secondary fermenting

[rossi74]

firstly I'm loving biab brewing just seem to be having a little problem with secondary fermentation. im on biab #3, first one seemed to ferment out fine with leaving it in the primary for 14 days, og came down to about 1009 from 1048 with notingham danstar (forgot about water treatment totaly as was concentrating on the rest of the brew day being my first,DOH) turned out a bit harsh at the back of the tongue but was drunk anyway. second brew was pretty much the same but used so4 and transfered to secondary after 4 days where it seemed to stop fermenting, tried giving it stir after a couple of days but to no avail so threw it into a cornie at 1020 after 10 days in secondary (just bought a couple off flea bay for 56 quid ) drinking a pint now and it tastes fab. brew #3 is in secondary now with Nottingham danstar again and after4 days no drop in gravity again, stuck at 1019. could i be doing anything wrong? fermenter sanitized with star san and fermenting in atc 800+ controlled fridge @20c.

any suggestions more than welcome from you much more experienced biab'ers

cheers kyle

[Beer O'Clock]

When transfering from boiler to FV, are you aerating adequately ?

I have heard about some cases of sticking with Nottingham. Maybe, if everything else is done properly, you should try a different yeast.

[GrowlingDogBeer]

You say the problem you are having is secondary fermentation.

What exactly do you mean by secondary fermentation? Are you transferring the beer out of the primary fermenter after a couple of days into a secondary one.
Personally I leave my beer in the primary fermenter for about 10 - 14 days then transfer direct to a cornie. So I don't even have the secondary fermentation step.

Agree with Beer O clockk, are you aerating it well enoughwhen transferring to the FV, the boil removes most of the oxygen, so you need to get it back in there prior to adding the yeast.

[rossi74]

cheers for the quick replies guys.
@ beeroclock i've tried notingham in 1 and so4 in the other. i'm running wort from the boiler into the fermenter with a drop from the rim of the fermentor would this be enough do you think?

@ runwell-steve, yes was transferring to secondary fermenter on brew 1 & 2 but think i may well just stick with primary for 14 days with the next brew and see how it goes.

i have just made a new hop stopper from a thread on here with some stainless mesh crimped around a copper T so should hopefully get a quicker run-off = more aeration.

thanks again

kyle

[Beer O'Clock]

Gravity, unless from a severe height, would be inadequate for proper aeration. I would suggest some extra agitation in the FV at time of the transfer. Get your paddle in there, son !!
The yeasties need oxygen and the more the better.

[GrowlingDogBeer]

I just drop by Gravity, but I have a drop of about 4 feet. I think you need a bigger drop or some stirring and splashing about a bit.

[Valley Commando]

I broke off the end of a cheap steel burger flipper with a round stem handle from a BBQ set. Once sanitised I stick it in the end of my cordless drill.
Once wort is in the FV , stick the drill/burger flipper combo in and run for a minute or two. Instant aeration!

[Blackaddler]

cheers for the quick replies guys.
@ beeroclock i've tried notingham in 1 and so4 in the other. i'm running wort from the boiler into the fermenter with a drop from the rim of the fermentor would this be enough do you think?

If you're getting plenty of froth on top, then that's fine. Dropping the wort though a sieve will help.

However, I see that you're using Danstar Nottingham, which according to Danstar, doesn't actually need aeration. What you might have is a sachet from a problem batch, which had issues of long lag times of up to 48 hours before fermentation started properly. [A packaging problem last year, which has now been resolved.] So there's a slim chance of a yeast viability problem, but as you had a similar problem with S04, I doubt it.

If you're pitching the yeast dry, then rehydration before pitching might help with viability.

Fermentation getting stuck at around 1019-1020 could indicate that you have some unfermentable sugars which the yeast struggles with. Double check your mash temperature, and that it's even throughout the mash. It may be higher than you think, or there may be hot spots.

[jimp2003]

I suspect that the problem with the second and third brews was that you are transferring to secondary after only 4 days. Sometimes fermentation can be finished that quickly but if it wasn't then you will only have the yeast that was in suspension at the time of transferring to continue the fermentation.

I don't bother with secondary fermentation. I leave the brew in the primary FV for 2 weeks and then transfer to the bottling bucket for bottling.

[rossi74]

thanks again guys, will get the paddle in my cordless drill next time and just leave in the primary for 14 days and see what happens.

thank god for JBK

[greenxpaddy]

I suspect that the problem with the second and third brews was that you are transferring to secondary after only 4 days. Sometimes fermentation can be finished that quickly but if it wasn't then you will only have the yeast that was in suspension at the time of transferring to continue the fermentation.

I don't bother with secondary fermentation. I leave the brew in the primary FV for 2 weeks and then transfer to the bottling bucket for bottling.

+1 I have tried both methods now. And I suspect I am losing flavour when transferring to secondary for another week due to a little oxidation. I get a bit more sediment in the bottles without using a secondary but the beer seems to taste better.

I have left a beer in the primary for 2 weeks after FG and it has not hurt th beer in any way. Yeast cake well and truly settled then. I am just very careful not to disturb it when gently stirring in priming sugar solution at the top.