Racking?

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wardy

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Hello to everyone, learning a lot from you all and hope to give a little back someday!! Got my first brew on the bubble now and just want to know when i should rack it to the 2nd fermentation stage? Brewing a Pale Ale from a Coopers kit using a 1kg brew booster...

cheers
 
thanks Doc, i thought i might have missed the most obvious... like an FAQ section

cheers
 
Welcome wardy , you will find everyone very helpful on this site , ask any questions you feel you need info on , and the search funtion is great help as well.
I am sure you will progress to grains etc , but take your time and enjoy brewing the best beers you ever tasted :p
 
as above
welcome to the site wardy.you will find brewers hear from the topend,westside,southside,eastside and tazzie and even a wayward american.
we have got australia and beyond covered.
once again welcome to our weird but wonderful world of brewing.

cheers
big d (the topend guy)
 
Welcome aboard Wardy...

Let us know how your first brew turns out - keep notes on it so you can look back and have a chuckle whilst you heat up your All Grain Full Wort Boiler in a year or two from now! ;)

Cheers,
TL
 
thanks for the warm welcome! I hope to get to all-grain ASAP! The welder is out and the stainless steel is on the way!!
cheers
 
Excellent

kits and extract suck

AG makes the best beer, and is much cheaper on a per-brew basis!

Jovial Monk

Admin Edit: Pull your head in JM. Be constructive.
 
Does any one out there drop there beer? What results do you get?


JM no matter what you may think... some very good beers have been made from K+k brews and extract recipes!!! :eek:
 
Well i only do kits and i'm more than happy with the results.
When I start my brew pub i'll look at all grain then. :)

Wedge my understanding is that when droping the beer before fully fermented out there is more chance of introducing bacteria as there is not enough alcohol present in the brew to fully protect it. I always wait till its fully fermented before transferring to secondary.
Why would you want to take your beer of the yeast cake if it hasnt fully done the job yet.
Anyway I might be wrong but I remember reading that somwhere.


Cheers
 
thats the same reason i dont do it. Aerating the wort! How can this be good!
But then again i dont know everything............yet
 
Racking

I rack ususally after 7 days primary for ales and 10 days for lagers and wheat beers.

Rack into the secondary and dry hop. for a min of 2 weeks.

Racking it off the yeast cake reduces the chances of autolysis - live yeast cells eating dead yeast cells and producing off flavours and smells.
Especially if the temp gets a bit high...

Hope this helps.
 
I just racked my coopers pale ale (kit) after 3 days as the SG had dropped to 1.019, from 1.042 and if figured i would give it a try. Thing is my secondary fermenter is just another plastic fermenter and i've just figured that everyone must be using class carboys for a reason?? Will this make a differences?
how long should i leave an ale in secondary before bottling? does it need 2 weeks like lagers etc, or just when the SG stabilises?
:)
 
Wardy,

I just use another plastic fermenter for secondary and the majority of guys here do to.
Seems to be mainly the Americans that use the glass carboys.

Quite a number of the guys are using cubes and plastic jerry type containers for cold conditioning though.

Beers,
Doc
 
I bought a second fermenter yesterday for racking. I was chatting to my HB supplier about the glass carboys and he said the only reason the yanks use them so much is availability and affordability. He recons they were, until quit recently, used all over the states as containers for those office water fountains, like the never fall things we have in Oz.

And while were on racking

I have a Pale Ale (standard newbie kit) which has been in the primary fermenter going on 9 days. OG = 1043 / SG as of last night = 1011. Have I left it too long to rack it?
 
But i dont know if i agree with JM that all grain is cheaper.

5Kg grain, plus all your hops, plus water (next to nothing) but its all the "energy" required, such as power or gas to heat sparge, mash, and exp. the boil.

then there is a portion of the AG setup cost on each brew, all add's up and i would almost think my brew's cost more now maybe?!?!

The time spent doing a AG is also lot's more than Kit hence maybe this will factor as $$$ for some.

horses for courses.

If ya enjoy it do it! - I'v had some dam nice kit brew's
even the fresh wort packs, this aint a Kit, but its in between.

The AG lets me experiment more with different flavours etc but, thats not to say its a better beer

anyway , i'll pull my big ugly head in and go play with my freezer, to much beer last night and well i feel heady
 
i usually rack after a week into a secondary which i thorw straight into the frig, at cc. is this bad. I thought i might be killing two birds with one stone.

Removing suspended yeast adn etc, aswell as improving flavour. I more interested usually :wacko: in flavour over brightness of beer.


But you cant beat a beatiful tasting clear beer can you!
 
Dropping and aerating on day 2 gives the yeast a big boost in vitality and activity, the yeast cake on the bottom of the first fermenter is mostly trob and hop debris. you will get a much cleaner beer dropping to a clean new primary on day 2.

I rarely brew in summer and leave my beers in the primary for two weeks before racking to secondary. No danger of autolysis in autumn/winter/spring and the yeast cake is actually cleaning the beer of diacetyl and the like.

And sorry if I worded my previous post a bit strongly.

Jovial Monk
 
yeah likewise, i just re-read my message, it was a bit harsh.

Thanks for the advise, dropping and hence aerating though in theory is ok, still makes me shiver :ph34r:

In theory in would be the way everybody should do it. But of course......

..... i thought i might try

brew, keep some of the liquid yeast i propergated , (say 300mls of 2ltr) and after dropping throw that in just in case the brew gets stuck, the aeration should get this yeast going and the other yeast should continue its aerobic fermentation.

I'm sure i read somewhere that a yeast can ferment too much aerobically!!

Is this so?
 
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