Losing a lot of beer when moving from primary to 2nd

[opiate82]

So I have my first home brew fermenting. I was doing a partial mash. After my initial boil I had approximately ~4 gallons of wort that I mixed with 1 gallon of water when it went into the primary. However my primary fermenter is a 6.5 gallon bucket without any marking so I had to guess that I had about 5 gallons in there (based on measuring out 5 gallons of water and putting that in there for reference prior to brewing).

I was initially worried because I didn't see any signs of fermintation, but when I cracked the bucket today it was obvious that high krausen had been reached and my hydrometer reading went from a sg of 1.060 to 1.021.

I opted to siphon it into a secondary fermenter. I tried to closely watch the flow to keep any sediment from getting sucked out and get as much liquid as possible. It was a little tough to tell because the bucket isn't clear and there was still some foam over the top of everything. But once I was down to the sediment I had only ~3.5 gallons of beer in my secondary fermenter.

I was wondering is this normal to have that much lost when transferring from the primary to the secondary? Should I have maybe added a bit more water to the primary (recipe called for a SG of 1.057-1.059)? Also does anyone have any other tips and/or tricks to get the most beer transferred from the primary to the secondary?

I just feel like I'm losing a lot of beer with the transfer. I appreciate any advice. Besides that, everything seems to be going swimmingly. Beer had a great color/aroma and I can't wait till it's ready.

 

[starrfish]

I rarely secondary anymore, unless it's a very long age out. I also dry hop in primary after ferm dies down.

 

[amandabab]

No its not normal to lose 1.5 gallons while transfering, you either left a lot in the primary or you didn't have 5 gallons to begin with.

Wait for the krausen to sink so you can see what your doing.

 

[Dan]

There was still foam when you transferred but krausen had fallen? To me that is weird only because I don't secondary but leave the beer in the primary 2-4 weeks 3 being the norm and when I open the bucket even after two weeks there is nothing but cleared beer.

I don't secondary but that does seem like a large loss. I think when I was filling to the 5 gallon mark on my bucket I was getting around 4 to 4.5 gallons out of it. how thick was the trub layer in your primary after the transfer?

 

[bottlebomber]

You kind of made it sound like you racked the beer out of the primary when it was still fermenting. You didn't though, right?

 

[Yooper]

Next time, wait until the krausen has fallen because the yeast and other trub (hops debris, break material, etc) will all settle to the bottom and some yeast strains even compact tightly so there is maybe .75" or so total in the bottom and all the rest is clear beer.

If you wait at least 10 days, and use a flocculant yeast strain (s04 is a good one), you should "lose" about 1 quart or less.

At the very least, wait until the beer is finished before racking!

 

[Fletcher21]

If there was still a foam layer on top then you are transferring to early in my opinion. Unlike a lit of people on here I do use a secondary most of the time ( for clarity & I dry hop a lot). However I don't usually transfer for at least 10 days and always make sure the majority of activity has stopped which included all of the foam dissipating.

When you can't see what your doing it makes it hard to make sure you did it right. It's all good though. I bet the beer will still taste good.

 

[duboman]

You also need to learn how to properly calculate you volumes correctly so you start with the correct amount of wort and then factor in all the losses like evaporation, dead space grain absorption, loss to trub etc so when everything is done you've reached your desired batch size.

If you are planning on moving to AG this will become more important in hitting your OG and FG as well

 

[Zuljin]

Mark what is 5 gallons in your primary. You can brew with that water, so no waste.

Measure out how much water you use to boil and any top off too.

Use a racking cane to go from one vessel to another. Push the cane down until the little thing on the end touches the bottom of your fermentor. Clip it in place. You'll get some sediment, but not much and you're going to secondary anyway. Don't sweat it.

 

[kh54s10]

Mark your fermenters. Add an accurate gallon and mark the fermenter. Add another and mark etc.

Do not transfer too early. It sounds like your beer was not finished.

Tilt your fermenter so you get as much beer as possible without any trub.

If you wait longer the trub will compact more.

Skip secondary entirely. It is really not necessary unless adding extra ingredients or lagering etc.

 

[bottlebomber]

Use a racking cane to go from one vessel to another. Push the cane down until the little thing on the end touches the bottom of your fermentor. Clip it in place. You'll get some sediment, but not much and you're going to secondary anyway. Don't sweat it.

I'm pretty sure something is wrong with me...

 

[opiate82]

I guess I probably moved it to early. The recipe I was following called for it to be moved after 4 days and I can tell it had reached high krausen due to the dry foam line on the sides of the buckets, but I'll try waiting much longer next time (or try not moving it at all). Again, this was my first homebrew so I'm learning as I go. I appreciate the expertise.

Also I already ordered a new plastic fermenter with volume markings on it as I could see this being an issue after doing my first batch.

One of the reasons I was moving it was because I ordered everything to turn my chest freezer into a kegorator, but I wasn't sure how long it would take the parts to ship to me and how long it would take me to get it up and running. The Joy of Homebrewing said to move to a secondary if you don't know when you'll be able to bottle (or in my case, keg) your beer to prevent the dead yeast from effecting the flavor of my beer.

Thanks again for the advice, I already feel like I'm learning a lot.

 

[Dan]

Well if you don't learn something daily you have shut down.

The dead yeast thing is not a worry. Autolysis is not an issue for homebrewers.

Never feel rushed to take your beer out of the primary.

 

[devils4ever]

I rarely secondary anymore, unless it's a very long age out. I also dry hop in primary after ferm dies down.

+1.

I never transfer to secondary anymore either. Risk of infection is too high.

 

[bottlebomber]

+1.

I never transfer to secondary anymore either. Risk of infection is too high.

Not really any higher than transferring to primary. Less actually, since it is alcoholic at that point.

 

[chickypad]

Also I already ordered a new plastic fermenter with volume markings on it as I could see this being an issue after doing my first batch.

You might want to double check it when you get it. I have a couple buckets where the markings are shifted up about a half gallon.

 

[Qhrumphf]

One of the reasons I was moving it was because I ordered everything to turn my chest freezer into a kegorator, but I wasn't sure how long it would take the parts to ship to me and how long it would take me to get it up and running. The Joy of Homebrewing said to move to a secondary if you don't know when you'll be able to bottle (or in my case, keg) your beer to prevent the dead yeast from effecting the flavor of my beer.

We know now that autolysis isn't as much of an issue as people thought when that book was written (at least on the homebrew scale). I leave mine in primary as long as 5 weeks and have never had an issue, and some folks on here have left beers in primary for months or longer and haven't had an issue. If you think it could be a few months before you're going to keg it, secondary might make sense, but if it's going to be a few weeks it won't be a problem.

Not really any higher than transferring to primary. Less actually, since it is alcoholic at that point.

Still a risk of oxidation.