Secondary Fermentation

[mope]

Sorry if this comes across as a long list of questions..

My first brew (a Young Harvest Bitter kit) is now done fermenting, although it was done quicker than I expected after 4 days at 22C. I'v had a quick smell/taste and it does have a slight vinegary taste, although I don't know whether I'm being paranoid, and I have read on various threads that tastes can vary in the early stages. Is there anything that I should be concerned about here?

I would of gone straight to a pressure barrel, but I'v had difficulties sourcing one, so I'v decided to stick in a second FV for a while longer and hopefully it will allow it to develop and clear out more first anyway. So, on to the questions..

My second FV doesn't have an airlock, I can drill a hole in the lid and pop one in, but is this necessary?
What kind of time scale should I be leaving a brew to secondary ferment? And how long at a maximum should I be doing this for?

Thanks!

[stevezx7r]

If your going to be getting a keg/bottles in the next week or so, just leave it in the primary fermenter. This extra time will allow the yeast to clear up any by-products of fermentation. Don't worry about the slight vinegary taste - you wouldn't be able to drink it at all if it was infected. Again, a few more days in the fv should begin to see improvements.

If you want you can drill a hole and fit an air lock etc but, you could just leave the lid cracked open slightly to allow gas to escape, unless you leave the fv in a dusty environment in which case use an airlock.

[mope]

Thanks Steve.

After having a play this evening, I think the vinegary taste was in my head. I feel like a concerned mother at the moment regarding the welfare of my beer.

Will follow your advice and leave it the primary. But when should I be using secondary fermentation? Is this something worth practising?

I have check the SG and i'm getting values from 1.008 to 1.012 (I'm unsure why my values vary..), the target SG according to the instructions is 1.000 to 1.006. The yeast head sunk to the bottom around three days ago. Is this an acceptable value? Could this class as a stalled brew?

[stevezx7r]

Some people follow the secondary fermentation rule and they have perfectly fine beer. I've done it once or twice and tbh I haven't noticed any difference.

I tend to leave it for ten days then rack to either primed bottles or a force carb'd keg.

I don't bother with finings as they're usually pretty bright after ten days anyway, plus they get another two weeks where they fall brighter still.

You gravity reading may be changing due to temperature changes of the beer. But, anywhere between 1010 and 1015 is fine. Just let the yeast do it's clean up job (up to the usual 10 days) then rack.