To rack or not to rack

[D-west]

First beer, all grain, on my virgin welded keggles. Hit all my numbers in the end, super stoked about how everything went.

Even after the gods tried to shoot me down when I forgot to pre heat my mash tun, didn't hit my strike temp and had to direct fire and recirculate to get up to temp. Oh and then almost forgot my whirlfloc tablet @50min. Whew that was a fun experience for my first time :rockin:

Scotch ale, my own grain bill. 1.065 post boil

1/22 pitched starter 68f
1/24 high krausen 65f
1/25 Slowing down 64f
1/26 64f a bubble every 5 seconds or so. Im tempted to pop the airlock and grab a sample to check the gravity.

I am also very impatient when it comes to making stuff (I do lots of ciders).

My question:

Should I rack it to secondary in a few days?

Most of the info I see says 4 days for a scotch ale is good for primary and rack to secondary and let it sit for about 2-3 weeks to clear.

Then the other 50% say dont rack it at all, just leave it in primary for the yeast to clean up off flavors and rack it directly to bottle, or keg. (I keg)

I anticipate I might get the same mixed results asking the question, but can someone tell me the pros and cons?

 

[CA_Mouse]

Racking to secondary is not needed. It can introduce oxidation into the finished product. I only rack to a keg, a barrel or onto fruit or bacteria for sours. I don't even rack my IPAs to a secondary vessel.

 

[C-Rider]

SLOW DOWN.

You can't rush bier. W/all grain I'd wait 3 weeks and then check OG. Do it again 2 days later. If no change it's done. I usually wait 4 weeks and then bottle.

Forget the secondary for your ale. If you are worried about CLEAR bier then cold crash it....but that won't change the flavor so you could forget that. Don't believe old wife's tales about leaving your bier sitting on the yeast. You can go at least 2 months on the yeast w/o a worry.

 

[porterpounder]

Leave it in primary 10-14 days. Check gravities if you're not sure it's finished, but for a healthy yeast pitch I usually don't bother, then package. Secondaries aren't necessary. The beer will clear just as well in primary with enough time and the beer won't suffer from sitting on the yeast for several weeks sometimes.

 

[DurtyChemist]

I'd also leave it in the primary and to clarify the beer I'd use Gelatin and/or cold crashing if it was a priority.

 

[RM-MN]

First beer, all grain, on my virgin welded keggles. Hit all my numbers in the end, super stoked about how everything went.

Even after the gods tried to shoot me down when I forgot to pre heat my mash tun, didn't hit my strike temp and had to direct fire and recirculate to get up to temp. Oh and then almost forgot my whirlfloc tablet @50min. Whew that was a fun experience for my first time :rockin:

Scotch ale, my own grain bill. 1.065 post boil

1/22 pitched starter 68f
1/24 high krausen 65f
1/25 Slowing down 64f
1/26 64f a bubble every 5 seconds or so. Im tempted to pop the airlock and grab a sample to check the gravity.

I am also very impatient when it comes to making stuff (I do lots of ciders).

My question:

Should I rack it to secondary in a few days?

Most of the info I see says 4 days for a scotch ale is good for primary and rack to secondary and let it sit for about 2-3 weeks to clear.

Then the other 50% say dont rack it at all, just leave it in primary for the yeast to clean up off flavors and rack it directly to bottle, or keg. (I keg)

I anticipate I might get the same mixed results asking the question, but can someone tell me the pros and cons?

Most of the info you see is wrong. You won't gain anything by racking that to secondary and if you are careless you might lose the entire batch to infection!

Let the beer have the time it needs. I know it is hard to wait but you will be rewarded. Now to take your mind off this beer, start another. It helps with the waiting and you will be rewarded again when you have 2 batches done.

The longer you leave the beer in the fermenter before kegging it the more yeast settles out and the beer begins to mature in this period also. A Scotch ale needs time for it to mature too so if you keg it too early you miss out of the melding of the flavors and end up drinking a sub-par beer.

 

[GHBWNY]

What RM-MN said. The thinking years ago was to rack the beer off the yeast because sitting on the yeast would give the beer off-flavors. It has been shown in recent years that this was not true. With time and gravity, yeast falls out of suspension regardless of the number of vessels it has been transferred to, which is to say --- no need to transfer. It's when yeast are IN suspension that they contribute a flavor to the beer, which can't be helped in hefes, wits, etc.. But with good hot and cold breaks --- whether in a primary or a secondary --- the yeast will naturally settle out of suspension and not affect the flavor.

I'm a card-carrying member of "Secondaries Anonymous". Because the instructions said to do it, I did it. But I eventually discovered that the beer cleared no better and tasted no different going to secondary than it did leaving it in primary. The only noticeable difference was that there was less trub in the bottom of a secondary, but the clarity of beer itself was the same in the bottle.

 

[StewMakesBrew]

Another vote for "screw the secondary". I used to secondary every batch - a habit I got into after about 5 years of brewing and was really frustrated with very inconsistent batch results, nothing really dumpable but just "something not quite right". Got advice from a pro brewer who said "why the hell are you going secondary? We don't go secondary, why would you?".

Huh, why indeed. Haven't done it since, every batch generally as good as or better than the next. Boom.

 

[z-bob]

I use a secondary if there's a lot of fluffy easily-disturbed trub at the bottom of the primary. And I might try using a bucket for a primary with a top-cropping yeast just to see how that works (and I'll rack that to a secondary.) But usually I bottle directly from the primary without ever racking the beer.

 

[GPP33]

Haven't done it since, every batch generally as good as or better than the next. Boom.

So your beer keeps getting worse and worse? Bummer dude

 

[dmtaylor]

Do not rack it. Leave it alone until you're pretty sure it's done fermenting, then check gravity, then wait another 3-4 days, then check again. It's ready to bottle or keg when the gravity stays the same after several days. If the gravity changes, then wait another 3-4 days, and repeat until stable. No racking required until bottling/kegging.

 

[D-west]

Well, im pretty sure my decision has been made for me. I will be racking to secondar..... just kidding!

No secondary it is! Soooo much easier. That is great news, because I have 5, 5g glass carboys and typically most of them are filled with cider.

Another question, what do you use to rack? With my ciders I have a ss C02 racking cane.

 

[Abrayton]

Never secondary? What about making additions like bourbon oak cubes, peppers, fruit, etc... I still secondary for that. Is the concencious that secondary is never necessary? Please say yes because it would mske things so much easier!

 

[CA_Mouse]

Never secondary? What about making additions like bourbon oak cubes, peppers, fruit, etc... I still secondary for that. Is the concencious that secondary is never necessary? Please say yes because it would mske things so much easier!

It depends on your fermenter type. I have conicals that I dump trub before pitching yeast and dump the yeast before dry hopping/fruiting etc. I, also, use buckets and if I'm not planning on harvesting the yeast, I will dry hop right in over the yeast. I only rack to a secondary (and then only glass carboys) for long term sours that are getting bugs and/or fruit or if I'm barrel aging (literally going to one of my barrels). Secondary if you want, but in most cases it isn't really needed. :rockin:

 

[RM-MN]

Never secondary? What about making additions like bourbon oak cubes, peppers, fruit, etc... I still secondary for that. Is the concencious that secondary is never necessary? Please say yes because it would mske things so much easier!

I don't believe there is such a consensus. Sometimes it makes good sense to use a secondary. It's just that so many kits have instructions to move the beer to secondary when in most cases it isn't necessary or even a good idea that we try to persuade people that except in those few circumstances where a secondary is vital that you shouldn't move the beer as it doesn't help and may hurt.

 

[dmtaylor]

I secondary and tertiary my ciders, but that's for the specific reason to get the cider away from as much of the yeast as quickly as possible to purposely slow down and even stall the fermentation on purpose.

I would also rack to secondary if adding a lot of fruit, oak, or whatever.

I would also rack if I really wanted to use that particular fermenter for a new batch for some reason (very rare).

But those are the only reasons. For 95% of beers... don't secondary. It's a wasted effort.

 

[z-bob]

I think by default you shouldn't rack the beer to a secondary. It doesn't take much of a reason to rack a specific batch -- this is art as much as it is science. You're not likely to ruin the beer either way.

 

[D-west]

I secondary and tertiary my ciders, but that's for the specific reason to get the cider away from as much of the yeast as quickly as possible to purposely slow down and even stall the fermentation on purpose.

I would also rack to secondary if adding a lot of fruit, oak, or whatever.

I would also rack if I really wanted to use that particular fermenter for a new batch for some reason (very rare).

But those are the only reasons. For 95% of beers... don't secondary. It's a wasted effort.

Cider is where I started, so it made sense to me to rack, but this is a completely different process so I am glad I asked!

Seems to have helped more than just me as well, gotta love forums!

 

[D-west]

Well, I kegged it and im going to call it a success even though its not super clear, I dont really care because it tastes amazing. I was going for a Boundary Bay Scotch Ale clone, and I got damn close, I think I should have used a different hop, otherwise its spot on.

 

[CA_Mouse]

Well, I kegged it and im going to call it a success even though its not super clear, I dont really care because it tastes amazing. I was going for a Boundary Bay Scotch Ale clone, and I got damn close, I think I should have used a different hop, otherwise its spot on.

As it ages in the keg it will clear more. I like to keep my kegs between 35*F and 38*F, this allows them to drop everything within the first week and they are clear and bright when I start serving them.

 

[D-west]

I have mine at 40 and ive been sampling it every other day over the last week, seems to have cleared up nicely!

I have to say, beer seems to clear much easier than wine or cider has for me in the past.

 

[StewMakesBrew]

So your beer keeps getting worse and worse? Bummer dude

LOL I had to read that four times before I realized what I said. Nicely done.

Guess I should stop substituting weed for hops.