Grumpy's Brewhaus Racking Advise

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OK this is my last ever post on racking, its been done to death.

Bear in mind that most of the advice you found from googling was probably quite old and from overseas. There was a much more recent experiment involving a large number of brewers in Australian conditions, using yeasts available in Australia. The experiment was that Grumpys suggested everyone rack at half gravity. They printed it on all their instruction sheets. A huge number of brewers found the Grumpys site and did this. Maybe most found it worked. But a significant number, me, Deebee included experienced stuck ferments, even though we carried some sludge over when racking yada yada yada. And it seemed like every week someone new popped up on the Grumpys board asking about a stuck ferment after racking.

The sheer number of responses suggests that for whatever reason, the chance of a stuck ferment must be much higher than anyone previously thought. So much so, that Grumpies changed their advice a few months ago.

So, some people may have a technique which allows them to rack midway without ever having a problem. But on average, for most brewers, that experiment says you are greatly increasing the chance of a stuck ferment.
 
I think the logic behind racking at 1/2 or 3/4 ferment is to ensure there is still yeast activity in the second vessel to counter the risk of contamination. I've never racked myself, though I am going to start sometime soon (using a 25L cube) purely for sedimentation reduction purposes. I think I'll rack just for bulk priming, not for any additional resting/conditioning, as I've never had a real problem with autolytic flavours.
 
why rack at 3/4 anyway. As long as you ferment at cooler temperatures, you should be cool anyway. What is the difference in most beers, racking at day 5 or day 8.

I think most of the advantages of racking at 3/4 would be matched by dropping your beer like JM does. I haven't tried this yet but it seems the go.
 
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