Re-Racking

[tlhammond]

What is "Re-Racking"?? And if and when am I supposed to do it?

Cheers and thanks!

 

[Brulosopher]

Hmm. I've never really heard this term, but from a semantic perspective... I'd say it might be the second transfer of the wort or beer? Either way, don't worry about it. I'll put this simply.

1. Brew beer
2. Put beer in fermenter and leave it for 7 to 21+ days
3. Crash cool (if you have that option)
4. Package

Don't worry about using a secondary, don't worry about "re-racking." Brew, ferment, drink. Simple as that.

Cheers!

 

[jerrodm]

Can't say I've heard of "re-racking" either, although I would guess that Brulosopher is probably right.

As to whether or not secondary is useful/appropriate, be your own judge. There are plenty of VERY long conversations about the topic on this forum which you should look at, but the gist of the matter (from what I can tell) is that different people do different things and make good beer. So do your own thing, and make good beer.

Cheers

 

[daksin]

Just to clear up some terms here, racking is the act of transferring beer to a new container. If you rack once, say to a primary fermentation vessel, you could say you were re-racking it any subsequent times you transfer the beer to a new vessel, like a secondary container. That was a more common practice in earlier days of homebrewing, now it's just a sort of leftover thing some folks do and others don't. Brulosopher has the right of it, though- it probably refers to using a secondary fermentor which probably isn't necessary for you.

 

[Yooper]

Even so, "re-racking" doesn't make any sense.

You rack (siphon) from one container to another. In winemaking, you may do it three or four times over the course of fermentation.

But it's not "re-racking", any more than if you washed your car last spring and had to to do it again last week and called it "re-washing".

Racking means to siphon. You don't re-siphon. You may siphon again in the future in wine and mead making, but it depends on the recipe, the amount of lees, the clarity of the mead/wine, and the time line.

 

[jakenbacon]

Even so, "re-racking" doesn't make any sense.

You rack (siphon) from one container to another. In winemaking, you may do it three or four times over the course of fermentation.

But it's not "re-racking", any more than if you washed your car last spring and had to to do it again last week and called it "re-washing".

Racking means to siphon. You don't re-siphon. You may siphon again in the future in wine and mead making, but it depends on the recipe, the amount of lees, the clarity of the mead/wine, and the time line.

I think that pretty much sums up this thread lol.

 

[Brulosopher]

Even so, "re-racking" doesn't make any sense.

You rack (siphon) from one container to another. In winemaking, you may do it three or four times over the course of fermentation.

But it's not "re-racking", any more than if you washed your car last spring and had to to do it again last week and called it "re-washing".

Racking means to siphon. You don't re-siphon. You may siphon again in the future in wine and mead making, but it depends on the recipe, the amount of lees, the clarity of the mead/wine, and the time line.

I'm reposting in approval.