Yet Another Question About Primary to Secondary

[DtownRiot]

It seems that the group is split pretty close to the middle on wether or not to use a secondary for conditioning. Im going to try it on my next batch just to see what the fuss is all about. So my question is this... When you transfer from primary to secondary, do you want to transfer the sludge (slurry?) that's at the bottom of the primary into the secondary? And if you do transfer it, why?

Merry Christmas and God Bless

Cheers

Ethan

 

[Marko73]

Hi Ethan,

You don't want to transfer this and try to leave as much of it behind as you can. This is the sediment that is byproduct of fermetation and the more that falls out of suspension and settles on the bottom the better.

You want to make sure to take a gravity reading two or three days in a row to make sure that it is consistent and primary fermentation is complete.

You also want to be VERY careful to rack to the secondary as delicately as you can. You do not want to disturb the beer and introduce oxygen.

Up front aeration = good
Oxidation = bad

Enjoy it!

 

[BarleyWater]

+1 to what Marko said. The point of a secondary is to get rid of all the trub on the bottom for maturing the beer. I only secondary on VERY high gravity beers that need a while to age before bottling, or any beers that need something added like dry hops or fruit.