Couple of questions about fermenting

[Thatpersson]

Hey guys,

I have been brewing a few months and have a few questions about fermenting. When do you know it is time to transfer to a secondary? I understand why people use a secondary but I want to know how to tell when it is time.

I usually wait about a week. I first look for lack of airlock activity, then I usually wait a few more days before transferring. I have heard that you are supposed to take gravity readings to determine when to transfer and when to bottle, looking for no change in the gravity over a few days period. How do you guys take these readings? A sanitized measuring cup or do you use your siphon?

Give me a run down on how you normally going about this step of brewing. I also realize this process can be very different depending on the type of beer, etc.

 

[Arneba28]

I use a wine theif to pull out a sample and put it in my hydrometer.
For all of my ales and lagers I only transfer to secondary if i really want the beer crystal clear. If its a stout or a hefe I dont worry about it. and most of the time I dont secondary anyways. If I do secondary, I transfer it to secondary just a few days before I keg. YOur beer will clean up faster and age better if you leave it on the yeast I believe.

 

[Golddiggie]

Few things...

1. I don't rack to another vessel unless I'm aging on something that benefits from being off the yeast. Or need to get it off of one flavor element before adding another. Many of us are not racking just to get clearer brew, since we can do that perfectly well in primary (for longer, or the total amount of time the brew needs)...
2. I use a glass wine thief to pull samples for testing. There's a range of items you can use ranging from a plastic wine thief, a thief with a hydrometer in it, or even something like a stainless turkey baster. I wouldn't scoop into a primary/fermenter/vessel with a measuring cup. Never mind that I'm not using buckets for my brews, I see it as risking too much.
3. Airlock activity is not a [magical] fermentation meter. Activity in the airlock, or lack of it, doesn't mean the brew is ready/done...

For me, once I've pitched the yeast, I leave the brew alone for at least 3 weeks. I go longer if not dry hopping a batch (4+ weeks). At some point, I'll pull a sample, take a hydrometer reading, and taste it. If the SG is in line with what I was expecting, and it tastes ready, I either bottle it or start the aging process. If the SG isn't in line, or it doesn't taste ready, I give it another week, or two, and repeat. So far, I've had brews sit on the yeast for up to 6 weeks with excellent results. I've also aged brews for 6-8 weeks. Sometimes that's just oak chips/cubes, sometimes it's a few different items. Best one, so far, is my old ale (my only partial mash batch)... I had it on the yeast for just over a month, and then had it sitting on medium toast oak chips for almost 6 weeks. It's a great brew, very clear and great to drink. At over 8.25% ABV, it's not for the timid... I'm actually planning to brew it again very soon. I plan on letting it go on the yeast for 4-8 weeks before aging on oak cubes this time for 3-4 weeks (or longer) before bottling it... Also going a bit stronger, closer to 9%... Tweaking the grain bill a bit, still, to get some other flavors. Although I might just go back to the fist grist, just without the DME addition (only 3# the first time)...

I think it's important to let your brew tell you when it's ready for the next step/stage. I've seen the benefits of leaving a brew on the yeast cake for longer and then racking only when it makes a lot of sense to do it. Just racking because some recipe sheet, from a kit or even a published recipe doesn't hold wort with me anymore. I did it for my first two brews, before knowing better. I can only imagine how those would have turned out had I given them more time in primary.

 

[Thatpersson]

Thanks for the info guys.

So the secondary is mainly for clearing up the beer or for adding a new flavor and taking it off another flavor? Golddiggie, what do those wood chips you use do? How did you get such a high ABV? Mine is always around 5-6%, using 8lb L.M.E. in a 5gal batch.

I just transferred my first original recipe, an oatmeal porter, to a secondary. I read your responses after and regret doing it. I dont care about how cleared up this recipe gets and would rather have more yeast action. Does transferring take the beer off the yeast and thus greatly reduce/end all yeast activity? I took a gravity reading and was pleased to see how far it had dropped ( I have had issues with a high ending gravity). However I was not pleased with the taste. It was a good base taste but had a bitter after taste. My first few recipes had a weird taste to them, a taste I described as yeasty. I thought this was because it had set on the yeast in the primary too long...maybe I was wrong?

Anyways, thanks again for the info