Sparkling Ale Secondary Fermentation

[Hammer]

Hi all,

I am still new to home brewing and am still learning.

I recently put into the wort a sparkling ale style beer (1 can tooheys traditional real ale, 1kg brewblend #15 (from brewcraft) and 500g dry xtra light malt).

It is now bubbling away nicely at 18-20C.

My plan was to rack into a secondary after 7 days, leave it in secondary for 7 days or so (until FG achieved) and then bulk prime back into original fermentor & bottle.

My question is, should I bother racking it for secondary fermentation? I am not sure if I need to do this or not. If I do, (or it is recommended,) when should I do it?

Thank you for your time to help.

 

[Steve]

Hi all,

I am still new to home brewing and am still learning.

I recently put into the wort a sparkling ale style beer (1 can tooheys traditional real ale, 1kg brewblend #15 (from brewcraft) and 500g dry xtra light malt).

It is now bubbling away nicely at 18-20C.

My plan was to rack into a secondary after 7 days, leave it in secondary for 7 days or so (until FG achieved) and then bulk prime back into original fermentor & bottle.

My question is, should I bother racking it for secondary fermentation? I am not sure if I need to do this or not. If I do, (or it is recommended,) when should I do it?

Thank you for your time to help.

Sounds like a good plan to me. I used to rack to secondary when I was bottling. I now keg so dont bother. I would normally rack after fermentation was complete
Cheers
Steve

 

[EK]

Racking is an optional step (that I often leave out if I don't have the time, or will) that can be done once the vigorous fermentation had died down i.e. when the bubbling in the airlock becomes slow, like a bubble every few minutes.

Hope this is of some help.

EK.

 

[Kleiny]

secondary only if you want too

the idea is too rack the wort off the yeast cake so as you dont get any off flavour from the yeast dying
this will only happen if you leave the wort on the yeast cake for over 3 weeks

secondary fermentation will clear your beer as well

goodluck

 

[Hammer]

thanks for the info guys.

So if i understand it correctly, racking the beer will clear it up and remove any possibility of flavours being introduced from the yeast cake. Am i correct is saying that if fermentation is complete within say 2 weeks, this wont happen anyway.

Therefore, is there any need or benefit in doing it?

What type of beers or when would it be beneficial to do it?

Thanks

 

[PostModern]

Therefore, is there any need or benefit in doing it?

What type of beers or when would it be beneficial to do it?

Thanks

It depends.

It depends on your yeast strain, temperature control, the ingredients, your intension.

Racking beer too soon can prevent the yeast from performing clean up. eg, if you have a lot of diacetyl in the beer that you don't want, racking the beer off will not leave enough yeast to reabsorb it.

Racking beer too late (or not at all) when the temperature is high (as in 25+) can potentially, after time, lead to autolysis (the dead yeast flavours Kleiny talked about). This is not always going to happen, not even when warm. There is no hard and fast rule as to when or if it will happen.

I'd suggest keeping the beer at primary fermentation temperature for 2 weeks, then check for clarity. If the yeast hasn't dropped to your liking or if there are still hop particles floating around, rack it into a clean fermenter and give it another week, or less if you can crash chill it. If it's still not clear enough, try using finings, and as a last resort filter.

Depends on what you want to do, what your standards are. Personally, lately, I don't think I have too many brews that go more than two weeks before kegging.

 

[Hammer]

thanks for your input guys