Dextersmom
Well-Known Member
would a 6 gallon carboy be too large for secondary and leave too much headspace?
RegionalChaos said:So here's my real question though. Why do so many of the recipes treat fermentation as if it's over in 3 days? All the online, seemingly current info I read says it can take between 7-10 days (or even longer) for primary fermentation to complete. The recipe I had said 5 days, and a lot of the recipes in the books I've been reading seem to lean towards shorter primary fermentation times as well... What gives?
DeathBrewer said:i rarely rack mine earlier than 2 weeks. whats the point?
I've never had much problem with oxidation except for when I was all grain brewing and my pump was re circulating the mash wort. I got some hot side aeration that showed up in my beers as they aged. I'm talking about over 1 to 2 years.VA Brew said:I had a similar question and my conclusion was that an advantage to transferring to secondary either a little early or right after fermentation is complete is that CO2 escaping form the wort will make a layer of CO2 above the brew protecting it from oxidation (which means you can leave it in secondary longer without worry). That is what i am thinking but i could be wrong. I am only on batch #6.
clarkman23 said:What a great site...just found it and actually, I've been wondering the same thing...
I had always thought that leaving in the primary for too long greatly increases the chances of contamination...I usually rack from primary to secondary after 7-8 days and usually only leave in secondary for a week...I haven't done any really big beers, mostly ambers, reds & pales (one stout). anyway, great site...great info...
~Randy
cnoyes said:This is a very confusing topic as there are a lot of differing opinions. I'm trying to gather all the information I can to figure out when is the best time to rack to secondary.
From what I've figured out so far, you should rack it when the primary fermentation is over. You can tell this by checking the gravity using your hydrometer over the course of a few days. If it doesn't change, primary is over. It's ok to leave in the primary fermenter for a few days too long, but don't let it sit there longer than three weeks, or you can start getting off flavors from the trub.
beergorila said:It's hard to find an exact answer to my question within this thread, so if this is a double-post, I apologize...
Without checking with a hydrometer (and I know some will say do just do that), should you ever switch to secondary when there STILL is activity in the airlock?
It's now been 8 days in the primary, but still 4-5 bubbles a minute. I'm just trying to save time sanitizing the thief if I shouldn't even bother yet with this much activity still...
Warrior said:Racking in to a secondary should not induce oxidation. The beer should still be slowly fermenting which should push out any O2. By all means rack in to the secondary and let it clear before bottling.
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