transferring to secondary back to primary

Today I get to transfer my beer to a secondary fermenter. I've done this before and I'm well aware what to do. The thing is is my secondary doesn't fit in my fridge. My idea is to transfer from my primary to my secondary clean my primary then move my beer back to the primary fermenter. Is it okay to do this? Any risk besides contamination?

Why put it in the fridge? If its not a lager, there's not really any need to chill it. You run the risk of oxidation with each transfer.

forstmeister said:

Why put it in the fridge? If its not a lager, there's not really any need to chill it. You run the risk of oxidation with each transfer.

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Agreed - no reason to chill it unless you are lagering. But, for most beers (IMHO), no reason to secondary at all. Most of my beers spend the first week of primary in the cooler at controlled temps, and then 3-5 weeks in ambient basement temps (66-70) in the primary, then cold crash around 40 back in the cooler for 2-3 days and package. I try to avoid transfers if possible.

I live in Texas and the weather has been pretty warm. Too warm to place in an ambient area. When I'm not home, the house stays at about 85 to save on electricity. My fridge keeps it at a cool 65 which is what the yeast calls for.

And yeah we dont have basements in Austin. Not able to.

xenomaniac said:

Is it okay to do this? Any risk besides contamination?

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Another risk is oxidizing the beer. But as long as you're careful, it should be okay. As a fellow Texas brewer, I'd agree that putting it in the fridge is better than leaving it at room temp. Unless you leave the AC running full blast all day, it just gets too warm. I'd say proceed exactly as you described. Or you could just skip the transfer altogether, a long primary is basically the same as a secondary, minus the oxidation/contamination risk.

Yeah I was planning on transferring to reduce sediment because I'm still bottling and not able to keg yet. Thanks for the advice.

xenomaniac said:

Today I get to transfer my beer to a secondary fermenter. I've done this before and I'm well aware what to do. The thing is is my secondary doesn't fit in my fridge. My idea is to transfer from my primary to my secondary clean my primary then move my beer back to the primary fermenter. Is it okay to do this? Any risk besides contamination?

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If it was me, I'd just put the primary into the fridge. There is no advantage to racking it to a carboy and then racking it back, and the risks are greater than any benefit anyway.

I got home and decided to keep it in the primary. I must say this beer I'm making is fermenting like a monster! The air lock was clogged this morning so I washed it, sanitized it, and put it back in. Got home 7 - 8 hours later and the air lock was clogged again. about 5 - 10 seconds after taking the air lock out again to clean it, it burped and got some sediment on the table. Can't wait for this brew to finish. Going to be my strongest yet.

xenomaniac said:

I got home and decided to keep it in the primary. I must say this beer I'm making is fermenting like a monster! The air lock was clogged this morning so I washed it, sanitized it, and put it back in. Got home 7 - 8 hours later and the air lock was clogged again. about 5 - 10 seconds after taking the air lock out again to clean it, it burped and got some sediment on the table. Can't wait for this brew to finish. Going to be my strongest yet.

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Damn, sounds exciting. What style did you brew?

hunter_la5 said:

Damn, sounds exciting. What style did you brew?

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Honey Hibiscus Wit. Aimed for 8% instead of 5%. Got the blow off valve already set.

Some FermCap in the fermenter will help keep the blowoff crud to a minimum.

I really like the fermenter I'm using. It fits in my mini fridge perfectly and modifying it was super easy. The fermenter is really used for storing water but it has an airlock already built in. All I had to do was drill a slightly bigger hole to fit my airlock. Got a tube big enough that fits on snug as well so if I need to make a blow valve, only takes 2 seconds to set up. No need for super glue or anything.

What kind of container is it? I'm always looking for new things to ferment in...

Reliance Aqua-Tainer - 7 gal.



http://www.rei.com/product/618168/reliance-aqua-tainer-7-gal

Costs less than $20. If you look at the airlock valve on the back, you can fit a hose that you can get at any Home Depot for less than $2. No need to use super glue to create a seal because once you fit it, it's snug like pug. If you drill a hole big enough with a drill bit, you can fit your airlock on there as well and don't need to add a rubber seal. Sadly it is plastic so I know over time I'm going to have to replace it. When I have time I might take a pic to show how it all fits in there.

Cool, thanks for the link and info!

BTW, the tube I got, I still have the sticker from Home Depot.

7/8" X 5/8" X 10 Ft.
SVMK10
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