Lagering rack to secondary?

[user 78027]

I just made my first lager and am about to put it away for long tern storage. I have read many threads here about this and I can't tell if I need to rack to a secondary or not before I lower the temperature.

Should I rack to a secondary before I start to lower the temperature?

 

[cavemanbrews]

Not my area of expertise, but did you read this one? https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/lager-fermentation-steps-261740/

 

[JimRausch]

Yes, rack to secondary for lagering, but make sure she's at FG first. Lagering is basically just storing the finished product at close to freezing temps to make everything drop out of suspension, and let it mellow out some.

 

[Curtis2010]

+1. I always secondary my lagers and have had great results...crystal clear and crisp clean taste.

Temp control, and time are also very important.

 

[BigFloyd]

I prefer to cold crash in the primary at 35-36*F for 5-7 days and then rack it over (and gel it) for the long, cold sleep.

 

[b_rak]

I don't have a glass secondary fermenter. I have been taking a large funnel with a fine wire mesh filter and pouring my primary fermentation through into my bottling 5 gallon container then rinsing the funnel/mesh and primary 5 gal bucket (resanatizing) then filtering back into my primary 5 gal bucket for my secondary fermentation.

Should I worry about removing too much of the sediment which is possibly my yeast and other sediment I need to improve my flavor? When I rack into my secondary bucket, should I filter 0, 1 or 2 times?

I am getting ready to make my 5th batch ever and I have done the above described for every batch so far and my beers have all been pretty good. Could I improve my flavor more with better technique?

 

[BigFloyd]

I don't have a glass secondary fermenter. I have been taking a large funnel with a fine wire mesh filter and pouring my primary fermentation through into my bottling 5 gallon container then rinsing the funnel/mesh and primary 5 gal bucket (resanatizing) then filtering back into my primary 5 gal bucket for my secondary fermentation.

Should I worry about removing too much of the sediment which is possibly my yeast and other sediment I need to improve my flavor? When I rack into my secondary bucket, should I filter 0, 1 or 2 times?

I am getting ready to make my 5th batch ever and I have done the above described for every batch so far and my beers have all been pretty good. Could I improve my flavor more with better technique?

My biggest concern with what you're describing is the risk of oxidation which leads to stale-tasting beer (like wet cardboard). If you use some other clarification techniques, you can skip all of the steps you listed.

1) use a nylon hop bag

2) use 1/2 tab of whirlfloc 5-10 min before end of boil.

3) after chilling, let things settle (with the kettle covered) about 15-20 min before transferring to the fermenter. Take care to leave the kettle trub behind.

4) after ferment is completed, cold crash the primary 5-7 days at 35-36*F. Be careful when moving the fermenter so as not to slosh things around,

5) Optional for exceptional clarity - use gelatin about 1/2 way through the cold crash.

 

[Bramstoker17]

My biggest concern with what you're describing is the risk of oxidation which leads to stale-tasting beer (like wet cardboard). If you use some other clarification techniques, you can skip all of the steps you listed.

1) use a nylon hop bag

2) use 1/2 tab of whirlfloc 5-10 min before end of boil.

3) after chilling, let things settle (with the kettle covered) about 15-20 min before transferring to the fermenter. Take care to leave the kettle trub behind.

4) after ferment is completed, cold crash the primary 5-7 days at 35-36*F. Be careful when moving the fermenter so as not to slosh things around,

5) Optional for exceptional clarity - use gelatin about 1/2 way through the cold crash.

+1 to all this. You want to disturb the beer as little and gently as possible once fermentation has begun. By filtering like that, you're introducing a bunch of oxygen. You may not notice right away, but as a beer ages, the off flavors from oxidation get worse.