Moving primary bucket safely

[Jacksonkev]

Hello All,

I'm a newbie and am following a really straightforward recipe.

I've got 5.5 gallons of Psuedo-Pilsner Ale fermenting in a 6.5 Gallon Primary Fermenting Bucket w/Spigot at 68-70 degrees in my apartment (since Sunday). I used S-05 yeast. It's burping about once every 5 seconds.

I would like to rack it into a 5 gallon carboy as per my recipe. My garage stays around 58-60 year round...I'd like to have it go thru it's secondary down there. It's cooler and always dark.

I have a few questions...

When is the best time to move it down there (as not to cut the primary fermentation short)?

What is the best method of moving it? This is my main concern...it's across our apartment, down 2 flights of stairs, down the sidewalk into a garage. I don't want to over agitate it or have wort spewing out the airlock or introducing oxygen or contaminates. Any tips?

Lastly, when do I want to rack it? Is this personal preference or a question for a hydrometer?

Thanks in advance.

 

[integra93ls]

Really no need to rack into 2ndary. Just keep it in the bucket and just move it to the basement whenever you want. Will be fine

 

[Jacksonkev]

That would be helpful and simplify the process. No worry about taking on funky yeast flavors? The guys at the home brew shop recommended it.

But I'm actually more worried about moving it and making a mess.

 

[1van]

"Secondary" is really more a clarification thing not a fermentation state. There are lots of threads her regarding why not to secondary and just do a long primary....like a month or two. General concensus is that off flavors will actually be minimized by the yeast cleaning up after themselves while not actuall fermenting your beer any further. Meaning once you have hit FG the yeast is still cleaning up just not converting anymore sugars. research primary vs secondary and you will probably agree and adopt that practice. Secondary is used by me only for spiced or fruit beer. Good luck

 

[BigFloyd]

It seems that there are a bunch of recipe instructions out there which tell brewers to transfer out of the primary and into a secondary (no matter what the style of brew) after just one week--------that's old, outdated and just plain wrong.

If you need/want to use a secondary for dry hopping or adding something like fruit, you first let the beer completely finish fermenting in the primary.

In your situation, I'd let it go 10-12 days in the primary, take a grav reading, wait two days, take another. If they're the same, it's done. Let it sit a few more days (for the yeast to clean up a bit) then on to the bottling bucket.

FYI- You're apartment is a bit warm for fermenting with US-05. The room was at 68-70*F, but the temp inside the bucket probably got up to 75-80*F during the first 3-4 days. Next batch, take some steps (swamp cooler, tub w/ ice bottles, etc) to cool it down so that the beer is in the mid-60's. You'll get a tastier result.

 

[LovesIPA]

68-70 is too warm to ferment beer. You will get funky off-flavors. A swamp cooler is a cheap way to lower the temp to a suitable range. After 4-5 days you can let the beer come up to room temperature. You can also ferment in that garage, but then you still have the issue of carrying a heavy fermenter around. If you are using a glass carboy this could realistically kill you in the right circumstances.

Secondary, as mentioned, isn't necessary. Your LHBS staff isn't keeping up with current brewing science.