Racking to secondary question

[BigBlueBrad]

I brewed a Holiday ale last Saturday and I want to transfer it to a secondary so it will be clear as I am going to serve it a a gathering.

I have brewed over ten batches, but I have not racked to a secondary since that first batch.

I use glass carboys. My airlock quit bubbling on Thursday morning, but I still have a nice head of krausen on top of the beer.

So my question is when to rack. Now that I see no more airlock activity or wait for the krausen to fall.

Thanks my brewing brothers!

 

[262andbrew]

Wait for the krausen to fall. Those yeasties are still working for you.

 

[BigBlueBrad]

Thanks, man. This is the first beer in a while that I am eager to try. I used kits my first three and switched to extract and recipes. This is extract, but I used different things like honey, orange zest, cinnamon, allspice and others. It smelled awesome!

 

[superjunior]

it will also clear leaving it on the primary longer. lots of folks here (including myself) let it sit in primary for at least 3 weeks with very clear results. btw hydrometers don't bubble jk

 

[Calder]

Racking to secondary does not make the beer clear any quicker. All it does is get it off the yeast cake quicker. The latest trend is to keep it on the primary yeast for a few weeks to allow the yeast to 'clean' up the beer.

Leave it where it is. Bottle straight from Primary.

 

[RM-MN]

Since you brewed it last Saturday and want it to clear, I hope the holiday you have in mind is President's day. It takes a while for the brew to clear and more time to mature. Christmas would be pushing it I think.

 

[Johnny_Crunch]

I wouldn't touch it for at least 3 weeks, then I would go straight to the bottling bucket and into the bottle.

 

[BigBlueBrad]

Since you brewed it last Saturday and want it to clear, I hope the holiday you have in mind is President's day. It takes a while for the brew to clear and more time to mature. Christmas would be pushing it I think.

Yeah. I am hoping the 8th of Jan. or so.

 

[zeb]

I moved to my secondary on my current batch due to the amount of hops that were pushed onto the roof of my carboy during the first 36 hours. I had so much activity that my airlock was overflowing with foam. So when I opened it up to check gravity, I had large amounts of "junk" falling into my beer and ultimately never floating down. It was like a hail storm, constantly having objects drop as time when by as it dried. SO... I moved early to my secondary after 4 days.

Other than that I will say I have alot of clarity now that nothing else is dropping onto it anymore. But if you dont have that problem then maybe longer in the first fermenter is a good idea.

 

[Schlenkerla]

I moved to my secondary on my current batch due to the amount of hops that were pushed onto the roof of my carboy during the first 36 hours. I had so much activity that my airlock was overflowing with foam. So when I opened it up to check gravity, I had large amounts of "junk" falling into my beer and ultimately never floating down. It was like a hail storm, constantly having objects drop as time when by as it dried. SO... I moved early to my secondary after 4 days.

Other than that I will say I have alot of clarity now that nothing else is dropping onto it anymore. But if you dont have that problem then maybe longer in the first fermenter is a good idea.

That's why its god to use a larger fermentation vessel. I have a 7.8 gal bucket that works great for a primary. Its big enough that I don't have airlock issues. Also if you keep beer in the primary longer it matures faster than doing the 1,2,3 rule. That's one week in the primary, two weeks in the secondary, and three weeks in the bottle.

Get yourself a few larger sized vessels so you can let them sit longer. I usually leave my beer in the primary three weeks. I secondary too. I want my beer to be clean and relatively yeast free. When you share your beer with non home brewers they seem to frown on this minor flaw. This prevents me from having to explain this.