Beer, Fermenting, and style

[ChickenBeer]

I have been homebrewing for a while and want to take my beer to the next level. I can make, what i consider decent beer but always feel like i missed something. while it is easy to say relax have a home brew, I appreciate it but want to discuss a couple of things that I have been trying to clear up. First in "open fermentation" i.e. per books that i have read a plastic pail with an air lock is open and once i get consistent readings 2-3 days i can move to my second. 2nd, I need to move from primary to secondary "carefully" I always hear, how carefully? should it be like a pour down the side of the carboy? or what do others do? I dont want this to be to complex or simple for people so I am more than happy to remove or move to private messages. I just want extrodinary beer and I feel like I have never been able to make something better than I could buy in the store.??? help??

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

Well...for the first question. When I think of open fermentation, I think of sour beers. Can you give us a link to a site that has an example of what you're thinking of? Open fermentation in sour beer brewing should only be done in controlled enviornments, and not too many homebrewers can pull this off. As for moving to secondary after consistant numbers...it depends. If I'm moving to secondary (and I only do when I'm adding something to the beer or it's above 1.070ish) then I like to move it before primary is completely finished. If my beer is supposed to finish around 1.010, then I'll move it at around 1.015-1.020 depending on how big the beer is to begin with. If I let the last 10-20% of fermentation take place in the secondary, it will create a nice layer of co2 above the beer and push out any oxygen. This decreases the chances of oxidation.

As for your second question... I usually use a hose long enough to reach the bottom of my secondary (or bottling bucket/keg depending on when I'm racking) and have enough length to curl around the side a little bit. This way, the beer is only splashing for a second or two before the beer covers it and there's no splashing. This is the only thing you need to worry about. A little bit won't hurt you, just try to keep it to a minimum.

 

[ChickenBeer]

Thank you, been frustrated for a while with less than perfect results on what I want. second questions makes sense. I have always let it trail down the side of the carboy but I like the idea of getting a longer tube my transfers. As for the first question, it seems to be a lot of things i have read in the past, e.g. Joy of home brewing, charlie papazian "open fermentation is a method of fermenting beer in loosely covered... plastic containers" here is where I have a problem, I have plastic beer/wine fermenter. I thought the seal and the air lock were pretty tight but maybe I have been looking at the first stage all wrong. no?

 

[tex3030]

I believe that the open fermentation that you are referring to is so that the beer will ferment with the natural yeast that are found in the air. Loosely covered would be like draping a towel over it to make sure that fruit flies are not able to get in.

 

[RM-MN]

Open fermentation is in an open vessel. You can get interesting results from this as you can get wild yeast or mold or bacteria to grow using this method. When you put a lid and airlock, you are no longer doing open fermentation. The airlock is intended to allow only one way gas exchange, going out.

If you aren't adding something like hops or fruit, you shouldn't need to move your beer to a secondary. Using a modern yeast seems to have eliminated the chance of off flavors from the yeast consuming the dead yeast cells in your fermenter.