To Rack Or Bottle

[sirred50]

Hi Everyone.

I'm doing a JSGA Clone, my first extract. I was planning to rack to a secondary tommorrow and then dry hop some amarillo for 4 days then bottle.

My problem is that its been in the primary for 12 days now and i'm waiting on my mate to "find" his fermenter so i can use that to rack.

I'm using us-05 and had the temperature at a pretty constant 21 degrees for the whole time.

How much trouble will i be getting myself into if i wait another couple of days?

 

[Bribie G]

After 12 days in primary I'd just bottle out of primary. The only benefit of racking would be to put it into cold conditioning at 2 or 3 degrees for a week or so, to settle out any remaining shyte and allow the beer to 'polish' in flavour etc. However if you were just planning to rack then let it sit for a while at normal fermenting temperature then no benefit IMHO. Just bottle and let the beer sit in the bottles while it matures and conditions.

 

[Cube]

None at all actually. I've head of weeks and weeks in primary to no ill effect. The same cannot be said for your mates fermenter. If it takes so long to 'find it' how long has it been sitting in a garage or with some water in it for ages and ages.

I feel an infection coming on if you don't nuke his fermenter before using it. Better still, DON'T. Go to bunnings and get one for cheap as chips. I'm doing that tomorrow because I dragged my cube out of the garage yesterday to rack and crash chill ... had spots of mould in it >>>>>>>>> bin. Not worth it.

 

[sirred50]

Thanks for the speedy replies.

I probably should have mentioned i havnt done the dry hop yet :unsure:

Had planned to do that when i racked.

Mates fermenter is brand new and still in the box so should hopefully be right after a good wipe and a sanitise.

 

[manticle]

I rack most brews but I recommend doing it only if you know exactly why you want to. The brew won't die if it sits on the primary a bit longer. Dry hopping during the secondary fermentation phase, even if not racked, should be fine. It's primary ferment that drives off volatiles, not the resulting yeast cake so if krausen has settled down then go for it.

 

[RobboMC]

This summer for the second year in a row I've slightly oxidised my ale by racking. The reactions happen faster in warmer air so unless your racking is bullet proof don't bother. In Hobart you might not have quite the heat we get further north.