Primary to secondary move.

[mufflerbearing]

I am looking at the directions and it says to check gravity. I checked it and it is showing 1.01 and that should be my FG. Should I transfer? It says to move if it is 3-4 points away from FG. Please advise. Carboy waiting on counter.

 

[dneubeck85]

Depends on the style, but I only transfer if im racking onto fruit or sonething

 

[mufflerbearing]

Fat tire clone. AHS

 

[kh54s10]

Transferring before final gravity is reached is old procedure.

Wait 2 days and take another reading if it is also 1.01 you can then transfer.

Or better yet, wait another 2 weeks or so and go straight to bottling.
The less you can handle the beer the less chance of infection.

 

[dneubeck85]

I say let it sit. It won't hurt it. Up to u tho.

 

[mufflerbearing]

Transferring before final gravity is reached is old procedure.

Wait 2 days and take another reading if it is also 1.01 you can then transfer.

Or better yet, wait another 2 weeks or so and go straight to bottling.
The less you can handle the beer the less chance of infection.

This sounds best. Secondary just clears it up right?

 

[volktc]

Racking to secondary will help with clarity. I have done both with no ill effects. As far as ingection goes I say since its already beer at this point infection really isn't a concern. no bad bugs can survive in beer as far as I know.

 

[Yooper]

Actually, it's gravity that makes the beer clear. There isn't anything magical about moving the beer to a new vessel- gravity still does the work whether it's in primary or a clearing vessel.

I'd leave it be for two weeks, and then simply bottle it.

 

[mufflerbearing]

Alright. I have decided to not second but now my concern is that I am only getting a bubble out of my air lock about 1 every 15 sec. Is this ok? Still at 70 degrees and stable.

 

[DocScott]

Yep... The co2 produced decreases as fermentation slows down. As others stated, keep waiting a few weeks then bottle. I'd skip the clearing vessel too.

 

[lgilmore]

The biggest reason I secondary is to reduce the amount of trub and stuff in my beer. I don't trust my skills to bottle from just the primary as it is easy to suck up stuff to the bottling bucket. A secondary reduces my chances of doing this. Everybody has their own way or reason... that's one of mine.

 

[mufflerbearing]

Done! I will wait at least one more week then bottle. Guess I might as well put my other fermentation bucket to some good use in the meantime.

 

[zeg]

I frequently go to secondary, just because I have a couple of 5 gallon fermenters and one 6 gallon, so this frees up the larger fermenter for a new batch. As Igilmore points out, while the particulates may not settle any faster in secondary, there is less trub in the bottom, so you're less likely to kick up a big cloud when you go to the bottling bucket.

It's not a big effect---I have found that with a few days of cold conditioning in primary, plus a medium to highly flocculant yeast, that the trub/yeast cake is tight enough that it is hard to disturb it. But it is a comforting bit of insurance. I really hate bottle sediment. However, I still don't secondary if the only purpose is to reduce trub. It's not as important as avoiding the additional small risk of infection.