Racking Primary to Keg

[xjames14x]

I want to rack to a secondary vessel. I just brewed a pale ale that is going to be around 5.2%. I am planning on racking into my kegs and let sit at around 52 degrees for conditioning purposes. I was wondering if anyone has done this, and how did the results vary from racking to a glass carboy or another bucket?.....

I want to not expose this beer to oxygen and this will be the best way for me to do this without having to transfer twice, Make sense? also I want to get it off the yeast cake .......

 

[jake-k]

Why do you want to secondary/condition a pale ale? I primary mine for three weeks, keg, carbonate for 2-3 weeks and its usually perfect. I'm not one of those guys who say never secondary, but I don't find any benefit for a secondary of a pale ale. If its for clarity, I use whirlfloc but I'm not that hung up on clarity. Just curious!

 

[xjames14x]

Why do you want to secondary/condition a pale ale? I primary mine for three weeks, keg, carbonate for 2-3 weeks and its usually perfect. I'm not one of those guys who say never secondary, but I don't find any benefit for a secondary of a pale ale. If its for clarity, I use whirlfloc but I'm not that hung up on clarity. Just curious!

don't want my beer to sit on top of the dead yeast for more than 12 days.. kind of like if I had a conical fermenter I would pull the yeast off after primary fermentation

 

[hezagenius]

I think what @jake-k was saying is why not drink it when it's fresh? What will you gain by conditioning a pale ale? If it's done fermenting, then keg it, carb it and drink it.

 

[zgja2]

Racking of after 12 days is totally unnecessary. You can leave beer on the yeast for months without ill effect. In fact you need those yeast to clean up off flavors after primary fermentation is complete. My rule of thumb. Leave all low gravity beers in primary for 2 weeks min (for ipa and other hoppy beers) then dryhop and proceed to drinking it. High Gravity is more like a month in primary. Secondary only used for fruit additions and bulk aging over a month or 2.

 

[xjames14x]

I agree with all the posts I was just wondering if anyone has racked to keg to use as a secondary fermenter where you can let sit for another week, then crash and carb?
but with all my beers I let the yeast do their job but I take it off the yeast so I wont get soapy flavors in my beer (never had a issue with soapy flavors) but when the beer is finished that dead yeast can create those flavors...... my last pale ale it was done in 3 weeks and was awesome. I ferment at 62 degrees for 3 days then I bump up to 70 degrees for about 5 more days then I either transfer to secondary or crash and keg. That's my process

 

[carvetop]

I agree with all the posts I was just wondering if anyone has racked to keg to use as a secondary fermenter where you can let sit for another week, then crash and carb?
but with all my beers I let the yeast do their job but I take it off the yeast so I wont get soapy flavors in my beer (never had a issue with soapy flavors) but when the beer is finished that dead yeast can create those flavors...... my last pale ale it was done in 3 weeks and was awesome. I ferment at 62 degrees for 3 days then I bump up to 70 degrees for about 5 more days then I either transfer to secondary or crash and keg. That's my process

I have absolutely used the keg as a secondary vessel and it's an extremely safe, sanitary and O2-free way to do things. You can either modify an existing lid to fit a stopper and airlock or you can buy one. When you've decided that the fermentation is over, simply replace the lid with a standard lid w/PRV, crash, carb, drink.

 

[xjames14x]

Racking of after 12 days is totally unnecessary. You can leave beer on the yeast for months without ill effect. In fact you need those yeast to clean up off flavors after primary fermentation is complete. My rule of thumb. Leave all low gravity beers in primary for 2 weeks min (for ipa and other hoppy beers) then dryhop and proceed to drinking it. High Gravity is more like a month in primary. Secondary only used for fruit additions and bulk aging over a month or 2.

I disagree with leaving beer on yeast for months....

 

[Yooper]

I agree with all the posts I was just wondering if anyone has racked to keg to use as a secondary fermenter where you can let sit for another week, then crash and carb?
but with all my beers I let the yeast do their job but I take it off the yeast so I wont get soapy flavors in my beer (never had a issue with soapy flavors) but when the beer is finished that dead yeast can create those flavors...... my last pale ale it was done in 3 weeks and was awesome. I ferment at 62 degrees for 3 days then I bump up to 70 degrees for about 5 more days then I either transfer to secondary or crash and keg. That's my process

Sure, tons of people rack to the keg and let it sit. Some will add priming sugar at that time, and store it at 70 degrees for a week or two, so it will be carbed up and conditioned when it goes into the kegerator.

 

[xjames14x]

I have absolutely used the keg as a secondary vessel and it's an extremely safe, sanitary and O2-free way to do things. You can either modify an existing lid to fit a stopper and airlock or you can buy one. When you've decided that the fermentation is over, simply replace the lid with a standard lid w/PRV, crash, carb, drink.

I need to get that lid for future beers....thank you for the response

 

[zgja2]

I disagree with leaving beer on yeast for months....

This has been discussed to death. Best practice? maybe not. will is ruin you beer? defiantly not.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=369049
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=445018&page=2
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=420878

 

[chickypad]

I need to get that lid for future beers....thank you for the response

Unless you're actually doing a secondary fermentation by adding more fermentables you don't need a vented lid. Just purge and seal it up. I do all my aging in kegs, whether it's lagering or something like aging a big stout at room temps - as mentioned it's a very common practice.

 

[Gavin C]

racking into my kegs and let sit at around 52 degrees for conditioning purposes. I was wondering if anyone has done this

I do it every batch (edit: I do not let it sit at 50F though)

Ferment in primary to reach FG

Cold crash to 31F

Rack to sanitized CO2 filled keg (usually at or near the 14 day mark)

I keep the beer at ~34F as it carbs in the keg

Depending on the beer type at speed at which I force carbonate, it's ready to drink anwhere from 2 days to 4+ weeks

 

[kombat]

don't want my beer to sit on top of the dead yeast for more than 12 days.

Why on earth would the yeast be dead after just 12 days? What are you doing to your poor yeast!

As others have pointed out, not only is the yeast perfectly fine at that time (and indeed, for several weeks afterward), it's actually still working! After primary fermentation winds down, the yeast continues cleaning up, reabsorbing fermentation by-products, and creeping down to your final gravity. Separating your beer from the yeast will result in "green" flavours in the beer, but it's moot, because the only way to truly "separate" the beer from the yeast is by filtration. What you're proposing (racking to another vessel) will still leave billions and billions of yeast cells in suspension.

What I'm saying is, you're wasting your time, and risking oxidizing or contaminating your beer.

I leave all my beers alone to ferment for 3 weeks, then rack directly to a keg, where they go into the keezer on CO2 to begin conditioning/clearing/carbonating. No need to spend any time at 52° F - just go straight to serving temperature so it can begin clarifying. Carbonate simultaneously to save time.

 

[xjames14x]

Unless you're actually doing a secondary fermentation by adding more fermentables you don't need a vented lid. Just purge and seal it up. I do all my aging in kegs, whether it's lagering or something like aging a big stout at room temps - as mentioned it's a very common practice.

that's what im doing with this beer and going to do for my pilsner next....im going to do a homebrew Wednesday video on my youtube...my name is xjames14x.....

 

[xjames14x]

I do it every batch (edit: I do not let it sit at 50F though)

Ferment in primary to reach FG

Cold crash to 31F

Rack to sanitized CO2 filled keg (usually at or near the 14 day mark)

I keep the beer at ~34F as it carbs in the keg

Depending on the beer type at speed at which I force carbonate, it's ready to drink anwhere from 2 days to 4+ weeks

exactly what I did...dry hopping in one keg for a few days then going to crash and carbonate

 

[xjames14x]

Why on earth would the yeast be dead after just 12 days? What are you doing to your poor yeast!

As others have pointed out, not only is the yeast perfectly fine at that time (and indeed, for several weeks afterward), it's actually still working! After primary fermentation winds down, the yeast continues cleaning up, reabsorbing fermentation by-products, and creeping down to your final gravity. Separating your beer from the yeast will result in "green" flavours in the beer, but it's moot, because the only way to truly "separate" the beer from the yeast is by filtration. What you're proposing (racking to another vessel) will still leave billions and billions of yeast cells in suspension.

What I'm saying is, you're wasting your time, and risking oxidizing or contaminating your beer.

I leave all my beers alone to ferment for 3 weeks, then rack directly to a keg, where they go into the keezer on CO2 to begin conditioning/clearing/carbonating. No need to spend any time at 52° F - just go straight to serving temperature so it can begin clarifying. Carbonate simultaneously to save time.

not necessarily dead but the yeast that have fallen out.....my beer is usually done fermenting in 10 days because I use a good yeast starter ...I let sit at 70 degrees for a good 5-7 days then I transfer and crash.....will start doing this keg transfer though more because I have more kegs now open...thank you for your reply

 

[Gavin C]

exactly what I did...dry hopping in one keg for a few days then going to crash and carbonate

No waiting to carbonate for me.

Cold beer into keg, carbonation & cold conditioning/lagering begins immediately

 

[xjames14x]

No waiting to carbonate for me.

Cold beer into keg, carbonation & cold conditioning/lagering begins immediately

I force carbonate usually, where I roll the keg on its side for 1 minute at 30 psi then let sit for 16-24 hours on no co2, then connect to serving pressure and purge...its ready a few days later......

sound ok?

 

[m00ps]

I disagree with leaving beer on yeast for months....

I disagree with your disagreement. Check out the wild/lambic section

the idea that autolysis will set in if you dont get the beer off the yeast cake is antiquated. it likely was spread back when homebrewers didnt have access to high quality yeast

 

[cohni]

Hey I'm new to brewing. I found a great recipe I want to brew. It's a 10 gal receipt. Can I just cut every thing in half for a 5 gal yield. Will it be the same?

 

[m00ps]

Hey I'm new to brewing. I found a great recipe I want to brew. It's a 10 gal receipt. Can I just cut every thing in half for a 5 gal yield. Will it be the same?

basically, yes you can. Hop utilization varies with the volume you have, but you really only need to adjust that for scaling to commercial size batches. At a homebrew scale, just use simple multiplication

side note: what made you post that in this topic? seems a bit random....

 

[Gavin C]

I force carbonate usually, where I roll the keg on its side for 1 minute at 30 psi then let sit for 16-24 hours on no co2, then connect to serving pressure and purge...its ready a few days later......

sound ok?

No.

I'm not a proponent of shaking kegs.

 

[tagz]

Some old school homebrewing up in this thread!

 

[Yooper]

No.

I'm not a proponent of shaking kegs.

Me neither. Even though I rack carefully, there is always a little sediment in the bottom that I don't want to have suspended in my keg, and I never got it right- it was either overcarbed and foamy, or undercarbed and foamy.

What works great for me, if I"m in a big hurry, I'll put the keg in the kegerator and set it at 30 psi for 36 hours, then purge and reset at 12 psi. Within two days, it's pretty good and within 5 days it's perfect.

 

[xjames14x]

Me neither. Even though I rack carefully, there is always a little sediment in the bottom that I don't want to have suspended in my keg, and I never got it right- it was either overcarbed and foamy, or undercarbed and foamy.

What works great for me, if I"m in a big hurry, I'll put the keg in the kegerator and set it at 30 psi for 36 hours, then purge and reset at 12 psi. Within two days, it's pretty good and within 5 days it's perfect.

going to do this, sounds nice and simple and the comment before ive had happen once where a beer was quite carbonated, it tasted good but over carbonated

 

[xjames14x]

Hey I'm new to brewing. I found a great recipe I want to brew. It's a 10 gal receipt. Can I just cut every thing in half for a 5 gal yield. Will it be the same?

I would search the forum about recipe building or something, or if you use a brewing program like brewersfriend or beersmith, put the recipe in and you can scale to a 5 gallon batch..hope this helps

 

[Onkel_Udo]

I need to get that lid for future beers....thank you for the response

No need, just pop a gas side QD on there with tube to a jar of (insert blow-off liquid here)...a blow off tube is the same as an air lock functionally.

 

[Brettomomyces]

No need, just pop a gas side QD on there with tube to a jar of (insert blow-off liquid here)...a blow off tube is the same as an air lock functionally.

Second...I also do this when transferring into kegs

 

[xjames14x]

Second...I also do this when transferring into kegs

and when transferring from the primary keg to a second keg you can just hook up the gas line and push it out by co2 correct?? seems like it would work better than using glass carboys

 

[Onkel_Udo]

and when transferring from the primary keg to a second keg you can just hook up the gas line and push it out by co2 correct?? seems like it would work better than using glass carboys

I rarely do this but it is a valid process.

 

[Yooper]

and when transferring from the primary keg to a second keg you can just hook up the gas line and push it out by co2 correct?? seems like it would work better than using glass carboys

For keg to keg transfer, the best way is to connect the kegs this way: black QD, beer line, black QD.

Then push with 2 psi via the gas line and QD on the first keg (don't move the first keg- that is key!!!!!). Since you're going "beer out" to "beer out", it will reduce foaming and splashing. Then, just pull the pressure relief valve on the receiving keg every once in a while to keep the beer flowing.

You can do that with carbonated or uncarbonated beer.

 

[Brettomomyces]

Yep, like Yooper said. I mostly use the blowoff method to keep everything completely sealed, but really just pulling the relief valve up like Gavin's pic is totally fine