Two stage ferment

[jkhlt1210]

G'day guys just wondering about two stage ale fermenting. On beersmith 2 it says 4 days in primary then 10 days in secondary. Apparently to improve flavour by separating from yeast cake early. Obviously it isn't done after 4 days so I guess that doesn't matter it just keeps going? Anyone do this with any luck? Is it worth doing? Any tips? I want to try it but won't bother if it doesn't make much difference

 

[TheWiggman]

I've done it and after a while stopped. The way I see it you need a reason to rack; otherwise you're complicating the process and adding additonal risk.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter8-4.html - this explains it.

I wouldn't follow BeerSmith to the letter because it's a means to an end - you put in your process, and it spits out the expected results. The default profiles don't necessarily achieve what you want to achieve.

There are many other things I've done to my brewing processes that have made much more of a difference than I can see secondary fermentation ever will. Try it if you want but make sure there are no variables and you're doing a brew you've done previously to compare. I'm betting I can predict your results.

 

[syl]

It's not something I do regularly, maybe if I were leaving it to age for a long time to avoid autolysis.

 

[jkhlt1210]

I've done it and after a while stopped. The way I see it you need a reason to rack; otherwise you're complicating the process and adding additonal risk.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter8-4.html - this explains it.

I wouldn't follow BeerSmith to the letter because it's a means to an end - you put in your process, and it spits out the expected results. The default profiles don't necessarily achieve what you want to achieve.

There are many other things I've done to my brewing processes that have made much more of a difference than I can see secondary fermentation ever will. Try it if you want but make sure there are no variables and you're doing a brew you've done previously to compare. I'm betting I can predict your results.

Meh sounds like extra work for nothing to me. Cheers for that I'll leave it. Was just curious

 

[Tahoose]

Have only used secondary's in a couple of instances, one was where I racked onto some gelatine for clarity and wished to re-use the yeast in the primary.

The second was when I made a mango beer and racked onto 1kg of frozen mangos.

For the best part it's not really necessary for most regular ferments..

I plan on doing something different again for pressurised ferments but again, I wouldn't quite call that regular.

 

[Dan Pratt]

I used to rack my beers to a secondary FV but after a while I too found that it wasnt required, unless I was trying to keep the yeast before dry hopping or if I was planning on doing an extended cold conditioning on say a lager or kolsch style beer.

At the end of the day you need another vessel that is clean and sanitized and the beer is exposed to oxygen which can be avoided.

 

[Tahoose]

Unless you ferment in a keg and transfer under pressure to a sealed co2 purged keg..