Secondary Fermentation Question

[rupal]

Once i rack my beer from the Primary Fermenter into a Secondary Fermenter, what is the longest it can be left for & still have enough live yeast to create carbonation for priming ? Is it recommended to add extra yeast for priming ? For example once i make a yeast starter & i am ready to pitch i could save a bit for later on when priming.

 

[cubbie]

What sort of length are you thinking about. I am not sure about the longest, but I can't see a problem with 3-4 weeks. If you are CCing then even longer should be fine. You should not need add further yeast to prime.

 

[Supra-Jim]

Generally people will rack to a secondary for approx a week to 10 days. You will still have plenty of yeast left in suspension to do your bottle conditioning.

No need to add extra yeast for bottle carbonation.

:icon_cheers: SJ

 

[apd]

You can wait months if you have to.

You risk the autolysis the longer you wait.

But if you're talking a matter of weeks, there will be no problem. You will have plenty of yeast for carbonation. No need to add extra.

Andrew

 

[buttersd70]

don't confuse secondary fermentation with the concept of cold condition. or with clearing tanks....they are completely different animals. Secondary is a term that is bandied about, willy nilly.....when in fact, secondary fermentation is a specific brewing process, and refers to fermentation, not storage post fermentation.

If holding for conditioning or clearing....unless the beer has been pasteurised or depth filtered, there will be enough yeast remaining to eventually carbonate, even if it appears to be crystal clear....
which is why yeast can be propogated from bottles of "clear" beer, as long as the yeast has not been removed fully, or killed (by pasteurisation).

 

[chappo1970]

don't confuse secondary fermentation with the concept of cold condition. or with clearing tanks....they are completely different animals. Secondary is a term that is bandied about, willy nilly.....when in fact, secondary fermentation is a specific brewing process, and refers to fermentation, not storage post fermentation.

If holding for conditioning or clearing....unless the beer has been pasteurised or depth filtered, there will be enough yeast remaining to eventually carbonate, even if it appears to be crystal clear....
which is why yeast can be propogated from bottles of "clear" beer, as long as the yeast has not been removed fully, or killed (by pasteurisation).

So using the term "racking to secondary" is wrong? I mean in the context of racking to a second cube/fermentor for the purpose of clearing/conditioning.

 

[muckey]

So using the term "racking to secondary" is wrong? I mean in the context of racking to a second cube/fermentor for the purpose of clearing/conditioning.

racking to secondary CONTAINER not for secondary fermentation.

the 2 terms are often confused

 

[brettprevans]

here's a good example of both

Racking
this is where you move the beer after primary fermentation to a secondary container to clear/settle and get it off the trub.

Secondary Fermentation
can feref to the more gentle fermentation that occurs after the vigeruos fermentation stops. You donrt have to rack into a secondary container for this.
EG strawberry beer. made beer minus strawb, let primary fermentation occur, RACKED to a secondary container then added straws, thehn let it ferment out.

The vigeruous primary fermentation will scrub out o lot of flavour due to the CO2 being prodcued.

 

[rupal]

thanks for the clear explanations, i used to be always worried about leaving the beer in the second container for too long.

 

[buttersd70]

the 2 terms are often confused

yep. Exactly. Comes through lazy use of language, as much as anything, truncating the sentence.

CM2's example is a good one....
short version is,

racking once FG is achieved is racking to secondary vessel (or container, or any other variation of the word for a holding tank); this is done to clear the beer. Conditioning and aging occurs, due to the residual yeast in suspension. edit: usually done at cold temperatures....storage times can be up to months, particularly in the case of lagers.

racking before sg is achieved, to allow for (usually) slower fermentation at a gentler pace, is secondary fermentation. Although, as cm2 has correctly stated, secondary fermentation can occur in the primary vessel (although this is less common). In this case, temperature would be dropped, to slow the fermentation. Traditionally (at least as far as Englih methodology), it would be dropped to around 8C, which would cause much of (but not all of) the yeast to drop out; then temperature would be raised again, into the fermentation range, to allow the (smaller volume of yeast) to continue fermentation at a slower rate untill FG is achieved. Regardless of whether it is a single vessel, or is racked, secondary fermentation refers to actual live active fermentation. edit: this can then either be racked into the conditioning vessel, or crash chilled in it's current vessel, for clearing and/or further conditioning/aging, as per the above.

The two terms are, however, commonly (and erroniously) interchanged....

 

[chappo1970]

As always thanks All and Mr Butters (Aka MrJasonMoran)

I have been guilty of being a lazy little so and so. In fact it's used so much on here pretty much in the wrong context. Whoa before you flame me I meant generally ok . But it's important to get the terminology right especially if you have a procedure problem and want to describe your process properly.

 

[antains]

Racking
this is where you move the beer after primary fermentation to a secondary container to clear/settle and get it off the trub.

<_< So, what's the process wherein I drain the wort out into a second vessel in order to add the sugar for bottling in a bulk process? (As opposed to priming the bottles one by one.) I've been referring to that as racking.

Secondary is a term that is bandied about, willy nilly.....

I know what you mean. Just the other day, I was depositing some money at the bank and they asked if I wanted to do a secondary on it and earn some interest.

Then, I was reading a recent version of the bible and it referred to the "secondary" coming of Christ.

Um, and then I was writing some really bad jokes on a forum and wished so very much I could do a secondary on them to make them funny.

 

[muckey]

the act of transferring the beer to a second container is referred as 'racking'

its just secondary container and secondary fermentation get incorrectly interchanged

 

[razE]

<_< So, what's the process wherein I drain the wort out into a second vessel in order to add the sugar for bottling in a bulk process? (As opposed to priming the bottles one by one.) I've been referring to that as racking.

Bulk priming

 

[pcmfisher]

So, what's the process wherein I drain the wort out into a second vessel in order to add the sugar for bottling in a bulk process?

I let mine ferment before doing that

 

[muckey]

Bulk priming

as opposed to the process whereby the beer is transferred after carbonation from container to brewer :chug:

 

[antains]

as opposed to the process whereby the beer is transferred after carbonation from container to brewer :chug:

Okay. Wait. What?
Is that the process of endrunkenation?

 

[rupal]

What is the reason that some breweries add fresh yeast to the bottles when bottling ?

 

[muckey]

They pasteurise and filter after fermentation.

So they need to repitch for bottle conditioned beers

 

[buttersd70]

What is the reason that some breweries add fresh yeast to the bottles when bottling ?

Several reasons. Some will filter and/or pasteurise to kill of the original strain, and bottle with a more flocculant yeast type, for a more compact sediment. Some re seed (sometimes with the original strain) to ensure the viability and consistancy of the yeast for bottle conditioning (coopers is one example of this). The main reason, in either case, is one of quality control, which, for a commercial brewery, is by necessity more stringent than brewing at home. Every beer needs to be the same as the one after, and the one before, with no variation.