Secondary questions

[crbice]

Brewed our first batch and racked it into a secondary carboy, it's been two weeks yesterday and the was layers of sediment in the carboy should I give it more time to settle before bottling? I'll try and attach a pic though its not a good one

 

[eluterio]

If I understand your message, you racked it into a secondary after 2 weeks and you have what is shown in your photo with sediment still falling out?

 

[crbice]

Yea we had planned on bottling yesterday but I decided to hold off until I looked into it. We primaried for 2 weeks and the secondary is going on 2 weeks as well should I let it settle before bottling?

 

[flars]

Brewed our first batch and racked it into a secondary carboy, it's been two weeks yesterday and the was layers of sediment in the carboy should I give it more time to settle before bottling? I'll try and attach a pic though its not a good one View attachment 169004

Looks like you perhaps did not give your beer enough time in the primary. Three weeks in the primary and the beer would have been much clearer than what you have here.

Did you transfer your beer to the secondary vessel just just for clearing?

What was your Original Gravity and your Final Gravity?

 

[fearwig]

How cold can you get it? If you can get it into a fridge or outside for a couple of days it will fall out and compact.

As said above, be sure it's done fermenting though, get some gravity readings.

 

[MindenMan]

crbice, I believe you may have jumped the gun on wanting to bottle, as the beer hasn't cleared yet, I would say it wasn't ready to secondary. I am guessing you are a new brewer by your join date. There are two basic ways to possibly contaminate your beer, racking too much, and during or after the extra racking, picking up a bug. You didn't mention your O.G. as that may be the place for us to start being a help.

 

[fearwig]

He likely did rack too early, but the best advice now is to let it finish, take gravity until it's stable for three days, then chill and bottle. You haven't been shaking the carboy lately by any chance, OP?

Rereading the post--is it two weeks in secondary, or two weeks total? How long in primary?

 

[crbice]

We gad a cheap barometer when we first brewed and couldn't get a good O.G, we purchased a refractometer and the last ready we had was 10.26

 

[eastoak]

We gad a cheap barometer when we first brewed and couldn't get a good O.G, we purchased a refractometer and the last ready we had was 10.26

oh boy

 

[fearwig]

We gad a cheap barometer when we first brewed and couldn't get a good O.G, we purchased a refractometer and the last ready we had was 10.26

Keep measuring every week or so until it's stable for three days, then chill and bottle as described. You can't get an accurate measurement from a refractometer once the solution contains alcohol but I think that's still quite high (equivalent to about 1.040 with no alcohol?). Accuracy won't matter for this though, you just need to know it's stable. If you still have your... *deep breath*... barometer... you should take a measurement with that too though.

 

[flars]

We gad a cheap barometer when we first brewed and couldn't get a good O.G, we purchased a refractometer and the last ready we had was 10.26

Perhaps not getting a good reading had more to do with how you were using it. Here is a link with some information.
http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixA.html

 

[crbice]

Our barometer has a problem staying level because of a piece of plastic at the bottom so it wasn't operator error I've used one before that could stay level and it was fine. So racking it to early have ruined anything? It's our first batch and we have made a number of improvements to our system the second batch went much smoother so this round was kinda of a calibration for our equipment would be to upset if its botched... Good way to learn

 

[eastoak]

Our barometer has a problem staying level because of a piece of plastic at the bottom so it wasn't operator error I've used one before that could stay level and it was fine. So racking it to early have ruined anything? It's our first batch and we have made a number of improvements to our system the second batch went much smoother so this round was kinda of a calibration for our equipment would be to upset if its botched... Good way to learn

i hope you are using a hydrometer and not a barometer.

 

[fartinmartin]

1040 on my barometer indicates that it will be very dry. ! He ha

 

[flars]

Our barometer has a problem staying level because of a piece of plastic at the bottom so it wasn't operator error I've used one before that could stay level and it was fine. So racking it to early have ruined anything? It's our first batch and we have made a number of improvements to our system the second batch went much smoother so this round was kinda of a calibration for our equipment would be to upset if its botched... Good way to learn

Please read our replies. You can not use a barometer to measure specific gravity. A barometer measures air pressure.

 

[fearwig]

Please read our replies. You can not use a barometer to measure specific gravity. A barometer measures air pressure.

Shhh, I was waiting for him to post his weather report.

 

[crbice]

Hahaha yea I don't know why I call it that but it's a hydrometer I'm a goob but yea the air pressure in my carboy is all clear lol but my hydrometer is junk

 

[BigFloyd]

Do you have a place where you can put that carboy in the cold (under 40*F) for a few days to a week? That will clear it up rather nicely.

Next time, don't bother with a secondary.

 

[crbice]

I could most likely. Measured the gravity at 1.026 again beer doesn't taste horribly. I'll be rolling with a secondary for all my batches will be more cautious from here on out though

 

[flars]

You said your hydrometer would not stay level because of a piece of plastic on the bottom. There should be no plastic on the outside of a hydrometer. The outside should be a smooth glass surface.

Is the plastic piece part of the protection used for shipping or the base of the testing tube? Take a look at that hydrometer again. Also make sure your testing tube is long enough for the hydrometer to float. The testing tube is usually the plastic tube the hydrometer was shipped in and is long enough to hold your sample and float the hydrometer.

1.026 Final Gravity may be dangerous to bottle. The priming sugar you add may restart the fermentation and cause excessive bottle pressures. The bottles could begin exploding in a couple of weeks.

 

[kombat]

I'll be rolling with a secondary for all my batches

Why?

 

[fartinmartin]

Wow, so much effort by so many guys trying to pull this chap straight, eventually he let go of his barometer, but still won't be told re secondary,
Perhaps he is a weather forecaster.

 

[flars]

Oh, well.

 

[crbice]

Recommendation to drop the gravity or should I just ditch the batch? A whole slew of problems were picked out in the first batch and an bad yeast pitch was one of them, about to brew our third tomorrow and much more informed

 

[crbice]

Person could go mad listening to do a secondary or not. I'm just interested in the process and will continue to experiment

 

[eastoak]

as long as you move fully attenuated beer into a CO2 saturated vessel you will not have a problem. if you are doing anything other than that you are experimenting with possibly oxidizing your beer, or your beer not finishing out.

 

[fearwig]

Recommendation to drop the gravity or should I just ditch the batch? A whole slew of problems were picked out in the first batch and an bad yeast pitch was one of them, about to brew our third tomorrow and much more informed

Keep it around 70F until the gravity bottoms out and stays stable for three days, probably around 1.010. Could be a week or two since you racked it off most of the yeast, but it will likely finish with time. No reason to dump it until you've given it some time.

All this is assuming this is an extract batch, I don't see where you mentioned now that I think about it. If that 1.026 is starch from a bad AG mash it won't clear without amylase.

 

[crbice]

Keep it around 70F until the gravity bottoms out and stays stable for three days, probably around 1.010. Could be a week or two since you racked it off most of the yeast, but it will likely finish with time. No reason to dump it until you've given it some time.

All this is assuming this is an extract batch, I don't see where you mentioned now that I think about it. If that 1.026 is starch from a bad AG mash it won't clear without amylase.

This was our first All Grain batch and the mash rest was a complete failure. The jacket I had my buddies construct was a bust, but have since fixed it. This batch has had reading of 1.026 for the past two weeks from my refractometer. I know there is a formula to get a more accurate reading will this correct my gravity to 1.010?

 

[eastoak]

This was our first All Grain batch and the mash rest was a complete failure. The jacket I had my buddies construct was a bust, but have since fixed it. This batch has had reading of 1.026 for the past two weeks from my refractometer. I know there is a formula to get a more accurate reading will this correct my gravity to 1.010?

do you have a hydrometer? if not i'm going to just go ahead and call your beer done.

 

[fearwig]

You can adjust for alcohol if you have an accurate original brix reading and a current one, but I think you're better off 1) buying a hydrometer, 2) either pouring this batch or buying some amylase and adding it to your wort to convert the leftover starches, because it sounds like your mash was bad.

Once you get this all down, I think you'll realize:

a) a hydrometer is irreplaceable, a refractometer is just neat,
b) secondary is not necessary if you aren't doing long-term aging, and it should really be done after you reach final gravity so your beer can finish out (it will probably finish anyway, eventually--unless you have a mash problem),
c) sometimes it's easier to brew a new batch. Especially if your problem is really all the way back in the mash. Amylase might clean that up, but your beer's going to turn out drier than intended anyway.