To Second or Not To Second??

[Bulldog21]

Hi All...

I am new to the forum and new to home brewing. As a matter of fact I completed my first boil yesterday and my fermentation is underway!

I am starting out with the home brewers starter kit from Midwest and after a short and inexpensive trip to my local brew supply store I am underway! I can see this getting dangerous (in a good way) quickly!!

Should I or should I not worry about a secondary fermentation process in a carboy? I do not own one today but they seem inexpensive and I am wondering if I should worry about it for my first batch? Also, if I do NOT go through a secondary fermentation process is it safe to say that if I let my primary go longer than 7 days I would not ruin the wort?

Any advice or guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Bulldog

 

[beergolf]

Do a search and there are a ton of threads on this subject.

I almost never transfer to secondary. I even dry hop right in the primary. Let your brew sit for 3 weeks in the primary. Check the gravity and if it is stable for 3 days then bottle it up.

 

[Bulldog21]

@beergolf

Thanks... That leads me to another question and by reading your reply I would assume the answer is yet. Can I remove the lid of my primary to test and then re-affix the lid during the primary process?

Again, assuming "yes" to this question but since this is my first time I am nervous.

 

[Revvy]

To Secondary or Not? John Palmer and Jamil Zainasheff Weigh In .

 

[Revvy]

@beergolf

Thanks... That leads me to another question and by reading your reply I would assume the answer is yet. Can I remove the lid of my primary to test and then re-affix the lid during the primary process?

Again, assuming "yes" to this question but since this is my first time I am nervous.

In homebrewing there is so much that we advise folks not to do, yet the one thing that EVERY book, podcast, magazine and website talks about is gravity readings....

How do you think we get them?

Do you think the advice to take them is a vast conspiracy by us old timers to ruin millions of new brewer's batches, so that they flee the hobby and give it a bad rap? Or so they make crappy beer and we kick your asses in contests?

With simple sanitization practices openning the fermenter to take a reading is perfectly safe. You won't spoil your beer.

This is what I use, and it works with both buckets and carboys. And probably FV's whatever the heck those are....

I replaced the plastic one a year ago with an extra long stainless baster from a kitchen ware store and it is awesome. But the plastic one from any grocery store works fine.

And

Here's what I do....

1) With a spray bottle filled with starsan I spray the lid of my bucket, or the mouth of the carboy, including the bung. Then I spray my turkey baster inside and out with sanitize (or dunking it in a container of sanitizer).

2) Open fermenter.

3) Draw Sample

4) fill sample jar (usualy 2-3 turky baster draws

5)Spray bung or lid with sanitizer again

6) Close lid or bung

6) add hydrometer and take reading

It is less than 30 seconds from the time the lid is removed until it is closed again. More like 15 if you ask me.

Probably less if you have help. And unless a bird flies in your place and lets go with some poop, you should be okay.

ANd then you drink the sample....don't pour it back in....

 

[Bewbzout]

@beergolf

Thanks... That leads me to another question and by reading your reply I would assume the answer is yet. Can I remove the lid of my primary to test and then re-affix the lid during the primary process?

Again, assuming "yes" to this question but since this is my first time I am nervous.

Yes you can remove the lid as that is the only way to test (that i know of)

Also if you want a clearer beer rack into a secondary. If you just want something to drink then dont worry about it.

 

[TromboneGuy]

I bought a wine thief. I sanitize it AND my hydrometer before taking a reading. When I'm done I put the sample right back in the fermenter. If you're confident on your sanitation, it's no big deal.

 

[Golddiggie]

I'm going to disagree with Bewbzout on his implication that you need to rack to another vessel to get clearer beer.

I've not racked other than for aging reasons since my second batch. In all those batches since, only ONE has not been as clear as I would have liked. That was due to dry hopping with 3oz of whole hops (6 gallon batch). Every other brew that I've let go longer in the primary has been super clear. Just be sure to NOT pick up the sediment from the primary when you go to the bottling bucket, or over to keg.

I don't pour the hydrometer samples back into the batch for a few reasons. For one, it's such as small amount, it's no biggie. For another, I'm taking the sample at bottle/keg time and will be drinking it. For another, it might sit exposed for a bit while I do other things, so I don't feel like risking something negative coming from pouring the few ounces back into the batch. That's another thing, a few ounces out of 5-6 gallons is such a small amount it's not even funny.

I also really hate how so many kits give people calendar time frames for when to either rack, or bottle/keg the batch. It's even worse when people blindly follow those instructions and then wonder why they have bottle bombs, or it doesn't taste as good as they expected. Let gravity readings be your guide for when a batch has finished fermenting (at least two matching readings spaced 2-3 days apart) and let your taste buds tell you when the batch is READY for bottle/keg. If you want to brew another batch, do NOT rack your first to another vessel. Simply get another primary and brew. A lot of us here have at least a few primary fermenters (I have five for 5-6 gallon batches, three of those can do 7 gallon batches).

 

[Piratwolf]

What Golddiggie said +1000000

"All your home brew are belong to us!"

 

[Bulldog21]

Wow- thanks for all the feedback! And, I'll take my "rookie lumps" on the silly question about the lid thing... LOL!

So, I guess secondary is a preference to the brewer... We'll see, maybe I'll skip this batch and try it on the next.

Thanks again!
Bulldog

 

[Bewbzout]

I agree with golddiggie as long as you dont pick up any sediment. I look at racking into a secondary like filtering in that you are trying to get so trub in your beer. If you do pick up a little sediment (which you will because of suction on the racking cane) it will fall in the secondary and you will pull less when racking into keg. No matter what vessel (primary or secondary) things will settle out at the same rate. Its not like the yeast know if they are in the primary or secondary. Like i said i look at it as all you are doing is filtering out the trub.

 

[Golddiggie]

I always hold the racking cane to make sure I don't get more than a tiny amount of sediment from primary. Since I ferment in kegs, I have to use that as my guide to when I have the tube set to the correct level (inside the keg).

That being said, if you brew a bit more beer, you don't worry about leaving a bit behind in primary. I'm brewing ~6.5 gallons now, into primary, so that I can easily lose 1/2 gallon to sediment/trub and still fill two 3 gallon corny kegs. :rockin: I've also noticed that even when I get a small amount of sediment into the kegs, it settles down and doesn't come into the glass. I also have very little in the keg at the end of the batch. I'm also not sacrificing the first pour to trub. Maybe I'm just lucky, or it's due to the longer time in primary. I tend to go a full month in primary and then keg (or bottle when I do that). I also tend to favor well flocculating yeast strains (Wyeast British strains) which has to help too.

I've also started moving my beer from fermenter to keg with a CO2 push. Using this method, I'm able to use the liquid post on the keg to fill. It didn't take much work to get that system online either. Simply a CO2 bottle/tank (with regulator), one of the orange carboy caps (that fits my Sanke kegs), a 5/16" brass barb (for the gas line to connect) in the tall stem on the cap, and a stainless steel racking cane (into the center stem). I've been using 2-3psi into the fermenting keg to push the brew into serving keg. At some point, I'll probably figure out a way to hold the racking cane in place. Until then, I don't mind holding it for the few minutes it takes to fill the 3 gallon corny. Knowing that my brew isn't being touched by oxygen during the entire process is priceless.