Dropping beer

[MashBag]

I thought dropping beer (racking during fermentation) died out as a practice ?

Do guys here still use it?
Is there a measurable benefit?

[guypettigrew]

Can't see any reason to use it for the beers I make. They get cooled once fermentation has slowed down, which drops most of the yeast out, then kegged with finings. Clear after about 24 hours and another couple or so days to condition.

Guy

[McMullan]

Yes, it can have its uses. It can be an effective way of separating what we want from what we don't. It's like an early secondary in a sense. In fact, brewing is just a process involving a series of procedures to separate what we want from what we don't, going from a 'porridge' at the beginning to a nice bright beer at the end. It can be a nice dirty trick to separate good yeast too, when top cropping isn't an option. Rack fresh wort on top of a yeast cake in a used FV then transfer to a clean FV the next day, leaving behind dead and otherwise inactive yeast cells and trub. I've done this for lagers and it seems to work well.

[MashBag]

So is there a difference between racking and dropping?

[McMullan]

‘Racking’ is just a phrase for transferring. The dropping system is still in use. It’s probably advisable to apply it if fermentation were started in a BM, for instance.

[MashBag]

Why in a BM? What's the gain - aeration?

[McMullan]

I was thinking more about those now considering using the new fermentation lid for the BM. Not sure about the advantages. I don’t think I’d bother, but it’s probably better to transfer the fermenting wort off all the crap within a day or two.

[MashBag]

Good point. I get that.

[An Ankoù]

Here's my view on the matter, probably erroneous: I like to keep my beer on the "cake" until it has nearly, but not quite finished fermenting. I think the yeast needs the nutrient from whatever trub has carried over and I think the yeast starts cleaning itself up towards the end of the anaerobic phase. I rack cloudy because I don't purge my second FV with CO2 and I imaging the fizzing will drive off the oxygen-containing air in that vessel. Also, there's still plenty of yeast to keep clean-up going. I've started adding Vitamin C at 0.75g per litre of headspace to deal with any remaining oxygen. I've only recently started doing this and as my bottles take 6-8 weeks to condition, I haven't yet been able to establish whether there's any advantage. When fermentation is finished, I'll move the beer into a cooler area, but I don't "crash chill".
I do lagers differently, I'll leave them in primary for as long as 6 or 7 weeks for the yeast to clean up and then rack into secondary for another 6-7 weeks of lagering before bottling.
Whether there's any good science behind all this I don't know, It seems logical and it seems to work.
(What's a BM, by the way?)

[richard080561]

A BM is a Braumeister. They are now selling a lid with a seal so you can ferment in the Braumeister rather than transferring to a fermenter after the boil.

[f00b4r]

Here's my view on the matter, probably erroneous: I like to keep my beer on the "cake" until it has nearly, but not quite finished fermenting. I think the yeast needs the nutrient from whatever trub has carried over and I think the yeast starts cleaning itself up towards the end of the anaerobic phase. I rack cloudy because I don't purge my second FV with CO2 and I imaging the fizzing will drive off the oxygen-containing air in that vessel. Also, there's still plenty of yeast to keep clean-up going. I've started adding Vitamin C at 0.75g per litre of headspace to deal with any remaining oxygen. I've only recently started doing this and as my bottles take 6-8 weeks to condition, I haven't yet been able to establish whether there's any advantage. When fermentation is finished, I'll move the beer into a cooler area, but I don't "crash chill".
I do lagers differently, I'll leave them in primary for as long as 6 or 7 weeks for the yeast to clean up and then rack into secondary for another 6-7 weeks of lagering before bottling.
Whether there's any good science behind all this I don't know, It seems logical and it seems to work.
(What's a BM, by the way?)

I know a few people, who make very good beer, who have moved to transferring to kegs (of both types) with a few gravity points to go, so it naturally carbonates and potential also avoid any oxygen issues (sometimes getting a little CO2 top up in a corny if needed to get there carbonation right). It also isn’t crash chilled but slowly dropped to cellar temperature to clear (avoiding starting the yeast with “crash cooling”, with the first pint or so getting rid of the dropped yeast. The beers of theirs I have tried have always been crystal clear and in great condition.

[Cobnut]

I guess this would also lend itself very well to the use of a floating pickup/dip tube in the corny?

[f00b4r]

I guess this would also lend itself very well to the use of a floating pickup/dip tube in the corny?

Yes, although I think it’s not a bad idea anyway, especially if you tend to move your kegs around in the kegerator and kick the small amount of yeast at the bottom up.

[Jocky]

I know a few people, who make very good beer, who have moved to transferring to kegs (of both types) with a few gravity points to go, so it naturally carbonates and potential also avoid any oxygen issues (sometimes getting a little CO2 top up in a corny if needed to get there carbonation right). It also isn’t crash chilled but slowly dropped to cellar temperature to clear (avoiding starting the yeast with “crash cooling”, with the first pint or so getting rid of the dropped yeast. The beers of theirs I have tried have always been crystal clear and in great condition.

I can agree that this works, although make sure you attach a pressure relief (spunding) valve. I once had this work too well and ended up with massively carbonated beer that I had to gradually bleed off.

The only negative I've had was with a weiss yeast that threw a lot of sulphur at the end of fermentation. The sulphur was essentially trapped in the keg, and it took some time for it to fade.

[Cobnut]

Yes, although I think it’s not a bad idea anyway, especially if you tend to move your kegs around in the kegerator and kick the small amount of yeast at the bottom up.

I’ve got floating dip tubes for all my corny kegs now. Not as a result of this thread, might I add!