Optimal Gravity Reading Before Transferring To Secondary Fermentation

[Blind Dog]

The OP asked for thoughts, so (IMO) it would have been pretty remiss not to pass on thoughts and experiences relevant to what the OP said was his/her plan. There is still a lot of advice around (not generally here fortunately) of the 'do this for x days' variety and its generally hooey. Some of it hasn't changed from when I was a young in brewing kits in the UK at the tail end of the 80s

Personally I agree with Yob on understanding the why before doing something just because you read it somewhere

 

[chrisluki]

The OP asked for thoughts, so (IMO) it would have been pretty remiss not to pass on thoughts and experiences relevant to what the OP said was his/her plan. There is still a lot of advice around (not generally here fortunately) of the 'do this for x days' variety and its generally hooey. Some of it hasn't changed from when I was a young in brewing kits in the UK at the tail end of the 80s

Personally I agree with Yob on understanding the why before doing something just because you read it somewhere

Hey mate...do you have any good links to info on it. I would like to understand the why a bit more.

 

[Yob]

historically, in the UK I think they used to rack to secondary for the like of open fermentation brews, as in, when the bulk of activity slowed down they would rack it off to a closed vessel... If I remember correctly that is...

 

[Scottsrx]

A bit off topic but how about trying one process for the first brew, ie don't rack to secondary and leave the brew to sit on the yeast, and then brew the exact same beer again and rack it after initial, or almost complete, fermentation? Then compare the pair?

Use your own personal experience to see if it makes any difference to the taste/quality of your beer.

I rack to secondary purely because I have a spare fermenter and it gives me the chance to clean out the trub. I'm going to start washing and cultivating yeast so I feel this is another reason to continue this practice.

 

[Yob]

I rack to secondary purely because I have a spare fermenter and it gives me the chance to clean out the trub. I'm going to start washing and cultivating yeast so I feel this is another reason to continue this practice.

:icon_offtopic:

only do this from primary, never from secondary, sorry if you know this, just thought Id mention it in case you didn't.

 

[Scottsrx]

Thanks Yob, I've never taken yeast from secondary, I'm guessing thats what you meant?, and had thought about it but will remove that thought from here on.

 

[schtev]

Hey mate...do you have any good links to info on it. I would like to understand the why a bit more.

There was a Beersmith blog post about this very topic just today. I think it spells out the pros and cons pretty well.
http://beersmith.com/blog/2015/01/15/should-you-use-a-secondary-for-beer-brewing/

 

[drtomc]

I generally rack to a secondary vessel for space reasons: I have a bigger primary vessel (to accommodate enthusiastic krausen), and rack in to more compact jerry cans for secondary.

2c.

 

[squirt in the turns]

Another reason to rack to secondary, although slightly different context to most of the scenarios discussed so far: transfer to keg. Carbonating naturally in the keg is, of course, secondary fermentation. Or if the intention is to filter under CO2 pressure from keg to keg. Slightly different from racking to a drum or jerry as a keg is much more suitable for long term storage, impervious to light and can easily be purged with CO2.

historically, in the UK I think they used to rack to secondary for the like of open fermentation brews, as in, when the bulk of activity slowed down they would rack it off to a closed vessel... If I remember correctly that is...

I believe some still do, Black Sheep being one example. Actually Monteith's do too (or at least the original Greymouth brewery did when I took the tour 7 years ago). They take you up on a gantry that looks down on the square stainless fermenters. Could've jumped in for a quick dip, had I been so inclined.