Is my Beer Ruined?

[Grantsmith13]

This is my first time brewing, A Scotch Ale, and foolishly switched it to my secondary fermenter after just 5 days? Will my beer be ruined?

 

[msujack]

In short, no. It will turn out fine.

 

[HopsMan]

Did you take gravity reading when you racked?

 

[freisste]

My first batch I was so excited I just wanted to do things. So I switched too early as well. In my primitive brewing thought process, I decided that it would be BETTER if I switched to secondary BEFORE it was at FG, thinking it would kick off a little more CO2 and fill the headspace to avoid oxidation. (In hindsight I think it is a sound idea, but the risk of a stuck fermentation or the yeast not fully cleaning up after themselves is worse than the somewhat unlikely event of oxidation in secondary if you are careful.)

My beer was not ruined. In fact, it was absolutely delicious and multiple people said they would mistake it for two hearted ale. Which is nice because that is what I was going for. The biggest issue is I think it has some significant fusel alcohol present. No taste, but it comes with a quick, BAD headache. It's like being hung over halfway through a beer. Hasn't stopped me from drinking the whole thing, though.

After all, I'm not even sure the fusels are a result of he early switch to secondary. I fermented a little warm at first before I had my swamp cooler.

So bottom line: continue as if nothing happened. Just make sure you are at FG before bottling. That would have more disastrous consequences.

 

[patthebrewer]

You'll be fine! There's probably still some yeast in the secondary anyway even if it was done.....which it probably was. Just take the gravity after secondary so you know.

 

[codyjay12]

Ok so i did something really stupid. After pouring everything into the fermenter, i placed the lid on and started to press the airlock into the hole in the top when the rubber washer pushed through into the wort. All i could think to do was use sanitizer all over my hand and arm and scrub it down as best as possible then reach in and get the washer. Did i ruin the brew by doing this?

 

[HopsMan]

Hypothetically speaking...if I were to have had this happen, I would have done what you did, and it probably wouldn't have ruined my beer.

This is all hypothetically speaking, of course.

:cross:


(I think you'll be fine.)

 

[codyjay12]

Haha ok well this is my first brew so i was pretty upset about it. I now know to set the airlock first and then secure the lid. Fingers crossed!

 

[Wirk]

My first batch I was so excited I just wanted to do things. So I switched too early as well. In my primitive brewing thought process, I decided that it would be BETTER if I switched to secondary BEFORE it was at FG, thinking it would kick off a little more CO2 and fill the headspace to avoid oxidation. (In hindsight I think it is a sound idea, but the risk of a stuck fermentation or the yeast not fully cleaning up after themselves is worse than the somewhat unlikely event of oxidation in secondary if you are careful.)

This is exactly what beer smith recommends, transfer to secondary when you still have some gravity points to go.

 

[whiskeyjack]

Transferring to a secondary is optional and really only needs to be used as needed. It was originally done to prevent autolysis from yeast cells dying off in the primary. It has been proven that autolysis does not occur in a few weeks and some brews have sat on the trub for over a year. Look at some of the threads by Denny or Revvy and they both preach the "leave it in primary for four weeks" If you have a high gravity wort and you transfer it too early you can cause a stuck fermentation. Your beer will most likely be fine, just letting you know you don't have to secondary, the only time I can think to secondary is when adding misc items like fruit and hops

 

[jethro55]

I did the same thing (transferred to secondary after a few days) on my first 3 batches. They sat in secondary for a week and then I bottled them.

All of them carb'd decently after a couple of weeks - and they all had green apple flavors when tasted over the first four weeks.

However - after five weeks in the bottle, the green apple flavors in two of these batches are gone and they are fine tasting beers. They are gonna go quick at this point - they are tasty and without any off flavors at 7 weeks after pitched.

The other batch still has slight green apple flavor. So I am guessing that a few more weeks will solve that.

So, my impatient rush to bottle did not ruin these beers. They were regular strength beers with 1.034 OG.

The more experienced users here on HBT guide us to keep things in the fermenter for at least 3 weeks. Doing this will probably make the low OG beers taste better sooner. And is likely critical to higher gravity beers for lots of reasons.