Secondary...?

[Red53d]

Now that I have it in the secondary, should the beer be doing anything? What is actually happening in the secondary?

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

More or less the same thing that happens to soup in the fridge...the flavors are melding. Also, additional precipitate is settling into the bottom contributing to clarity. You may or may not see signs of active fermentation depending on how completely it fermented in the primary. Bottom line, your beer is getting better.

 

[Red53d]

Yon know that is what I kinda thought but just wasn't sure. Thanks for the info. Now if I wanted to could I have added fruits or something like that to the beer?

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

Yep...the secondary is one of the prime places to add flavorings such as fruit, vanilla, coffee, oak chips, hops, etc.

 

[Red53d]

Hey thanks....maybe I will do that next time. It is a chocolate stout. So maybe next time i can add cherrys or something. Thanks again.

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

For a chocolate stout I would consider adding a vanilla bean or vanilla extract...it really enhances and brings out the flavor of the chocolate. Cherry is, however, interesting. You could, in fact, add vanilla extract to taste at bottling time, if you were so inclined.

 

[Megiddo]

For a chocolate stout I would consider adding a vanilla bean or vanilla extract...it really enhances and brings out the flavor of the chocolate. Cherry is, however, interesting. You could, in fact, add vanilla extract to taste at bottling time, if you were so inclined.

I saw this post while searching for what should be happening in my secondary... which it's just sitting there, doing nothing. Nothing in the lock for the 5 minutes I could stand looking at it.

Good to see the answer.

However I'm brewing an American Cream Ale and the idea of vanilla sounds neat!

How much vanilla are we talking about? For 5 gallons that is.

 

[ahoym8e]

So why does the beer get better in the secondary, and not in when bottled?

Whether I have one big pot of soup in the fridge or 15 small pots, the flavors still meld, do they not?

 

[loopmd]

So why does the beer get better in the secondary, and not in when bottled?

Whether I have one big pot of soup in the fridge or 15 small pots, the flavors still meld, do they not?

Wow, that's a good thought. I can tell you from experience. I brewed for 5 years without a secondary. My beer went from primary to bottle. The last 2 years, I use a secondary. There is such a differance that even I notice. The flavor is better, the clarity is what I like. I don't know of any scientific reasons, but just by experience I can recommend that it be done. It was the best 18 bucks I spent on my equipment...a carboy.


loop

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

How much vanilla are we talking about? For 5 gallons that is.

Usually 1-2 beans will do the trick. I'm not sure how much extract as I usually just use whole beans. Split them open and shove 'em in.

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

So why does the beer get better in the secondary, and not in when bottled?

Whether I have one big pot of soup in the fridge or 15 small pots, the flavors still meld, do they not?

I would disagree on the soup. Imagine a soup that calls for 3 bay leaves. If you divided that into 15 pots only 3 (at most) would get any flavor from the bay leaves and it would be overwhelming, at that, as the bay leaves were meant to be distributed amongst the entire pot. The idea is the same for beer. In other words, one bottle might get a little more alpha acid from the hops than another bottle resulting in a different flavor profile. Letting it bulk age in a secondary gives all of the flavor components time to spread out evenly and mellow through the entire beer instead of just one bottle.

 

[ahoym8e]

^ great point about the bay leaves. I didn't realize that exiting the primary the liquid would still be so non-homogenous, especially after stirring the priming sugar in (in thje bottling bucket).

hehe, learning something every day!!!