24 hour secondary? OR have to coldcrash?

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Lind13

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Hey guys, so my buddy and i brewed an amber ipa about 13 days ago and it just finished up, we noticed its quite cloudy so i am going to do a secondary, we were thinking of just doing it over night, starting now and racking to bottle tomorow about the same time, is that long enough to let the rest of what transferred over to settle again? Or is my only option to get it to settle is cold crashing? We are bottling tomorrow for sure so i have to pick from the two options, would rather not cold crash unless necessary, because i would have to lift it out of the fridge tomorrow and it would just move whatever has settled around again.
 
A 1 day secondary isn't going to do much of anything for you. If it's cloudy, you're going to need more time (or cold crashing and/or gelatin) to get it to clear up. I'd give it another week and see then.

btw... if you cold crash in a fridge, you can siphon it while the fermenter is still in the fridge.
 
Cold crashing won't do you any good over 24 hours. If anything, it puts your brew at more risk for infection and oxidation than anything else. I would either bottle it as is, or like ChshreCat recommended, let it sit for another week and see if helps clear it up.
 
i didnt necessarily mean cloudy, there was a lot of hot break from my wort, quite a bit transferred over into primary, but mostly settled, we more so did it just to clear it up a bit assuming it would be "cloudy" Guess ill just check in on it tomorrow and see if anything happened, thanks for the advice guys, maybe i have a great excuse to dry hop ; )
 
realistically, 13 days is too short for primary. Not that you won't reach FG by then, but the yeast are still active and will clean up a lot of their own mess if you give the beer another 2 weeks in primary. also, your beer will clear up alot by itself if you have patience.
 
bowiefan said:
realistically, 13 days is too short for primary. Not that you won't reach FG by then, but the yeast are still active and will clean up a lot of their own mess if you give the beer another 2 weeks in primary. also, your beer will clear up alot by itself if you have patience.

This. Then dry hop in a secondary for a week.
 
It sounds like you're rushing the process. Not saying it won't be beer, but you'll have better beer if you're patient. If you read here a lot, the general consensus is to leave it in primary for at least 3 weeks. Dry hopping will only add to that time. The longer time in primary will allow the yeast to do their work to clean up and clear out.

Maybe you already (unnecessarily) racked to secondary but the only thing that would work quickly to clear it up before you bottle will be gelatin. Here, I'll save you the search:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/beer-gelatin-69919/#post735761
 
realistically, 13 days is too short for primary. Not that you won't reach FG by then, but the yeast are still active and will clean up a lot of their own mess if you give the beer another 2 weeks in primary. also, your beer will clear up alot by itself if you have patience.

I agree. 13days isn't long enuff. It may be at FG, but you should wait another week to let the yeast clean up and for the beer to fall clear.
 
If it's truly done (seems like it could use more time on the yeast) I would just bottle it. The yeast and particulate matter will settle after a few weeks carbing in the bottle and definitely after a couple more in the fridge.
 
As has been said, if you want it clear....wait. I think the biggest mistake new brewers make is doing things on THEIR schedule rather than the beers schedule. If you can only bottle on a saturday ( or whatever day) it does NOT have to be THIS saturday. wait an extra week. siphoning into a secondary for a single day will NOT clear your beer anymore than leaving it in the primary an extra day. If you want to get it clear, let it set at least another week, THEN cold crash it for 3-4 days then bottle it. And you do not have to warm it back up to bottle it, just mix up your priming sugar, rack the cold beer on top of it ( stir gently if you want to) and bottle it.
 
cold crash need a minimum of 3 days
secondary a week
one week less in fermentor can be replaced by 2-3 weeks more in bottles after carbonation
so wait now or wait more later
 
It's funny because we just bottled it and a ton settled out of the beer, we used Denny's favorite (wyeast) which is notorious for finishing up quickly, the beer was quite clean when we racked, I may have only been brewing for the past 8 months but I've done 7 extracts and now 15+ all grains so I'm not a dummy. Only set a day to bottle because my roommate is headed off to Australia and wanted to bottle his own. And I know tons of extremely good brewers who tend to ferment in primary for 2 or less weeks, almost religiously, then secondary for a week for either dry hop or trying to clean it up. But Ty for the advice I tend to just go with the flow, if I want a clear beer I get it, if my kegs are empty.... Let's just say I always manage to toss a damn good beer in those empty kegs!
- cheers
 
It's funny because we just bottled it and a ton settled out of the beer, we used Denny's favorite (wyeast) which is notorious for finishing up quickly, the beer was quite clean when we racked, I may have only been brewing for the past 8 months but I've done 7 extracts and now 15+ all grains so I'm not a dummy. Only set a day to bottle because my roommate is headed off to Australia and wanted to bottle his own. And I know tons of extremely good brewers who tend to ferment in primary for 2 or less weeks, almost religiously, then secondary for a week for either dry hop or trying to clean it up. But Ty for the advice I tend to just go with the flow, if I want a clear beer I get it, if my kegs are empty.... Let's just say I always manage to toss a damn good beer in those empty kegs!
- cheers

Then why did you bother to ask?
 
janivar123 said:
cold crash need a minimum of 3 days
secondary a week
one week less in fermentor can be replaced by 2-3 weeks more in bottles after carbonation
so wait now or wait more later

I can't wait till revvy reads this
 
Whoa settle down there Steve. I truly wanted others opinions. Wasn't sure if 24 hours was enough, so I asked before we had let it sit in secondary. Then you guys said it won't do anything. Then 24 hours later I checked on it and it had cleared up a lot. Maybe I just got lucky with it...
 
Whoa settle down there Steve. I truly wanted others opinions. Wasn't sure if 24 hours was enough, so I asked before we had let it sit in secondary. Then you guys said it won't do anything. Then 24 hours later I checked on it and it had cleared up a lot. Maybe I just got lucky with it...

well to be honest your post came off as " YOU GUYS DON'T KNOW ****, I HAVE BREWED A LOT AND DIDN'T REALLY NEED YOUR ADVICE." Also, the only stuff that fell out after 24 hours in secondary is either stuff you stirred up during racking, or stuff that would have fell out had it been left in primary another 24 hours.
 
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