secondary racking question:/

I racked my ale to a secondary yesterday, this after 6 days in primary. The airlock activity was at about 3 minute intervals. After racking there was a small amount of airlock activity, but nothing signifigant.
18 hours later there seems to be none. the keyword here is seems.

My main concern is that I know oxygen will ruin my beer. In your opinion(s) do you think there is enough of a co2 layer to protect the beer from being contaminated?

I was thinking about boiling some priming sugar and adding, what are your thoughts. This has worked in the past and got the co2 moving, but I dont want to further contaminate my brew!

I think it is finished, but now just want to clear it for a few days

OG 1.038
FG 1.006

AC 4.2 by volume

As long as head space is minimal there is probably enough cO2 to prevent oxidation. Let it ride a week, take another reading and taste it. If it hasn't moved and tasted like good flat beer then package it

I would say a good 32-48 oz of cubic head space. Alot more than desired.

I didn't want to , but I didnt want oxygen on my beer so I added a half cup of corn sugar to the wort, it's had airlock activity for the past 5 hours. I know the co2 is doin its job, but i'm a little worried that pouring it directly onto the wort might have damaged it. I need to secondary it while the yeast is still active 3-4 days.

I'm just a beginner but; easy tiger! Adding that corm sugar has just increased the time it's going to need to ferment. Leave it alone, let it do it's thing. If you do have any oxidization (which I would think is unlikely or minimal (If you leave it alone!)), it won't be much and it will be very drinkable. Just and improve your method next time. Calm down buddy. Be patient, take it easy and enjoy.

Hey Yewtah, I'm not really understanding the situation here. You moved your beer to a secondary fermenter after 6 days because you saw that you hit your F.G. Then you were a little nervous about the oxygen entering your beer while being in the secondary so you added sugar for the yeast to produce CO2 in hops that it pushes any oxygen out of the secondary.

I see some things here that may help. First, 6 days fermenting is not enough time even though you hit your F.G. The yeast still has to "clean up" after itself to remove any off flavors like diacetyl and other things. Plus give your yeast time to fully flocculate and settle at the bottom before transfering. That's the whole point because you probably sent over a lot of suspended yeast to the secondary.
Second, usually the whole point to a secondary is to get your beer off of the yeast as much as possible but then you added new sugar which in turn will create billions of new yeast cells. I bet there is probably a new yeast bed on the bottom of the secondary.

Through experience, unless you plan on aging the beer for months or looking to use oak chips I wouldn't use a secondary. They are just more headache then reward. Next time, I would allow the beer to ferment for around 3 weeks and then bottle or keg. I know this might sound like a long time but it really isn't. The yeast will have flocculated nicely to the bottom, any off-flavors should by then be eliminated, and you will have sure hit your F.G. Hope this helps.

Six days is FAR too short a time in primary. You shouldn't even be touching it until it's been in there for 3 weeks. Then if you NEED a secondary, for fruit or other additions, go ahead and do it. If not, bottle it. There is usually no need for a secondary.

I know what the directions in your kit say. Ignore them, they're wrong.

I think 6 days in primary is generally not enough time before racking to secondary. You'll want to verify if fermentation is complete through your gravity readings. Then, once you have reached your FG, allow a few more days to let yeast and sediment settle to the bottom before racking to secondary. For the most part however the use of a secondary isn't necessary as stated before.

The bubbling in your air airlock is not always the best indicator of ongoing fermentation, as Co2 can leak out past the stopper depending on how air tight your vessel is. while adding the corn sugar isn't likely to hurt anything, it was probably unnecessary.

good comments, will definatly think of theese next time I get all excited. Looking back, I dont think I needed to add the corn sugar, there was probaly enough of a layer of co2 to keep the oxygen from the wort, There is a small layer of yeast at the bottom, there is airlock activity and It has extended my aging time, I have tried omitting the secondary and it seemed to be sucessful, deffinatly a time saver. I have a Pumkin ale planned will do a primary for three weeks and then bottle it.

LovesIPA said:

Six days is FAR too short a time in primary. You shouldn't even be touching it until it's been in there for 3 weeks. Then if you NEED a secondary, for fruit or other additions, go ahead and do it. If not, bottle it. There is usually no need for a secondary.

I know what the directions in your kit say. Ignore them, they're wrong.

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Well, I wouldn't say 6 days is "FAR too short a primary" but it is short. I also wouldn't say you "shouldn't even be touching it until it's been in there for three weeks". A 1.038 beer should be ready to package by day 7-10, or whenever it starts to clear.

We did this great mild swap way back on 10/10/10. The idea was to make a mild, and ship it out on day 10. I was drinking mine by then, although it got better for a few days afterward. It's an interesting thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f38/project-10der-mild-10-milds-10-days-month-10-a-77758/

A three week primary is long even for a 1.070 beer for many of us- it's really wild to feel it's needed for a 1.038 OG beer!

I'm drinking a beer at this moment that I brewed on 3/22/13. It's been on tap for a couple of weeks at my house. It was a 1.060 IPA that I just love. I started drinking it about April 4th or so.

I know many people leave their beers in the fermenter for an extended time- but to say it's "needed" is a huge stretch especially on a lower OG beer!

yewtah-brewha said:

good comments, will definatly think of theese next time I get all excited. Looking back, I dont think I needed to add the corn sugar, there was probaly enough of a layer of co2 to keep the oxygen from the wort, There is a small layer of yeast at the bottom, there is airlock activity and It has extended my aging time, I have tried omitting the secondary and it seemed to be sucessful, deffinatly a time saver. I have a Pumkin ale planned will do a primary for three weeks and then bottle it.

Click to expand...

I would really recommend skipping a clearing vessel on a 1.038 beer, and just leave it for about 10 days in the fermenter (or until clear), and then packaging. It would be different if you had a smaller carboy without so much headspace, and/or if you were racking onto more fermentables like fruit. There would be no advantage to aging a small beer like a 1.038 OG beer, though.