Primary Vs Secondary Fermentation and when to bottle

[delcosansgluten]

Hi All,

So I am still very much learning but I am happy to say that 8 bottles of this California Common are now fermenting in the fridge. You can see the recipe calls for a 7 - 10 primary ferment and then a 7 - 10 secondary ferment.
https://www.glutenfreehomebrewing.com/recipes/showrecipe.php?recipeid=195

I read that secondary fermentation introduces risks for contamination and most folks said its not required. With that knowledge, I bottled after 8 days and I wish that I had waited another week before bottling. The volume of material that is settling in the bottle eye opening.

I also read that the traub/material in the primary fermentation vessel can cause off flavor so that's why I bottled after only one week.

Based on the next two beers I am going to brew, what would you do for primary vs secondary fermentation and when would you bottle?

Octoberfest
https://www.glutenfreehomebrewing.com/recipes/showrecipe.php?recipeid=267

NEIPA
https://www.glutenfreehomebrewing.com/recipes/showrecipe.php?recipeid=173

 

[skleice]

You definitely bottled way too early. Leaving the beer on the yeast for week is nowhere near long enough to cause problems. In fact, you didn't give the yeast a chance to clean up fermentation and you most likely transferred a lot over because you didn't give it time to settle out. Make sure you're also checking final gravities.

I don't see the need to secondary most beers. Extended conditioning (like my Milletwine in the basement) would be the exception. People that secondary NEIPAs are doing so with a closed system not allowing oxygen ingress.

 

[delcosansgluten]

You definitely bottled way too early. Leaving the beer on the yeast for week is nowhere near long enough to cause problems. In fact, you didn't give the yeast a chance to clean up fermentation and you most likely transferred a lot over because you didn't give it time to settle out. Make sure you're also checking final gravities.

I don't see the need to secondary most beers. Extended conditioning (like my Milletwine in the basement) would be the exception. People that secondary NEIPAs are doing so with a closed system not allowing oxygen ingress.

Wholeheartedly agree, didn't ferment for nearly long enough. Chalking this batch up as learning for sure.

When you say "closed" system for NEIPA's, are you referring to canonical fermenters?

 

[skleice]

Wholeheartedly agree, didn't ferment for nearly long enough. Chalking this batch up as learning for sure.

When you say "closed" system for NEIPA's, are you referring to canonical fermenters?

Closed transfer means that the beer is transferred from the fermenter directly to a keg that has been purged with co2, so the beer never comes in contact with O2.

 

[glutarded-chris]

+1 on leaving it in the primary for 2 weeks. If you are fermenting in a clear primary, just wait until it is visibly nice and clear. I used to transfer to a secondary when I was dry hopping, in which case I would transfer after about a week when the violent first fermentation is over but it is not quite done and let it sit for another week or two. I always purge with CO2 when I transfer to make sure no oxygen is in contact for the secondary time. If you don't have a means of purging with CO2, then I would leave in the primary as long as it needs.

Closed system transfer is an unnecessary process complication in my opinion. When you bottle, you are going to leave oxygen in the head space anyway and that will be in contact far longer. If you feel the need to transfer, the oxygen is in contact for a very brief period of time and there is already alcohol there to help with contamination. Like always, however, sanitize, sanitize, sanitize. Leave nothing to chance. I have transferred many batches to secondary and any noticeable off flavors were certainly due to other factors in my brewing, not the brief oxygen contact time

 

[muddy1015]

Agree as well to just skip secondary in almost all cases, unless you need to rack onto fruit or something like that, and I also echo letting your beer sit for 2 weeks or so. There are certainly exceptions that can be made, especially with things like Kveik (now that it's available from GFHB), but that's a good rule of thumb. The Octoberfest will of course likely need longer, 3-4 weeks or longer depending how you control temperature.

For bottling the NEIPA you can do a few things to try to mitigate oxygen (there's also tons of threads out there with people trying things out)
-Fill to the top of the bottle
-Add some crushed campden to the bottling bucket to remove oxygen (some details here and elsewhere http://brulosophy.com/2019/02/11/po...at-packaging-has-on-beer-exbeeriment-results/)
-Rack onto your sugar solution, if you stir be sure to do it very gently
-If you want also add a small bit of crushed campden to each bottle
-Put a cap on each bottle right away and actually clamp the cap every 6 bottles or so

I did those few steps on my last NEIPA which was first time I'd bottled one and it turned out quite well for awhile, started oxidizing 6 weeks or so.

 

[BrewCanuck]

In my opinion time adds a lot of benefits to GF brewing. I had an IPA kit I made years ago that was pretty underwhelming at the 3 week mark when I kegged and force carbed it. I let it sit in the keg fridge without touching it cause frankly I was enjoying the other beer. When I eventually went back to it you could taste the complexity of the grain profile and it tasted much more balanced. I haven't done a NEIPA but in general I let beers primary for at least 3 weeks and sometimes closer to 6 before either bottling or secondary fermenting depending on what I'm looking for.