Secondary Fermenting too late?

[mhermetz]

So my current batch my British IPA is sitting in my secondary. However, while reading up some threads here on homebrewtalk... I came across this:

In a two stage fermentation, the brewer is attempting to time the inflection point between primary and secondary stages (or attenuative and conditioning stages) of fermentation and to rack the beer off the trub at this point. The point is to remove the protein, and other garbage along with any dead yeast cells from the fermenter before conditioning occurs. The common mistake is that people think this point is when the fermentation has stopped. THAT IS NOT TRUE. To properly use a secondary fermenter, the beer must be racked off the trub when the beer is 2/3-3/4 attenuated and is still actively fermenting. The general rule of thumb (read non-accurate way) is to rack to secondary when the bubbles in your airlock drop to 4-5 per minute.

The beer will still be turbid at this point although a thick trub layer should be visible at the bottom of the fermenter. WHen you rack the beer into your secondary fermenter there will be enough yeast in solution to properly attenuate the beer and complete the conditioning. The advantage is that in a clean or lighter beer, you have removed all the junk from your fermentation thereby hopefully removing bad taste compounds that could leach into your beer.

After reading that I'm a little concerned about the quality of my beer now. I have no doubt it will be drinkable...and most my friends will probably not know the difference but I digress...

I had the IPA sitting in the Primary for about 8 days...I took a measurement and the FG was 1.009. OG was was 1.060. It looked like all visable signs of fermenting was over... I then racked to the secondary. According to the above Blog... that is the wrong thing to do and I essentially robbed myself from proper conditioning.

Is there a way to make sure I can have the beer properly conditioned now? IE: waiting longer to drink it?

 

[Troubs]

I have always been told to wait until fermentation was done before racking to a secondary (brite tank). When I rack, the purpose is to get a clearer beer, not to continue fermentation. I'm sure someone with more knowledge will chime in.

and your beer will be fine RDWHAHB

 

[ChshreCat]

Not sure where you got the quote from, but that's different from the advice that I see the vast majority of folks on here give which is to rack to secondary (if your do it at all) sometime AFTER primary fermentation is done.

 

[Hodor_Baggins]

It seems like what that person was talking about was actual "secondary fermentation" which it seems like almost nobody on hbt does. The people who do "secondary" their beer actually are not doing "secondary fermentation" but are holding their beer in a "bright tank" which is to clear and condition their beer.

Many people (myself included) don't even bother with the bright tank most of the time and just leave their beer in primary for 3-6weeks, then go to bottle or keg.

(I apparently like using ""s)

 

[Yooper]

There are two schools of thought (maybe even more!) about this. Some ascribe to the theory you've quoted, and many others don't.

I'm not in the secondary fermentation camp- I wait a long time (maybe three or four weeks) before racking my beer, unless I'm actually planning on using a secondary for a purpose like adding fruit or dryhopping.

I believe that racking before fermentation is finished is more likely to stall fermentation, and even if not, you'll just have more sediment in the secondary. If you want until fermentation is complete, and then wait some more, the yeast cake will become more compacted on the bottom and make racking easier.

I often don't even use a secondary vessel (bright tank), because I leave it in primary the entire time before bottling or kegging.

 

[mhermetz]

well it wouldn't hurt to experiment with using only my Primary for the next batch. Would be interesting to taste the difference.

 

[ifishsum]

I normally do a 2 week primary before transferring to secondary. My experience has been that it will condition faster and attenuate more fully if left in the primary longer so I would disregard that advise and carry on.

 

[david_42]

The point is to remove the protein, and other garbage along with any dead yeast cells from the fermenter before conditioning occurs.

This thinking has, more or less, been shown to be invalid. Protein doesn't settle out until the fermentation stops agitating the wort and dead yeast cells are extremely rare in an active fermentation. I can't think of any commercial brewers that secondary (I'll admit I've only been in PNW craft breweries). Many of them do extract yeast from the fermenters before the fermentation is completely done, but this isn't because the yeast is dead, it's so they can re-use the yeast in another fermenter.

 

[G_Brew]

here's my 2-cents...

"After reading that I'm a little concerned about the quality of my beer now"

Don't worry! this will definately not lower the quality of your beer... I've learned that everyone adjusts their brewing to what works for them, i've experienced with many different ways, ranging from 1 to 4 weeks in primary, secondary or no secondary... the difference in racking a few days earlier will be very minimal (if at all) i guarantee it.