Classic question... Is secondary good for ale?

[MastahMan]

Hey all Homebrewing peeps!

I've got a classic question about secondary fermentation. should i go with it or not??

I've been brewing for more than a year and always used secondary.. mostly to use isinglass to get it clearer... always worked for me..

Recently made a personal recipe which gave me a OG of 1.062, pitched some nottingham ale yeast and left it running at 70°F... this was on saturday, everything good.. nice airlock activity all fine... my problem now is.. should i leave it till i reach a gravity around 1.012 ? leave it 2 weeks as many say? swap it to secondary? or plainly skip secondary..

I have read and heard a lot of clashing opinions and i'm not sure what to do..

any help is really appreciated!!

greetings from santiago de chile!

 

[DannPM]

No secondary is really ever needed unless you're conditioning it for over ~6 months or racking over a ton of fruit.

 

[MastahMan]

hey dann, thx for replying..

so for this case, you would say, leave 2 weeks fermenting, even if activity ceases, and then bottle directly from primary?

greets and thx...

 

[Yooper]

hey dann, thx for replying..

so for this case, you would say, leave 2 weeks fermenting, even if activity ceases, and then bottle directly from primary?

greets and thx...

Well, you never want to remove the beer from the yeast until activity ceases, so if you do want to use a secondary (more appropriately called a "bright tank") make sure the beer has been at the FG for at least 3 days before racking. The reason for this is that even after active fermentation slows/stops, the yeast then begin to go back and digest their own waste products (like diacetyl). After this period, it's fine to rack to the bright tank if you feel you must. I'm more inclined to keep the beer in the fermenter for about 2-3 weeks, then package. This avoids risks of oxidation from racking to the bright tank, and still leaves plenty of time for clarification and a diacetyl rest.

I see no need to rack to the bright tank in most ales, but I always do so for lagers and in cases of adding oak or other ingredients.

 

[MastahMan]

Hey Yooper, thx for replying

for lagers i've always found it essential to go on "bright tanks"... but for ale's... meh...

how do you calculate what to expect for FG?... i have always been in between 70% and 80%.. just let it be? now that we talking about it.. placing more yeast in primary gets you more chances to get lower FG?

thx a bunch mate

 

[wedge421]

I use a conical and pull off most of the yeast and trub after 5 days and then let it sit for another 2 weeks. Guess that would be considered secondary.

 

[Yooper]

FG is a function of several things- the attenuation of the yeast (which vary greatly), the recipe, the yeast health including the amount of yeast pitched and aeration, etc. Experience can really help with guestimating the probable attenuation, but 70-75% is a decent guess most of the time. Some of course are less, and some are more.

 

[devilbrewer75]

I only secondary if I want to get the yeast for a new batch.

 

[MastahMan]

Awesome... thx everybody!