In the process of brewing my first extract beer. Its a brown ale that sat in the primary for 8 days. I then racked it into the secondary with some toasted oak chips that were soaking in bourbon for a little over a week. Anyways, what I'm getting at is I racked the beer while it still had a thick layer of krausen on top. I followed the timelines according to the recipe but after some research I'm discovering that this was too early. The airlock bubbling had slowed down to about once a minute. Does racking this early ruin the beer, or compromise the quality of the finished product? Thanks in advance for any help
Racked into secondary too early
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amandabab
Well-Known Member
no.
You shouldn't expect anything too out of the ordinary, just different. The yeast is still alive. But it will be interesting to see what happens. Brewing is finding out what happens even if you did everything right. Expectations? Overrated--you can leave them at the front door. Or so one newbie believes.
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I doubt you racked to early. I suspect the yeast are finding something to munch on in your bourbon soaked wood chips.
The drawback to racking too early is you then get more yeast than desired in the secondary, and this really isn't much of a problem.
The only time racking too early is a problem is if you are using a highly floculating yeast and it settles out too fast, and you rack it before it is finished. In some situations, these yeast strains can use a little rousing to keep them in suspension
The drawback to racking too early is you then get more yeast than desired in the secondary, and this really isn't much of a problem.
The only time racking too early is a problem is if you are using a highly floculating yeast and it settles out too fast, and you rack it before it is finished. In some situations, these yeast strains can use a little rousing to keep them in suspension
inturnldemize
Well-Known Member
My thoughts exactly. Probably the sugar in the bourbon.
There is nothing in your post to indicate that there is any serious fermentation going on after you racked. And 8 days is (usually) plenty of time (depending on the yeast strain, grain bill, temperature, etc...)
The simple answer is that your beer will be fine and might not taste any different than if you had racked in a few more days. The secondary is used to get the beer off the old dead yeast and to help clarify the beer for bottling. Racking too early might affect these things, but they are not critical to making a decent beer. Leaving the beer on the yeast for a few weeks not going to hurt it. In fact, many people prefer to keep the beer in the primary, on the yeast, for several weeks and go straight to bottling from there, instead of using a secondary.
A brown ale of average strength should not require an extended fermentation and 8 days at average temps is probably fine. I'd let it sit in the secondary for another week or so and then bottle (after checking the gravity and seeing that it remains constant for 3 days) if it's clear. Once terminal gravity has been reached you might want to crash cool it by placing the fermenter in the fridge or tub of ice water to help the sediment fall to the bottom. I probably would not bother for a brown ale though.
The simple answer is that your beer will be fine and might not taste any different than if you had racked in a few more days. The secondary is used to get the beer off the old dead yeast and to help clarify the beer for bottling. Racking too early might affect these things, but they are not critical to making a decent beer. Leaving the beer on the yeast for a few weeks not going to hurt it. In fact, many people prefer to keep the beer in the primary, on the yeast, for several weeks and go straight to bottling from there, instead of using a secondary.
A brown ale of average strength should not require an extended fermentation and 8 days at average temps is probably fine. I'd let it sit in the secondary for another week or so and then bottle (after checking the gravity and seeing that it remains constant for 3 days) if it's clear. Once terminal gravity has been reached you might want to crash cool it by placing the fermenter in the fridge or tub of ice water to help the sediment fall to the bottom. I probably would not bother for a brown ale though.
solbes
Well-Known Member
I agree your beer is fine fermentation wise. As to the oak chips, I would do some taste tests every 3-4 days to make sure you don't over-oak it. Chips have a lot of surface area and can overpower a beer quickly if you are not careful. Oak cubes or spirals are a little more forgiving with regards to time. How many oz of chips did you use?
Sounds like a great brew!
Sounds like a great brew!
solbes
Well-Known Member
Get a baseline taste now and rack when you feel like its enough. I don't think it'll take long with 4 oz of oak chips. Oak can take a long time to mellow out if its too much.
CircusHooker
Well-Known Member
Newbie question but those bourbon oak chips sound amazing. How would you sanitize those for use in the secondary? Or would you? Is soaking it in the bourbon enough?
Thanks!
Thanks!
You answered your own question. Bourbon's a pretty solid sanitizer.
OP, I'm sure you've read this by now, but those kit instructions are notorious for rushing you through the process. It's not ideal to rack that early (not by time, but with a krausen and no gravity reading it was probably early), but your beer will probably be just fine. In the future, when the krausen drops, take 2 gravity readings over 3 days, if they're the same and jive with your target FG, then transfer or package the beer. You want all of the fermentation to happen in the primary fermenter.
CircusHooker
Well-Known Member
Ooooh....that's awesome!
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