Secondary Fermentation And Airlock

[user 16232]

Hi all,

I'm sorry, this should be in the KIT/extract forum. If a moderator could move it that would be great.

I'm making a barley wine, and I think I made a mistake with the secondary fermentation, I hope somebody can help me out.
I poured the beer directly to a secondary fermenter after primary was completed, together with the dextrose. I put the airlock on top, and now I realised that the CO2 is escaping, and the beer will be flat.
Should I bottle asap? Should I block the airlock somehow?
Thanks!
david

PS: I read around that pouring it instead of siphoning was another mistake, but I'm more worried about the carbonation.

 

[booyablack]

The carbonation does not happen in the fermenter.

You will either add sugar, carbonation drops or bulk prime when you bottle. Once you cap the bottles the bottle fermentation will occur, as long as your bottles are not kept too cold.

You need to wait until the fermentation is complete, i.e. when you get the same SG reading on your hydrometer for 3 days in a row. Then you can bottle but not before. If you bottle early you WILL get bottle bombs (exploding bottles).

Don't try and block the airlock, this will achieve nothing. You want the CO2 to escape from the fermenter.

And yes, next time don't pour the beer. You need to siphon using food grade tubing so as to expose the wort to the minimal amount of oxygen as possible. Apparently oxidised beer tastes very stale, fortunately I've not had this happen yet... You do want to aerate the wort as much as possible when first mixing it so that the yeast has a good environment to operate in but after this you want minimal splashing and exposure to oxygen.

I hope this helps. All this information is available already on this forum if you have a browse around. Try looking in the articles section under the Craftbrewer logo at the top. There's lots of good advice for beginners in there.

 

[the_yobbo]

You haven't given much information on what you have or haven't done so I'm taking a couple of guesses.

I poured the beer directly to a secondary fermenter after primary was completed, together with the dextrose. I put the airlock on top, and now I realised that the CO2 is escaping, and the beer will be flat.

I assume your trying the bulk priming technique to save adding sugar to each individual bottle? If this is the case, your meant to bottle the brew immidiately after (same day) you add the priming sugar.

Assuming the fermentation had completed before you added the extra sugar (and transfered to a second drum), then you should be right to bottle. If you've left it overnight, then it could be a little interesting on if you should add a little more sugar to the beer before bottling, or perhaps weight for the sugar already added to be completely fermented then add more priming sugar just before bottling.

 

[raven19]

Welcome to the forums Jib!

As per comments above check out the Forum Articles Here.

Plenty of good articles to get you up to speed - sounds like you have added priming sugar too early. If so its no biggie, you will just have a 0.5% ish higher beer.

Any yes best to siphon with some suitable tubing from primary to secondary. Pouring would cause splashing, and oxygenate you beer.

 

[The Mad Hopper]

Jib, it sounds like you've misunderstood what people mean by a secondary fermenter. People rack beer to a secondary fermenter to clear up the yeast (mostly, although there are a few other reasons, such as you can't be bother bottling straight away), NOT so that they can do secondary fermentation. As people above have said, that needs to happen in the bottle.

When using a secondary fermenter, after the primary fermentation has finished transfer the beer from the primary to the secondary using a tube, and throw in about a teaspoon of sugar so that the yeast have something to create a layer of CO2. Wait a few weeks and most of the yeast will settle out. Then, you need to bulk prime or prime the bottles. For bulk priming, add you dextrose to your bottling bucket, transfer the beer out of the secondary into the bottling bucket and bottle straight away.

As Raven said, check out the links, they'll explain this tuff in a little more detail.

 

[user 16232]

Thanks a lot guys!

Yes, the primary fermentation was complete (I checked with the hydrometer), and I went for the secondary fermenter to mix the sugar more evenly, but that was silly and I should have bottled right away.

Now the yeast is eating the priming sugar in the second fermenter, and as The Muzz was saying I think I have two options: (1) bottle now while it's still eating the sugar, or (2) wait until it finishes and bulk-prime again in the bottles.

I think I'll wait and go for option 2.
Thanks again!
d

 

[katzke]

A kit Barley Wine, that is interesting.

You do know that a Barley Wine takes at least a year to taste good. I loaned a small fermentor to a fellow brewer and he insisted on bottling after I think 6 months of aging. It was drinkable after it was bottled but got better with time. It is all gone now and I am sure it would be a fantastic drink now that it would be approaching 2 years.

What to do with the sugar and CO2 is not the problem. The problem is the pouring from primary. I think you will end up with a different brew then what was expected. I would let it ferment out and re-prime then bottle and drink it and save some for up to a year and see how bad the oxidation is. The aged bottles should be at seller temperature. Not stuck in a hot shed over the summer.

 

[user 16232]

Thanks for the tips katzke!

It's a wort kit from a microbrewery, and we just add the specialty grains and the hops for the different recipes. It tastes quite nice now (after moving to the 2nd fermenter), and I hope it doesn't go bad on me!
Cheers,
d

 

[katzke]

Thanks for the tips katzke!

It's a wort kit from a microbrewery, and we just add the specialty grains and the hops for the different recipes. It tastes quite nice now (after moving to the 2nd fermenter), and I hope it doesn't go bad on me!
Cheers,
d

Do it again now and plan on a normal ferment and then transfer to a second clean vessel and let it set at cellar temp for at least 6 months. The more the better. Then bottle and plan on it for the holidays of 2011 and save some for Easter. If you will be too hot for a heavy drink then transfer the dates to suitable feasts in your winter. A Barley Wine is the perfect thing to go with all our rich Christmas food and cold weather. Not sure what your family tradition is as I have heard some down there put fresh seafood on the grill and enjoy it while wearing shorts.

It is not a beer you drink bottles of. It is something you have with special food or as a special drink.

 

[user 16232]

Thanks for the suggestion! These are probably silly questions, but I'd like to be sure.

Does the second clean vessel need to be sealed (no airlock device) and have sugars? I don't know how to seal our fermenter other than using the airlock.

I normally go for heavy yummy beer independently of the weather, but I agree that you can't have a lot of these in a sitting!
Cheers!
d

 

[katzke]

The only thing you seal are bottles. Use an air lock with sanitizer like StarSan or Vodka. Make sure you use the S type air lock and not the multi piece one. You can get away with them but it is easier to use the S type as they are mostly impossible to get the liquid to suck back in the fermentor when the pressures change.

You may get suggestions to just bottle it. That may be good. The thing to remember is this is a strong beer and so the yeast will take longer to finish their work. I would say you could leave the fermentor for 2 to 3 weeks or longer after active fermentation is finished before worrying about moving it off the yeast cake. That is one fault many kit or beginner brewers have is transferring way too soon. It is not their fault as they are following poor instructions. As long as fermentation temperatures are controlled to what the yeast require the brew will be fine for at least a month.

 

[user 16232]

Thanks! This is very useful. I think I'll do another barley wine after this one, and will siphon it properly.
Cheers,
d