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Fermenting a Porter, add ingredients to Primary?

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newtonfb

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So Ive got a porter going and its going good. Couple more days and it should be done fermenting. My question is, once its done fermenting in the primary, can I add my ingredients (cocoa, maple syrup, ect) right in the primary or should I transfer it to a secondary and then add? I usually just let it sit in the primary for a few weeks but since im adding ingredients I didn't know if it was okay to just do it in primary or secondary? Thanks.
 
I add nearly everything in primary these days. Some things I throw in hopsacks (I'd probably do the nibs in one.) Lately I've been hanging things in the bucket in santized hopsacks, like dryhops, mesquite smoked pineapple, just held in place by the bucket lid. That way I can easily remove stuff if I don't want to necessarily make the addition the final thing before kegging or bottling.
 
I usually transfer the beer off the trub to secondary first, but put the nibs or syrups in first at the bottom. Both Mosher and Palmer I believe say to add mostly to secondary, Mosher for sure. Wouldn't syrups (that are heavy) just sink to the bottom on top of the trub. Trying going to Northernbrewer.com and ask a brew master with the chat. LMK..

One thing I've found with making beer, there are many different techniques.

Keep things clean my friend...
 
I usually transfer the beer off the trub to secondary first, but put the nibs or syrups in first at the bottom. Both Mosher and Palmer I believe say to add mostly to secondary, Mosher for sure. Wouldn't syrups (that are heavy) just sink to the bottom on top of the trub. Trying going to Northernbrewer.com and ask a brew master with the chat. LMK..

One thing I've found with making beer, there are many different techniques.

Keep things clean my friend...

If the syrups are sugar syrups the yeast is going to manage to find it anyway...And if it's a flavoring syrup it's going to integrate as it gets racked to a keg or bottling bucked anyway.

And Palmer, and Mosher's books were written long before the extended primary discussions and views changed. Palmer has even backed off on the primary/secondary thing.
 
I always use a secondary (harvest clean yeast) on every batch.

That said, I think I would recommend secondary anyway, otherwise you will just be kicking up all the settled trub. Not that that is a bad thing, but it just has to settle once again.
 
So a little bit of a problem.
My gravity went up!
So before adding in maple syrup, lactose, and vanilla beans my gravity wasnt as low as id hoped in the first place. Anyways, so I thought that adding in sugars would lower it and the ABV would go up. When i added in the ingredients there was no activity, but after I added them in, it kickstarted again and its been bubbling for a few days which I thought was great. Well I took a gravity reading this morning and it actually went up by a little.
I did something wrong originally and didnt hit my OG and now my final gravity will be way off to.
How do i Calculate the new ABV with the maple surgar i added in?
 
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