When should I begin secondary fermentation?

[Dunedin_Draught]

So, it's been 11 days since I brewed my beer(Northern Brewers: Dead Ringer IPA) and I'm trying find out when I should rack my beer into my secondary fermenter. After a little research, it appears that it's a pretty subjective call. Most sites call for racking into secondary fermenters once the fermentation has slowed and the bubbles passing through the airlock have slowed/come to a complete stop. So which is it: Slowed or stopped? My primary fermentation has definitely slowed, but it hasn't stopped. Still passing a few bubbles. And since I'm asking, can you let your beer ferment too long? Say, if I added an extra week to both primary and secondary fermentation, would it improve my beer conditioning? (Not that I'm trying to wait longer to taste my beer, but, if good things come to those who wait, I'll definitely wait!) Any help in answering these questions would be appretiated! This is my first beer, so I'm pretty excited, but wholesome advice is always appretiated. Thanks guys!

 

[Hello]

Either. I like to wait for it to stop. I just like to let yeast and wort do their thing in peace and then if I need to rack to secondary, I will.


11 days, what is the FG right now? My pale ale is at 1.012. I expected it to drop to 1.014 according to beer smith, so I will rack to secondary today just to clear it. I never considered doing that but I am going to try it all the same.

Were you racking for purposes of dry hopping?

 

[Dunedin_Draught]

Either. I like to wait for it to stop. I just like to let yeast and wort do their thing in peace and then if I need to rack to secondary, I will.


11 days, what is the FG right now? My pale ale is at 1.012. I expected it to drop to 1.014 according to beer smith, so I will rack to secondary today just to clear it. I never considered doing that but I am going to try it all the same.

Were you racking for purposes of dry hopping?

Yeah, I'm adding another ounce of Cenntinnial and hoping to clear it up a little. Haven't checked my gravity yet. I thought I was supposed to check it at secondary fermentation, so I haven't checked it yet.

 

[RmikeVT]

I typically do everything in primary if my beer is going to be packaged in <= 2 mos. Which it usually is. I bought 2 5g carboys for secondary and aside from a wine and a cider I never use them. I just don't think its worth the extra effort and risk unless you have a big beer, a sour, cider or wine you need to bulk age or oak.

Is there any good reason to dry hop in secondary? I can't think of one as long as you let the yeast flocculate before dry hopping.

 

[flars]

You can rack to a secondary vessel when fermentation is complete in the primary. Stable hydrometer readings over a period of a few days is the only way to know when fermentation is complete.

Are you dry hopping? If you are not dry hopping, why rack to a secondary vessel.

Three weeks in the primary will allow the yeast to clean up natural off flavors produced by the fermentation, sediment and suspended yeast will compact at the bottom to clear the beer, and no risk of infection or oxidation from racking.

If you are dry hopping some brewers are doing this in the primary.

The beer can stay in the primary for a month or longer with no worry. Autolysis is not a problem with home brew volumes.

I will wait two weeks before I take the first hydrometer sample and taste. Take another hydrometer reading in two days. Final gravity has usually been achieved in the first two weeks. For an average gravity beer I'll still wait a full three weeks before bottling.
When I first started brewing I would rush to bottling as soon as FG was reached. Always ended up with sediment in the bottle that would not compact. Lost a couple of ounces from each bottle to avoid pouring the sediment into the glass.

 

[Dunedin_Draught]

I typically do everything in primary if my beer is going to be packaged in <= 2 mos. Which it usually is. I bought 2 5g carboys for secondary and aside from a wine and a cider I never use them. I just don't think its worth the extra effort and risk unless you have a big beer, a sour, cider or wine you need to bulk age or oak.

Is there any good reason to dry hop in secondary? I can't think of one as long as you let the yeast flocculate before dry hopping.

I've just read that it removes some unpleasant flavors and adds to the clarity of the beer. Once again, new to brewing, so I'm just following directions.

 

[tooblue02]

I have been dry hopping in the primary for all my beers that required it. Only issues I have had are some chill haze but I don't belive that racking to a secondary would help that. I think you run a higher risk of infection when transferring the beer to another vessel, it is pretty easy to just sanitize the dry hop bag or just through the hops into the beer directly. A lot of people on here seem to do one or the other when dry hopping, and there is a mixed review about the secondary. There isn't much risk of getting off flavors from leaving the beer on the yeast cake for to long as the pressure from the beer is not enough to produce such flavors.

 

[JimRausch]

I've just read that it removes some unpleasant flavors and adds to the clarity of the beer. Once again, new to brewing, so I'm just following directions.

The unpleasant flavor due to an extended primary is old info. that has since been debunked. I'm guessing that you read it in the online version of 'How to Brew'. J.P. has removed that from his latest versions and now says that yeast autolysis, under homebrewing conditions, is a nonissue.
However, and here it's controversial, I personally do believe that I get a more clear beer when I use a secondary. My point is that I suck up some trub during transfer which settles out in the secondary. I suck up much less trub from the secondary to bottling bucket. Other people are probably more careful than me, or maybe don't try to get every last little bit of beery goodness.
Currently, I use a secondary for about 1/2 of my batches.
You will have to decide for yourself how you want to go. This is an area where opinions are strong, and really No One is incorrect. Plusses and minuses both ways. In any case, you made beer, and that's always a good thing!

 

[Hello]

I've just read that it removes some unpleasant flavors and adds to the clarity of the beer. Once again, new to brewing, so I'm just following directions.

I think the flavor claim is a bit of a myth but you won't ever really find a straight answer. Put two of the same beers in front of me, one racked to secondary and one not, and I bet you I can't tell. I'll put money on the fact that others, including these die hard secondary folks, can't tell either.

As for clearing, I am not sure and because of that, I am racking a pale to secondary today because I think the best way for me to see is to do it. As long as I'm careful and clean, my beer will be fine. It's not as though I've never used secondary vessels before for additives such as vanilla and oak.

 

[yeahfairly]

I think that some folks are just paranoid about letting their beer sit on the Trub in the bottom of the fermenter.

Cooking is my favorite hobby, next to being on the creek in a canoe catching smallies. I am OCD in the kitchen. I am constantly wiping things down, cleaning out the sink, or re-arranging my spices and pantry. It Pi$$es my wife off to No End! But when it comes to my beer..... I figure once I pitch the yeast... kind of like the wife..... the less it sees of me the better off we both are!

 

[andy6026]

I've only been on here for a year and I've not seen people get highly opinionated about whether or not to transfer to secondary. But everyone seems to tippy toe around the issue and accept that each has a preference.

Usually I don't secondary, but the few times I've done it I've noticed I'm much less likely to get a clog in my bottling wand once I'm getting near the bottom. As the poster above said - I'm usually trying to squeeze out every last bit, and when I transfer to the bottling bucket I inevitably suck up a wee bit of trub/hops from the bottom. If I'm not feeling lazy then I will probably secondary more often.