Racking Time

[fishard]

G'day all,

I have been racking my last couple of brews,

the first was on day 7,fermentation had all but stopped when I racked it i still got some airlock movement sg1012 at the time of racking fg1011.

the second was on day 5, fermentation stopped when racked I didn't get any airlock movement sg1010 at the time of racking fg1010.

i have one now showing signs of slowing day 4 should I rack tomorrow day5 or let it go the 7 I am a bit worried that if I let it go it my not produce co2 bed.

what is the 4 and against? Some say when fermentation has stopped, others about 3/4 fermentation. If you expect fg to be about 1010 is there an sg reading that you would rack at?

thanks-Russ

 

[morry]

Good question, Id be keen to know this too. Ill be racking my beers for the first time with the next brew.

 

[GMK]

Ok - IMHO i follow th efollowing rules...

Ales - Rack at 10 days - dry hop in secondary for 1 week normal temp and the rest in the fridge for 2-4 weeks.

Lagers - Rack at 2 weeks - dry hop at normal lager temp for 1 week and then into fridge for cold conditioning 4 -8 weeks.

Hope this helps

 

[Jovial_Monk]

I tend to rack at day 14, lagers a bit more complicated but roughtly the same story

once racked into a cube the beer goes straight into a fridge for cold conditioning and/or dry hopping

Jovial Monk

 

[Gough]

G'day fishard,

Personally I would wait until your beer has pretty much fully fermented. Especially if your temps are under 22 degrees for fermentation then that would probably be closer to 7 days than 5. I'll often leave it in primary at reasonable temps a bit longer than 7 days - 9 or 10 is common. If you are worried don't be afraid to take a 'slurp' of yeast across when you rack. There will still be yeast in suspension anyway, but the extra slurp will ease your mind that there was defintely enough yeast for secondary if it was going to drop any further, and it will drop out by the time of priming anyway.

Good luck,

Shawn.

 

[fishard]

thanks for the imput,

Judging from your response, I take it its not uncommon to have no airlock activity as primary fermentation would have completed at the suggested racking times.

this eases my worries

cheers

 

[pint of lager]

This is one of those questions, ask 10 brewers, get 20 different answers.

It depends on what yeast you are running, the beer, if you want to dry hop, how much time you have.

Why you should rack, get a cleaner tasting beer, remove the beer from the yeast bed, less chance of autolysis, you get a primary slurry to use to pitch with, you remove the beer from that nasty brown crust formed at the surface interface (go on be a devil, taste that muck, it won't kill you.)

Why you shouldn't: risk of oxygenation of finished beer, more work washing and sanitising, extra risk of infection, you need a spare fermenter/racking cube.

I have religiously racked in the past. More recently (in the last 15 months), I do not rack, just leave in primary, ales 2-4 weeks, lagers anywhere from 4 weeks to 8 weeks. This is in ss fermenters, 45 litre batch size.

 

[Jovial_Monk]

A smallish beer I too may not rack, in winter no autolysis will happen in 3-4 weeks

I might then rack to a bottling bucket for bulk priming reasons.

Jovial Monk

 

[sluggerdog]

I tend to rack at day 14, lagers a bit more complicated but roughtly the same story

once racked into a cube the beer goes straight into a fridge for cold conditioning and/or dry hopping

Jovial Monk

So basically what I could do is:

For Largers
- Ferment for 1-2 weeks
- Rack to cube to dry hop and CC in the fridge for upto 4 weeks
- Rack to priming bucket
- Bottle/Keg


Yes?

What is the reasons behind CC? I usually do the above steps minus the cube.

CHEERS
SD