3rd fermenter?

[FireHawk]

After 3 days in primary fermenter, I have a couple inches of trub built up on the bottom. I was going to leave the primary for a week, and then secondary for a week. My question is if a third or even a fourth fermenter is possible and/or recommended.
It's a pumpkin beer with real pumpkin and it was filtered after the mash.

 

[GuldTuborg]

I'd make sure your gravity is stable before racking it the first time. Maybe that will be a week, maybe it won't. The yeast isn't going to follow your time table, so why not follow theirs instead?

Also, why are you so keen to rack to so many fermentors/carboys/whatever you want to call them?

 

[kh54s10]

I would thing that doing more than a secondary would be a lot of work for very little return. Every time that you mess with the beer you increase the risk of infection or oxidation.

I plan on doing a Pumpkin Ale in a few weeks when I can get pumpkins and have time. I will do a primary for about three weeks then package. No secondary, no tripary and no quadrary.

So, no - just a secondary if you feel you need one.

I second the idea of waiting for the yeast to get the beer to final gravity before proceeding. The yeast can not read a calendar and will ferment the beer on their own schedule.

 

[FireHawk]

The purpose of so many transfers is to help clarify and rid my final beer of sediment. My carboys are plastic and have a valve 2 inches off the bottom to empty them. Right now the sediment is more than an inch above the valve, so if my secondary still has a bunch of sediment I thought a third would be necessary.

I will wait until my yeast is done doing its thing before transferring to secondary as suggested.

 

[hvjackson]

The the common explanation of "transferring to secondary to help clarify" doesn't make sense to me. Doesn't the beer settle out just as well in the first fermenter? If your valve is at an inconvenient height maybe you could tilt the fermenter and/or use a siphon.

I used to do secondaries because that's what the guy at the homebrew shop told me to do when I bought my first kit, but I stopped after a couple batches. It seems that the current wisdom is to not bother unless you're lagering or aging for a long time (more than a month) or are actually doing a proper secondary FERMENTATION with additional sugar / fruit.

Every time you transfer you WILL get some oxidation (unless you have a closed, CO2 filled system). There's also a risk of infection, and more stuff to do & clean.

I'd say just leave it. If you did a pumpkin you're going to have a ton of sediment. Just give it 3 weeks or so and then siphon it right into your bottling bucket.

 

[dbsmith]

I would only secondary after at least 12 days. I wouldn't do any more transfers as you are just increasing the risk of infection as said before. Most of the time, secondaries are useless IMO. Byo magazine had a great article in their latest issue called "Brewer's Yeast and Brett Fermentation Flavors" for anyone who loves chemistry/biology. It shows when different off-flavors peak and decline. If you transfer the beer over too soon then they won't be able to clean up things like diacetyl.

 

[GuldTuborg]

If the sediment is over the top of your valve, buy a racking cane (you ought to have one anyway) and rack from above it. Leave it in the secondary until it's ready to bottle. It can stay there for a while.

 

[FireHawk]

What I meant by "helping to clarify" is that by putting it into a secondary, I will leave 90% of the sediment behind. When I transfer out to prime and bottle, 90% of the remaining sediment will be left behind. Leaving me with a very clear beer and nothing in the bottom of the bottles. Any brewer using any method to transfer is going to stir up some of the particles. Since I've got an abnormally large amount of crude sitting in the bottom, I thought that transferring to a tripary may be necessary.

I've been brewing off and on for 4 years now, done about 10 kits and this is currently my 5th homemade recipe. So I am still relatively new to the homebrew scene and all of the information given so far is greatly appreciated. I'm really trying learning about how things work not just what to do. Thanks for the help.

 

[KepowOb]

No matter what you do, you'll end up with something at the bottom of your bottles. There is some yeast in suspension when you bottle your beer, and that yeast is what carbs up your beer. It eventually settles down as well, leaving you with some crud at the bottom.

Many people here never bother with a secondary and have crystal clear beer. Sitting on the trub won't cause more to be in your beer, as long as you don't suck any up when you rack to your bottling bucket. If you move your primary (or secondary) before you rack to a bottling bucket, try moving it a few days ahead of time. When you move it, some stuff might get put back up into suspension and you want to give it a chance to settle back out.

 

[FireHawk]

I expect some stuff in the bottles but still want to try and minimize it if possible. I'll do a secondary and see how things look.

 

[GuldTuborg]

You could always cold crash or use gelatin or some other kind of clarifier.

 

[kh54s10]

I find that leaving the beer in primary for 3 weeks the carefully racking off the beer without disturbing the trub is plenty. If you wish to do a secondary that is fine. Any more transfers would likely be more of a risk of doing harm than have any benefit.

 

[djt17]

I find that leaving the beer in primary for 3 weeks the carefully racking off the beer without disturbing the trub is plenty. If you wish to do a secondary that is fine. Any more transfers would likely be more of a risk of doing harm than have any benefit.

This...I have never even done a secondary. Add a cold crash &/or gelatin, my beers are very clear.

 

[eastoak]

I expect some stuff in the bottles but still want to try and minimize it if possible. I'll do a secondary and see how things look.

if you want to minimize the stuff in the bottles then leave it in the primary for 2-3 weeks, cold crash it for 1-2 days then bottle. if you move it around to various vessels you may end up with clear, oxidized beer which is worse than no beer at all.


(or, even better, start kegging and you can blast all of the yeast out in the first glass or 2 of beer. problem solved.)

 

[FireHawk]

What's a cold crash?

 

[eastoak]

What's a cold crash?

put the fermentor in a fridge at 33-35 degrees for a day or so. the yeast and any other particles in suspension will drop right down to the bottom and the yeast cake sometimes gets rock hard making it very easy to transfer crystal clear beer into your kegs/bottles.

 

[FireHawk]

Right on eastoak, thanks. Like a boss. Not to worried about the inevitable yeast and small stuff that builds up in a bottle, but I may try that any way just for fun and experimentation.

 

[ChshreCat]

Also... I've found that the longer you leave it in fermenter, the more solid and compact the trub layer becomes. It turns into something that almost resembles a thick pudding.

 

[FireHawk]

If it's pudding like that should stop a lot of it from being transferred to begin with. I'm feeling better about my situation everyday.

 

[ChshreCat]

It's an old thread, but check this out:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/leaving-beer-behind-your-yeast-116795/