050
FG 1015

I had more Starsan foam in the carboy when I transferred to fermenter, not really liquid, just foam. Is Starsan foam hard on yeast?

Used Nottingham yeast this time. Last batch finished 5 points lower with Safale 05.

Brewing good beer is time-consuming and I may have rushed this batch.
Any thoughts on what I should examine in my technique?

Thanks

 

[Bowtiebrewery]

Thanks all. I may have rushed this a bit. Yes the beer has a slight sweetish flavor but not overly so. After 3 days in secondary, gravity was steady @ 1015 for the last 5 days. Eight total days in secondary. I went ahead and bottled it.

I was trying for a dryish blond brew for general consumption by my BMC drinking buddies.
Dryish blonde would be around 1.010-1.013 so i think you are still a bit high also the yeast you used is not really a blonde kind of yeast... Would be better with s-05 or a 1056 for drier finish, SO5 especially.
I hit all my temps fairly well I think:

120-124 - 30 mins target 122
150-155 - 60 mins target 150
boil time - 90 mins. (not a really vigorous boil all the time)
pitched rehydrated yeast @ 82 degrees
primary temp 71 - 65
secondary 68 -70 degrees
bottled 5 gal w/ 5 oz dextrose

OG 1050
FG 1015
Again just recommendations here, but perhaps stay on the low end of 150*F for a dryer finish on the beer, and honestly, probably no need to do the 120*F rest if you were to do a 75-90 minute mash held at 149*F (Others may want to chime in here) I'd also try next time to get your pitching temp down into the low 70's if possible, Primary Temp looks good to me.
I had more Starsan foam in the carboy when I transferred to fermenter, not really liquid, just foam. Is Starsan foam hard on yeast?
Nothing that I know of suggest Starsan has any effect on beer taste and or yeast performace in the amounts that brewers commonly use.
Used Nottingham yeast this time. Last batch finished 5 points lower with Safale 05.

Brewing good beer is time-consuming and I may have rushed this batch.
Any thoughts on what I should examine in my technique?

Thanks

See my comments in Red... I think you can definitely improve it a bit, but it really comes down to temperature control in your mash, and your pitching temp.

 

[djturner]

If I'm going to rack to a secondary, I usually give my ales a couple days for the yeast to reabsorb any diacetyl that may be present and allow it to clear a bit more. But if you don't taste it, and you like it, I guess rack away.
Cheers!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[skw]

Brewing good beer is time-consuming and I may have rushed this batch.

Fermentation consumes only yeast time, not your time. I know waiting is hard, so get a pipeline started and you won't get tempted to bottle too early.

Any thoughts on what I should examine in my technique?

How precise are your gravity measurements? In my experience, Nottingham does a quick drop in gravity over the first few days, then appears to stop fermenting, but if you watch it closely, gravity will still slowly drop by a few points over the course of a week or so, while not showing any krausen at all. A little bit of imprecision in measuring (did you always measure at the same temperature) and it's easy to mistake for nothing happening at all.

Also, if you haven't done so already, rehydrate dry yeast before using it. Otherwise you may end up under pitching, which can throw off-flavors or in some cases, result in a stuck fermentation.

 

[sailipo]

Thanks, you folks are generous.

Bowtiebrewery: I'll be going back to the S-05 yeast for this recipe and try mashing at 148-152. Pitching temp near 70 will require some ice here on the Gulf Coast. I'll try it.

djturner: I really don't know what diacetyl tastes like. Some say bananas. I've never noticed that flavor in my brews.

skw: Yes the krausen really disappeared quickly and the bubbling appeared to stop also.

to sum up, I'll be lowering my mash temp a bit and holding it longer, pitching at a lower temp, rehydrating yeast overnight, investigating diacetyl and brew when I really have more time to give to the process.

thanks.

 

[pumahunter]

I only use secondary as a clearing stage after I've hit my target FG...

 

[sailipo]

WOW! Time and Patience, Time and Patience.

After about 6 weeks bottle conditioning it turned out GREAT. The FG turned out to be 1011 and as would be expected, it was well carbonated. My BMC buddies love it, "it has flavor".