Transferring to a secondary

[jsaxon90]

Hey guys

I'm new to home brewing. In fact the beer I have brewed is my first ever. I brewed a coffee porter on Saturday 1/10/15. It's been in my primary until yesterday, where I transferred it to my secondary after adding the coffee to it. I cold brewed the coffee via French press and let it sit for 24 hours in my fridge before adding it to the beer. When I transferred the beer, I had the leftover yeast sediment at the bottom of my primary. Is it normal for that leftover sediment to be unpleasant smelling?
Anyways, I plan on leaving the beer in the secondary for about 2 more weeks. Is this the right call? To allow the yeast a couple more weeks to break down any final stuff, while allowing the coffee flavor to come through.

Thanks guys!


View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1421834337.732991.jpg

 

[madscientist451]

That's a lot of headspace in the carboy. The headspace will contain oxygen which in turn could cause oxidation of your beer or other problems. If the yeast is still active, the c02 from fermenting will fill that space. If you have a source of c02, you can add a "blanket" of c02 that will stay on top of the beer, since its heavier than air. When its done fermenting, you should go ahead and bottle it.

 

[eadavis80]

There is more headspace (room between the top of your beer and the top of the carboy) than I usually have in my secondaries, but I wouldn't worry about it much. I e-mailed Northern Brewer and asked if I could use a 5-gallon Better Bottle as a primary for a 3-gallon brew-in-a-bag kit and they said it should be okay. I'm assuming the headspace in that scenario would look pretty much just like you have there. Hope you enjoy your first brew in a month or so! Enjoy.

 

[homebrewdr]

welcome to homebrewing!

The leftover yeast is what many people call a "yeast cake". It is all of the yeast that has multiplied and then dropped out of solution. As far as being foul smelling, it is probably fine. Yeast cakes definitely can smell a certain way. Since you are new to brewing, you probably are not used to the smells yet.

From the picture you posted, the beer looks like it should for the style. You can discard the yeast cake (or read more about washing yeast to reuse). When I was new, I tossed all of my yeast. Even now, I rarely re-use yeast.

Your timeline seems fine too. Depending on how "strong" the beer is, you could even let it sit in the secondary longer to condition. Otherwise, you can bottle it up after a couple weeks and let it condition in the bottle (bottle-conditioned). Just make sure your hydrometer reading stays the same over the course of 3 days before you bottle (for example take a reading on monday and wednesday... if it is the same and within your target final gravity, you are good to go).

In my opinion, your headspace is fine. It is recommended to have a 5 gallon carboy for a secondary, to minimize head space... but as long as its not splashed around much, there shouldn't be an issue with oxidation. Keep in mind that many brewers don't even bother with a secondary.

Once your fermenter is free, brew some more! The first batch always seems like it takes the longest! After a couple weeks in the bottle, crack one open. If it is too boozy tasting or not carbonated enough, let it sit for longer.

Cheers!

 

[jsaxon90]

That's a lot of headspace in the carboy. The headspace will contain oxygen which in turn could cause oxidation of your beer or other problems. If the yeast is still active, the c02 from fermenting will fill that space. If you have a source of c02, you can add a "blanket" of c02 that will stay on top of the beer, since its heavier than air. When its done fermenting, you should go ahead and bottle it.

Yeah, I didn't add enough water to it before sealing it for fermentation. It's right at 4 gal, but I tried as hard as possible to prevent oxidation while transferring. I let it ferment in my bottling bucket, and then drained it from the spigot with a siphon tube. There was hardly any splashing at all, just easy flow.

Just got it sitting in my closet now at about 68-69 degrees. That's the best I can do, since I don't have another temperature controlled room. (I live in an apartment).

 

[Roadie]

Welcome to the world of brewing; fascinating stuff. I love brewing - but hate cleaning.

Yes, yeast cakes and in your case trub can smell funky so I doubt that will be an issue.

The rage for adding coffee is to add coffee beans to the carboy (4 oz beans to 5 gallons beer as a starting point). That may be something you want to try and compare against this one where you utilized the french press to see which you prefer.

I personally do not like all the headspace in your carboy. For the next time you want to secondary a beer I'd get a 5 gallon carboy to put it in. If you had 5.5 gallons in the primary you should be able to completely fill the 5 gallon secondary carboy.

 

[jsaxon90]

Welcome to the world of brewing; fascinating stuff. I love brewing - but hate cleaning.

Yes, yeast cakes and in your case trub can smell funky so I doubt that will be an issue.

The rage for adding coffee is to add coffee beans to the carboy (4 oz beans to 5 gallons beer as a starting point). That may be something you want to try and compare against this one where you utilized the french press to see which you prefer.

I personally do not like all the headspace in your carboy. For the next time you want to secondary a beer I'd get a 5 gallon carboy to put it in. If you had 5.5 gallons in the primary you should be able to completely fill the 5 gallon secondary carboy.

Yeah, I do not like all the headspace either. Definitely wasn't my goal, I just failed to add enough water before fermentation. Won't make that mistake again! 👍✅