Racking

[charley]

I read a lot of posts about "before I rack" or "when I rack"... Not to sound too much like a noob but what does that mean? I looked at pics online and it seems to me that it's just something to hold your bottles while they dry.

 

[emjay]

Racking refers to transferring the beer from one vessel to another... usually from a primary fermentor to a secondary, if not specified.

 

[charley]

Ok next dumb question... After I ferment for 2-3 weeks in my carboy, I should put it in another fermenter? I thought I ferment for 2-3 weeks then transfer to my bottling bucket with a spigot, add sugar then bottle

 

[emjay]

Ok next dumb question... After I ferment for 2-3 weeks in my carboy, I should put it in another fermenter? I thought I ferment for 2-3 weeks then transfer to my bottling bucket with a spigot, add sugar then bottle

You can do it either way. Using a secondary is old school, but IMO it's unnecessary work. You'll find that people on this site have very strong opinions about the issue, on both sides.

 

[charley]

IMO? Man trying to learn the beer lingo Here is impossible! I need a beer thesaurus! What's IMO?

 

[grizzlystate]

IMO? Man trying to learn the beer lingo Here is impossible! I need a beer thesaurus! What's IMO?

I believe that means 'in my opinion'.

 

[charley]

Ahhhh I see. I need to channel my inner texting lingo to keep up around here

 

[zacster]

Let's start the argument: I ALWAYS rack to a secondary. I find it gives me much cleaner, clearer beer. You can also keep it in a secondary longer once the brew is off the yeast/sediment. For lagers in particular, you want the lagering process to be done off the sediment.

 

[Gixxer]

Although it does give a clearer beer, if I am not dry hopping I am wishy washy. Sometimes I do sometimes I dont. I kinda don't care all that much if my beer is perfectly clear. If it tastes good I am happy.

 

[Gixxer]

Forgot to add I trust my sanitation so I ain't skeered of infection

 

[Yooper]

Ok next dumb question... After I ferment for 2-3 weeks in my carboy, I should put it in another fermenter? I thought I ferment for 2-3 weeks then transfer to my bottling bucket with a spigot, add sugar then bottle

When you move the beer to the bottling bucket, you'll use a siphon to do that to avoid aerating the beer. You want to have no splashing at all. The process of siphoning beer or wine is called "racking".

The first step is to boil 2 cups of water with your priming sugar and then pour that into your sanitized bottling bucket. Then, rack the beer into this liquid, by curling the hose around the bottom so it swirls as the beer enters the bucket (to mix) and fills from the bottom (to avoid oxygenating).

You'll use a bottling wand in your spigot. I also use a little piece of tubing to make the bottling wand longer. The bottling wand as a little spring that stays closed, so you open up the spigot and keep it locked open. Then, you fill the bottle with the bottling wand by pressing the botting wand on the bottom of the bottle. The bottle fills from the bottom with no splashing. Then, you fill more bottles and then cap them with sanitized caps. That's it!

I use my dishwasher door as my bottling platform. Then, because some beer always drips or overflows, when I'm done I just close the dishwasher. That means I don't have a mess to clean up at all.

There are lots of pictures to help with this process so it'll be smooth and easy for you!

 

[BronxBrew]

Racking into a secondary also slows the carbonation prossess if your bottling.

 

[turvis]

If you want to clear your beer with out a secondary you can also cold crash. Which drops sediment and other things in suspension out of the beer. Do this in swamp cooler or fridge.

 

[CrookedShepheard]

yeah, Secondary no doubt gives a clearer product... i don't think that is debatable. however, i recently switched to the only primary program so i could free up my carboy to ferment gruit at the same time. i am a brew geek so i am bummed to not rack my beer since i love and enjoy every step of the process but freeing up the carboy means i have 10 gallons going at one time rather than just 5.
- on the other hand, when first starting out you may want to get to know the beer by using the carboy so you can see what's going on in there.

 

[Yooper]

Racking into a secondary also slows the carbonation prossess if your bottling.

No it doesn't.

 

[Gasturbine]

Ahhhh I see. I need to channel my inner texting lingo to keep up around here

"IMO" or "IMHO" (in my humble opinion) is not proprietary to this site...it has been common internet terminology for 20 years.

Just an FYI.