All Grain Brewing

[dcq1974]

Hi All
I wonder if all you well established Brewers can give a little advice to a starter!

I've just done a simple Summer Pale Ale (Summer Lightening) clone as created by DaaB and I wondered the following:

How long Primary Fermentation (Uses yeast starter from a SL bottle). 7-14 days?

I wish to add to a Cornie after. There is much talk that secondary fermentation is not needed. However, I want to add to Cornie so I take it I should carry out a 14 day (minimum) secondary to clear? Shall I also add sugar in this stage to help conditioning & clairification (with finings). I.E does the continued production of CO2 help with the fining?
Also has anyone used Young's Beer finings? Do they work?

If not are Gelatine or Isinglas still the best in the world?

Sorry for all the questions - thanks all in advance

[maxashton]

Hi All
How long Primary Fermentation (Uses yeast starter from a SL bottle). 7-14 days?

Yes. 10 days is fine for most beers, I'd leave very big beers for a bit longer.

Secondary fermentation isn't required for clearing. It will, however, take place anyway, unless you chemically stop it.

You can add your 50-70 grams of sugar to prime it, if you like. Otherwise you'll need to add CO2.

I've used youngs beer finings, seem to work OK.

You're welcome.

[Buzz]

Length of time in the primary will revolve around what yeast you are using.

If I use something quick like s-04, then 7 days is plenty. If I'm looking to put into a corni then I'd move it into a secondary at a low temp to drop bright - for a couple of weeks like you say. I don't use finings, but you could add them to the secondary at this stage if you wish.

There is no need to prime - surely you will be using co2 to dispense?

My usual routine is 5/7 days primary - 2 weeks in secondary, rack to corni and carbonate over a week. Usually leave another fortnight before drinking - depending on the gravity (leave stronger ales for longer) and what else I have in to drink

If you use finings in the secondary, you wont need to leave it 2 weeks - probably just 4 or 5 days before it can hit the keg.

[dcq1974]

Cheers for the replies chaps.

Best Regards

[hoppingMad]

dcq, no need to appologise for asking questions
Your timing sounds fine to me. However you will almost certainly be using an airlock on your fermenting vessel so you can tell when the primary is finished. Wait till you see no airlock activity.

If you are transferring to a secondary, then a little airlock activity happening is ok, hard to say but for me its a bubble every couple of minutes and this usually means its gonna stop tomorrow.
Transferring at this stage means you should get a little CO2 production in the secondary which serves to displace the O2 in the headspace. Not critical but not a bad idea if you intend on a long cold conditioning.

Of course you can take an hydrometer reading to discover when your primary is done. When there is no change in SG for two consecutive days then your done.

Another wee thing I've found very useful is to do the Fast ferment test explained here.http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?ti ... rment_Test
This may be of no interest to you right now, but in time you may wish to do it. Its as simple as can be, and allows you to know when your beer is about to finish, therefore when to rack. It also has other advantages mentioned on the site, or Google "Fast Ferment Test" to find out more.

[Barley Water]

I agree with the Buzz, it very much depends on the yeast you are using and of course also on the original gravity of the wort being fermented. Many British ales are relatively low gravity (say less than 1.040 starting gravity) and ferment at a relatively high temperature (as compared to lagers anyway). I did a Mild a couple of months ago that got through in about 3 days (it was so fast that I originally thought that the yeast had failed). If you use a floculant yeast (like WLP02, the Fuller's strain for instance) you can easily have very clear beer in a week. On the other hand, if you are doing a double bock, expect primary to last a couple of weeks and secondary fermentation will last even longer. The lower the fermentation temperature, the longer the primary fermentation will last. The good news is that you can leave beer in secondary for a very long time without causing yourself a problem.

Since you are a new brewer, you will figure this out but the trick is to match production with consumption. I know it is time to brew when I tap a new keg. Also, with much longer lead times, I always make sure that I have a lot of ale available before I start producing lagers since they tie up equipment for a longer period of time. Since I always have 3 taps going, I have screwed up and had a couple of kegs empty at the same time (when I loose track of where I am from a consuption standpoint). I try to always have beer in secondary and when a keg frees up, I immediately rack it to the empty keg. This sometimes gets confusing when brewing specific styles for competitions or making sure that I have enough beer for club parties etc.