Moving from Primary to Secondary?

[blueeagles003]

I am new to brewing beer and I have the West Coast IPA from brewers best in my primary fermenter currently. I’m on day 8 of my beer sitting in the primary. The airlock has been popping since day 2, and has slowed down at this point, but is still popping. The instructions that came with the Brewers Best kit strongly recommend moving the beer from the primary to the secondary carboy when fermentation has slowed, but not yet completed. It would appear I am currently in that phase of fermentation is slowing but not yet complete. I have read a lot of conflicting opinions on whether or not utilizing a secondary carboy is worth it. What does everyone think? Is moving an IPA from a primary to a secondary at this stage best practice? I’ve read some things about how moving to a secondary helps with clarity of the beer, is that true?

Unfortunately I made the mistake of not using my hydrometer at the onset of transferring my wort from the pot to the primary bucket, so the hydrometer doesn’t help me much at this point.

Appreciate any and all feedback/thoughts!

 

[mashdar]

General consensus these days is not to use a secondary vessel unless doing a very long (months) rest. Usually this would be for a really high ABV beer or something funky (sours, brett, etc). (edit: or actual lagering)

For normal beer, just let it finish in primary, then package.

Are you bottling?

 

[blueeagles003]

General consensus these days is not to use a secondary vessel unless doing a very long (months) rest. Usually this would be for a really high ABV beer or something funky (sours, brett, etc). (edit: or actual lagering)

For normal beer, just let it finish in primary, then package.

Are you bottling?

Thanks for the response! This isn’t a particularly high ABV brew (5.6% - 6.1%) so I guess nothing to worry about with that regard.

If I choose to bypass the secondary, I will just add the final 1 oz. Pack of Chinook hops straight to the primary fermenter. With adding dry hops is it best to wait until fermentation has completed then add them into the primary? In other words, would it make sense to watch the air lock until it stops popping then add the dry hops?

I am bottling for this brew. I would like to get a keg system at some point, but I’m not there yet.

 

[mashdar]

Do you intend to harvest yeast? If not, I'd just dry hop the primary a day or two before bottling. But I haven't racked off dry hops in ages - others might have more to say about timing re letting re hops settle.

If harvesting yeast, hop matter is not ideal for long term storage. But I'm lazy, so I'd probably:
- Rack to the bottling bucket and try not to pick up a bunch of hops/yeast. You'll have to leave a bit of beer to avoid sucking up sediment.
- After bottling, swirl the yeast in the fermenter into the last bit of beer. Swirl like your life depends on it. Break up all that junk
- Wait 15 minutes to let the heaviest stuff drop out.
- Pour into a sanitized mason jar etc.
- Store in fridge. Check mason lid isn't bulging periodically and release pressure if slight bulge. If hard bulge, treat like a bomb and dispose of.

 

[blueeagles003]

Do you intend to harvest yeast? If not, I'd just dry hop the primary a day or two before bottling. But I haven't racked off dry hops in ages - others might have more to say about timing re letting re hops settle.

If harvesting yeast, hop matter is not ideal for long term storage. But I'm lazy, so I'd probably:
- Rack to the bottling bucket and try not to pick up a bunch of hops/yeast. You'll have to leave a bit of beer to avoid sucking up sediment.
- After bottling, swirl the yeast in the fermenter into the last bit of beer. Swirl like your life depends on it. Break up all that junk
- Wait 15 minutes to let the heaviest stuff drop out.
- Pour into a sanitized mason jar etc.
- Store in fridge. Check mason lid isn't bulging periodically and release pressure if slight bulge. If hard bulge, treat like a bomb and dispose of.

I do not intend on harvesting the yeast. I’ll proceed with dry hopping the primary two days before bottling and let you know how it goes! Thank you again for the great advice.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Don't let that second carboy sit there and collect dust. It's a perfect time to brew another batch to let ferment while you're enjoying that IPA.

 

[RM-MN]

The instructions that came with the Brewers Best kit strongly recommend moving the beer from the primary to the secondary carboy when fermentation has slowed, but not yet completed.

I strongly recommend that you throw away the instructions from Brewers Best Kits. They were wrong when they were written and never corrected. It is a good idea to use the "secondary carboy" for a different batch but those carboys are usually 5 gallons. Your choices are making a smaller batch of beer because there isn't sufficient room for the krausen that beer produces so it will "boil over". or making a 5 gallon batch of something that does not produce krausen. I'd suggest a wine or cider. You do not need to fill the carboy with either of those as they will produce sufficient CO2 to more than fill that space.

 

[SFC Rudy]

Transfer to secondary. Yes, no or maybe? I keep seeing arguments for and against transferring to secondary. I am not advocating for or against. Personally, I don’t, unless I’m fermenting a big beer I want to age some before I package.

This got me wondering why we transfer to secondary. Some observations from my experience.

I started homebrewing in 2001 while stationed in Germany. It was me, Charlie Papazian’s the Joy of Homebrewing and a recipe kit. My home brewery, an unheated storage room in my basement that stayed at a fairly steady 65F in the summer and 50F in the winter, the “standard” ale and lager fermentation temps. I had a naturally temperature-controlled fermentation chamber. Same here in the states, my brew room stays below 70F. More on that.

Back then, and even today, every recipe you bought says to transfer to secondary. Why? Yeast Autolysis, look it up, I’m not going to regurgitate the internet.

Until recently we homebrewers did not really understand the importance of fermentation temperature control. We were told to put our beer in a cool (60-75F) dark room and let the yeast do its thing. Then after a week transfer it to a secondary fermenter. Fermentation creates heat, and if your room was at 75F, who knows how hot your beer got. That heat would stress the yeast causing it to go through autolysis faster. The idea was/is to get the beer off the yeast cake before autolysis could occur. I never had an autolysis problem because my fermentation areas stayed temperature controlled.

I looked through the Joy of Home Brewing series and How to Brew 2nd edition and neither one referenced fermentation temperature control, just to put the fermenter in a cool, dark room. Not until 2017 did John Palmer in his 4th edition of How To Brew did he reference the importance of fermentation temperature control.

So Should you transfer to secondary? IMO if you can control the fermentation temperature, no. If the area you are fermenting in stays at or above the recommended temperature for your yeast, then yes. Again, my opinion.

 

[mac_1103]

I strongly recommend that you throw away the instructions from Brewers Best Kits. They were wrong when they were written and never corrected.

I dunno; just crossing out the part about doing a secondary is probably enough. Most of the rest of the instructions are basically fine for beginning brewers.

 

[hotbeer]

Dry hopping can be another chance to introduce O2 at a time when you shouldn't get O2 in the beer. Especially when done late, as opposed to early while some fermentation is still going on. But if you drink all that batch quickly, then you may not notice the results that worsen over time.

But I don't have much experience with it. I gave up after not quite caring for the beers I dry hopped during my first half dozen or so brews. I've found that stuffing the flavor hops in at the end of boil, and more of them works well for me. Though I'm not doing the really hoppy NEIPA's and others that somewhat require dry hopping.

Just realize that there are recipes that are pretty hoppy tasting that don't require dry hopping. But if you are going do it, then minimize the O2 exposure as much as is possible.

 

[mac_1103]

I know I've mentioned this a few times in other threads, but for the benefit of the OP and other beginners... I started with Brewer's Best kits. Followed the instructions as written because I didn't know any better. Did secondaries. Dry hopped in secondaries. Open transfers to those secondaries and to bottling buckets. All of those beers turned out just fine and were very popular with family and friends - Belgian Tripel, Double IPA, Imperial Nut Brown Ale, Brut IPA. The only signs of oxidation I ever observed were in the handful of bottles that I tried to save for longer than six months.